61. Whit Pidot on the travel industry

Our guest today is Umbrex member Whit Pidot, an independent consultant who was formerly a Partner in the Travel practice at McKinsey. His clients include the CEOs of some of the top travel companies in the world including airlines, rental cars, and hotels.

Whit has been fascinated by the world of travel from an early age.  As a hobby, he has been running a travel agency on the side since college.  In today’s episode, we first explore some of Whit’s favorite travel hacks for business travelers, such as:

For finding the best rates on rental cars, Whit likes Autoslash.com.

For hotels, if you aren’t going to book directly on the hotel brand’s website, Whit’s current favorite sites are Upside.com and Rocketmiles.com.

For all travel properties, ask what the Triple A rate is: sometimes the AAA rate is better than the corporate rate. Whit once had an entire McKinsey team get AAA memberships because the AAA rate at the hotel they were staying at was better than the McKinsey rate.

We discuss Whit’s travel agency, and how being in the business himself with his own Sabre subscription has given him a pulse on the business that informs his consulting work.

We also discuss Whit’s consulting work, which has a strong focus on loyalty programs.

I love hearing Whit’s stories about the travel industry, and I hope you find this episode helpful.