Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and Opinions

The hosts dive into bold predictions for the travel industry by 2025, spotlighting AI's role in voice communication and personalized travel experiences. They discuss the evolving landscape of travel intermediaries and the impact of AI on travel advisors. The episode also tackles the TikTok dilemma, exploring its political ramifications and the rise of AI-generated content. As technology blurs the lines of reality, discussions emphasize the need for authenticity and real-time data in enhancing customer service. The future of travel promises to be innovative and engaging!

The Experience This! team joined an Arival Pro Insiders Meetup for a discussion about Bruce's top 10 trends from 2024.Not predictions or forecasts, but what were the top trends with a look back at the top trends from prior years.For this show, we use a Zoom format with a few guests participating live and in real time. Enjoy!Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.

In this lively conversation, Justin Buzzi, CEO and founder of Get Up and Go Kayaking, dives into his unique journey from rapper to entrepreneur. He shares how his viral social media strategy fueled rapid franchise growth. Justin discusses mastering content creation, integrating customer retention strategies via a custom CRM, and using tools like YouTube for engagement. He emphasizes that every business can thrive with creative, platform-specific content. Plus, he reveals innovative loyalty programs and the importance of building a community around your brand.

Patricia Yates, CEO of Visit Britain/ Visit England fills us in on her recent trip to China, Visit Britain's upcoming launch of the latest "Film Tourism" campaign "Starring Great Britain" and how DMO's should consider the challenges of regenerative tourismShow videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.

Erika De Santi of We Road, Co-Founder and Chief of People Experiences joins Lori and Bruce to discuss We Road's secret sauce behind the companies highly successful growth strategy.  Learn about how they are building communities one trip at a time.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.

Join Christian and Bruce as we learn about Mindtrip, one of the hottest AI startups in travel. With a recent raise of $12M bringing their total funding so far to $20M, the group of 12 founders have experience from companies including Google, Apple, LinkedIn, ShopStyle, Roadster, Ariba. They're new to the travel industry and very confident they can duplicate their past successes. We have to admit, what they're working on has great potential and we love their approach of putting the traveler in the center of everything.They are specifically and definitely NOT a Trip Planner. Here's how they describe Mindtrip: "the most personalized way to discover, plan and organize any adventure — aound the world or in your own backyard."Add to that, it has built-in group chat which is a definite difference maker and  automated travel organization software (like Tripit for example). This is a company to watch for sure, we had a great show with Andy.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.

The god-father of tours and activities, Rod Cuthbert, joined Experience This! hosts Lori Timony, Bruce Rosard and Christian Watts on the most recent Experience This! Travel show. What a pleasure to share stories with "the man, the myth, the legend"! Rod shared his amazing founding story and how Viator was created as a spinoff from a failed Sabre Corporation project (good thing for Rod). He gave a lot of credit to Dominique Exmann who pioneered the rollout of Viator-branded, exclusive 'Skip the Line' access and VIP experiences at iconic sites including Musée du Louvre (Louvre Museum) Vatican City State Colosseum, Eiffel Tower and more that led to their leadership position in the market, and the acquisition by Tripadvisor (and compared that to what GetYourGuide and Klook are doing to catch up by raising almost $1B each! We discussed open marketplaces (like the current Viator) compared to curated sites like Civitatis and Headout. We talked about bootstrapping compared to seeking VC funding and Rod's really interesting comment about the value of having professional investors and the experience they bring. Of course he mentioned our mutual mentor and good friend, the late, great, Philip Wolf, founder of Phocuswright, one of the most innovative thought leaders on the intersection of travel and the internet from the early '90s, and the impact he sees with our creation of Arival. Fascinating show, thanks Rod!Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.

Dan Christian of Travel Trends Podcast joins Bruce, Christian and Lori to discuss the growth of the Multi Day Tour Market highlighting distribution, tech, funding,  raises and more!Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.

Join Bruce and Lori as they sit down with Pete Comeau from Phocuswright to delve into PCW Barcelona, the future of Travel Tech investments, AI advancements, the Next Gen Traveler, and much more.Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.

In this episode co-hosts Lori Timony and Bruce Rosard are joined by special guest Aransas Savas, Strategic Lead, Meaningful Motivation and Co-host of The Experience Strategy Podcast, as a leader of the Stone Mantel Team. An an Experience Strategist, Aransas helps companies ranging from Fortune 100 to startups integrate coaching principles into their employee and customer experiences, enabling them to have a greater impact on customers, employees, and companies by providing more value. We talk about the Experience Economy, what it means and how it relates to our world of in-destination experiences. One of the biggest takeaways is Stone Mantel's research (and others) that show that for people who are taking care of their basic needs (food, housing, health insurance, etc.), they put more value on their TIME than their MONEY. What does that mean for our industry and how do we all optimize people's time to ensure they consider their time with our company "Time Well Spent". This is a super important topic that we'll be discussing more here and at Arival, exploring how the in-destination experiences industry can learn from the broader Experience Economy experts, scholars and practitioners.Aransas brought up the interesting topic of customer journeys. We've all discussed our customer journeys, but are they ever right? How can they be if we don't know what "mode" our customer is in? This is such an important point. Listen to learn more!Show videos are posted on YouTube, subscribe and Like!Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page (Follow us and Discuss!)Podcasts available wherever you get your podcasts:Spotify, Apple, etc. - Subscribe and rate the shows.