Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and Opinions

There's so much happening at Airbnb related to Experiences, some of it well known, and some of it still being discovered by our industry.The big news, of course, is that they are removing 5000 experiences from their platform. And the way they did it, sending emails to experience creators, giving them two weeks notice and just cancelling trips that are already booked taking place after June 30 has really rubbed most of us in the industry in the wrong way. But the fact is, there are a lot of other ways these experience creators can sell their tours and activities and one of our guests, Madi Rifkin, Founder and CEO, Mount represents a new kind of distribution partner connecting experience creators with vacation rental hosts. The other, bigger news, is Airbnb's announcement about Icons. Here's their announcement:Airbnb is introducing Icons, a new category of extraordinary experiences hosted by the greatest names in music, film, television, art, sports, and more. Icons let you step into worlds you’ve only ever dreamed of. Drift off in the Up house. Spend the night in the Ferrari Museum. Hang out with Kevin Hart. Today, we’re unveiling the first 11 Icons on Airbnb, with new experiences dropping around the world throughout the year.“Icons take you inside worlds that only existed in your imagination—until now,” said Brian Chesky, Airbnb co-founder and CEO. “As life becomes increasingly digital, we’re focused on bringing more magic into the real world. With Icons, we’ve created the most extraordinary experiences on Earth.”Interestingly, most of the Icons will be available for free and the rest will go for less than $100 per guest, said Airbnb. Airbnb plans to make 4,000 tickets to these Icons available in 2024. Listen to the show to hear why they're doing this, but in short, its all about collecting user data and building the "Solar System" that is part of Airbnb's go forward strategy.Their new Group Functionality is similar. They want to start collecting user data from everyone in the booking, not just the person making the booking.  Sound familiar?Enjoy the show!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.

Viator sells more experiences than anyone in the world, by a wide margin.And they want to ensure they stay in the lead by continuing to focus on their top of the funnel and user acquisition strategies. At the same time, they want to rely less on Google. Social commerce is in its infancy, but it's going to come soon and it's going to be huge. Social channels and video and platforms like TikTok, Instagram,  YouTube and Pinterest are getting closer to being one click away from a booking and Sarah is working to ensure that those bookings end up on Viator.Once again, our conversation on Experience This! was fascinating!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.

Experience This! Show #39 is one of our best yet. Today I heard three phrases I haven't heard before:SGE: Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) is a new approach to search results. It's an experimental search experience that uses generative artificial intelligence (AI) to provide users with quick and clear overviews of search topics—without having to click on individual webpagesSTS: Strategic Text Sequences. OK, what?Harvard researchers introduce Strategic Text Sequences (STS) to influence LLM-driven search, especially in e-commerce. STS strategically inserts token sequences into product information, boosting visibility and rankings. The framework around STS leverages the Greedy Coordinate Gradient (GCG) algorithm for optimization.And my favorite from our guest Janette Roush, EVP Marketing and Digital, NYC Tourism +  Conventions:"The Shitification of the Internet"Our other guest, Brennen Bliss, Principal, Propellic, shared his deep knowledge on what's going on here as search is going through dramatic changes, right here, right now. Some references if you're interested in this topic (and since you follow Experience This!, you likely are):Janette's recent post on LinkedIn: "I'm hearing rumors that vendors are starting to sell destinations on a service to influence how the destination appears in outputs generated by LLMs - which sends my BS detector through the roof...." https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7187875476504293377/Christian Watts writes in Phocuswire about Gemini, Google Travel and the Threat to OTAs: https://www.phocuswire.com/gemini-google-travel-threat-to-online-travel-agenciesTwo part story from Mario Gavira, Vice President of Growth and Brand at kiwi.com, "Preparing Travel for the Future of AI Search"https://www.phocuswire.com/travel-marketing-ai-in-searchhttps://www.phocuswire.com/travel-industry-ai-searchShow 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.

Meet Iris Serbanescu, owner of Wmns Work a Tourism Business Accelerator Program for Women and Non-binary early stage entrepreneurs.  Meet Megan Kennedy, founder of Good Trip Adventures and past participant in Wmns Work.    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.

Meredith Rangel of Bookable Tourism joins us to discuss innovation in the Travel Industry. Is the industry lagging behind. Are some sectors ahead of others? Is the market too fragmented to create the right conditions for innovation?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.

Joined by Stephen Oddo from Walks (subsidiary of Hornblower Group), we discuss the latest updates with the Hornblower Chapter 11, the shake-up at the top of Rezdy & the Fareharbor connection, and rumors from Tripadvisor / Viator. This is a show not to be missed.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 plan was to talk about distribution for the in-destination experiences sector. What's new, what hasn't changed. But the conversation started with discussions of trade shows and again, what's new and what hasn't changed. There were definitely some different points of view, surprise, surprise and our featured guest  Peter Muttitt held his own with co-hosts Lori Timony, Christian Watts and Bruce Rosard.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.

Who knows more than Gen AI for Experiences than our co-host Christian Watts?  We say "nobody"!This show covers Christian's Year One overview and his prediction of what the top 6 topics for Gen AI will be for experiences as we enter "Year 2" of Gen AI.Here's a source for writing prompts that we mentioned on the show:beta.openai.comShow 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.

If you are looking for a mini masterclass in Brand Marketing, you have come to the right place.  Catherine Warrilow, Director of Brand Strategy for The Plot, joins Bruce Rosard and Lori Timony in an "all you need to know about Brand Marketing in 45 minutes" discussion.     This show is especially important for those smaller businesses that are unsure how to think about their brand and why they should.  Follow that with actionable advice that Catherine freely provides.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.

Bruce's annual review of top trends for in-destination experiences with critiques from co-hosts Christian Watts and Lori Timony.Bruce's list includes the most important things for the in-destination experiences industry to be paying attention to. Here's an article Bruce wrote on these top trends going into 2024. 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.