Travel Is Your Business

Collaborative technology to the global airline industry that enables its customers to improve the pace and quality of aircraft maintenance, leading to significant productivity gains, lowered costs and improved safety… Tripp Higgins, VP of Business Development, and Andy Hakes, Founder/CEO, of AireXpert (tech ops event control), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in theMouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Room for improvement in great communication with people out at airplanes and between travel companies and those people A lot of people working in adjacent roles who don’t work together and a lot situations develop on the fly Barriers – outsourcing, fragmentation of indie companies that don’t share resources Airlines relying on outsourced vendors, lack of training, very little standardization for communication AireXpert is a communication channel that creates a standardized link, that allows people to communicate in same space, on the fly How AireXpert’s business started Everyone

If you had an hour to sit with someone who helped build the fastest growing travel media company in the industry – what could you learn? From user-generated content, to the shift of the mobile-first environment and how trends have drastically shifted in travel, along with travel management companies, the joys of  traveling with family, and why not to take your eye off the ball in the travel industry… Anthony Derico, Business Mentor / Advisor for Quake Capital Partners and Business Consultant / Advisor to Voyager HQ,  and former VP/Head of Sales for Skift and Skift table, joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: The move to mobile as the biggest travel shift The next biggest shift? The cellphone as a tool of travel Skiplagged for finding cheap flights Influencer content and maintaining an authentic voice, and how everyone is an influencer when they travel and share on social media Making travel more accessible is a market share Does travel hav

Acquiring and retaining hospitality customers with surprise-and-delight rewards… James Nannos, Director of Hotel Sales & Partnerships for Stay Wanderful (a direct booking tool to increase guest conversion and provide surprise- and-delight rewards) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: How independent hospitality brands should think about retaining customers Independent hospitality chains don’t have a powerful distribution network Tangible guest rewards, differentiated experiences to guests, and then continuing conversation after the fact How can independents get in there and make a difference Most prefer experiences and benefits to points, most won’t get value out of points Personalizing small but highly perceived value rewards Most want to choose rewards If Stay Wanderful is in many properties, how that helps still customers choose a specific property Raising the bar of service won’t dilute the opportunity Stay Wanderful makes it look

Why the original travel app is partnered with so many brands and integrated into so much technology… Kristen Vasan, Director of Strategic Platform Partnerships for Foursquare (a technology company that enriches consumer experiences and informs business decisions through a deep understanding of location intelligence), joins John Matson in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: The state of personalization in the travel industry, gained some momentum Foursquare was previously thought as a social networking app, but is a contextually aware location platform that sits on top of some of the biggest brands’ tech Can build a contextually aware map of where people go People comparing brands to one another are looking at how technological experiences compare to one another  The risk of becoming the best tech company instead of best service Going from the check in app for locations,  and how Foursquare  pivoted to become a huge player in the enterprise location space How their API plays

Organizing business trips 90% faster, 30% cheaper via AI with a human touch… Filip Maksymilian Bloch (CEO) and Daniel Flynn (Business Development Manager) of Hotailors (a next-gen AI-powered travel platform  allowing organization of corporate travel faster, at a lower cost) join John Matson in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: What does Hotailors see changing in corporate travel bookings? Hotailors wants to treat your employees right Who’s driving the change in corporate travel? Identifying and relating to the pain of being a traveler Trimming down the “waste time” spent booking a trip SMD vs Enterprise Winning the market and becoming a unicorn Sizing up the market How Filip and Dan met Narrow Domain Intelligence vs General Form Intelligence Applying AI to the travel space Where Filip sees AI succeeding and thriving  How Artificial Intelligence will help travel be better, smarter, cheaper, faster, and more comfortable The competition in the travel AI space Hotailor’s hybr

The growth of Brussels Airlines in the Americas.. Andrea Bonaiuto, Marketing Manager for The Americas with Eurowings Group, joins John Matson and Bess Chapman  in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: The most effective B-to-B and B-to-C channels for Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, depending on gaol and purpose Having a smaller budget, acting in startup style in the Americas Working two brands Brussels has three points of departure in North America, but Eurowings has seven gateways in North America Local targeted events, getting people who haven’t travelled to a destination before, acquiring new customers, strategic partnerships Tomorrowland as the largest music festival in Belgium, seeking to create  a seamless customer journey experience and  related experiences, with live DJs at 30,000 ft A fun activation, working with United Airlines Gate parties Keeping customer loyalty when the customer may not be interacting directly with brand, consistency, quality service and experi

An eCommerce fraud protection solution that protects travel companies… Dean Locke, Head of Business Development at Riskified (the world’s leading eCommerce fraud-prevention company, trusted by hundreds of global brands – from luxury fashion houses and retail chains, to gift card and ticket marketplaces), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman  in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Travel as a high-ticket item, attractive to fraudsters because they can sell per transaction Smaller margins mean magnification of chargebacks How fraud happens Gift cards are highly targeted When revenue streams must shut down due to fraud A Cakeboss treat Being received in the travel space The shift to digital payment, and preparing for cryptocurrencies Indicators of risky transactions The tech scene in NYC See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does one of the world’s oldest and largest international tourism companies think about innovation? Jared Alster, Vice President of Marketing for Cox & Kings (offering customized private and group travel tours to India, Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Antarctica, Australia, and the Middle East), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Marketing to Americans outbound Domestic vs. international UK and Australia, different mindset than US, people brought up to be travelers. Brand loyalty largely non existent in the US Challenges of multi-day tour packages When operators makes sense in US – i.e. national parks US is largely a road trip approach B to C focus Being like a travel advisor Designing a site for clarity and purpose instead of for design’s sake More opportunity with people in later years than the past Reaching down as well into small luxury groups Government incentives, bodies rely on operators and agents for CTA to book a

A visionary executive and experienced senior revenue and strategy leader in the commercial airline business offers insight into what has turned the aviation industry on its head again  and again over the last 30 years… Marty St. George, EVP of Commercial and Planning for JetBlue Airways, joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. Note that Bess Chapman is interviewing Marty St. George only in the capacity as a podcast host – she also works for JetBlue Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of JetBlue. In the episode: Marty’s history with JetBlue and the Airline industry JetBlue focus cities and outlook on growth The fascination with bankruptcy and what he’s learned from it Changing with the times and evolving to meet demand; From down turn to profits, low cost to premium How customers will always dictate and pick what business model suites them JetBlue training; everyone from baggage handlers to vice presidents share the experience The future of the Airline industr

Discovering  locations around the world by horseback riding and other adventure activities with local people… Darley Newman (travel expert, published author and the host, writer and producer of Equitrekking, the Emmy-Award winning PBS TV series, and Travels with Darley on PBS, Create TV and on AOL, MSN Travel, Huffington Post, Amazon and over 2000 partner sites) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Botswana Salt pans and stargazing Discovering experts, keeping track of them for use indifferent locations Complicated logistics involved Horses and their personalities Getting charged by an elephant Being a safari guide Finding the right guides Less remote areas are still unique on horseback Something connects people because of horses Why horses are therapeutic for both mind and body Starting the show, how Darley manifested it, a background in journalism and behind the scenes How she started with a website and some videos Horses are a vehicle

A luggage shipping platform leveraging existing logistics networks, and including options such as doorstep pickup and additional coverage, with LugLess… Brian Altomare,  Director of Business Development for LugLess (a next generaton luggage shipping service), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: The first low-cost alternative to luggage and baggage shipping fees, start at the door, not at baggage clam Being friends to airlines With airlines, it is possible to be an asset The opportunity for partnerships How LugLess doesn’t need operational help Being in stealth beta mode for 12 months, with consistent growth New brand, positioning, model Can be an asset to any OTA with a booking engine Making agreements with hotels, airlines and OTAs, or direct to consumer API not a feature, it’s a tool Friction  – the effort to bring and do it ahead of time Can increase service Most are economy travelers with convenience Insurance considerations, relati

The next-generation gifting platform offering a smart, easy way to gift air travel… Fernando Camara, Co-Founder and CEO of Skyhour (creating the ultimate air travel currency that powers travel across platforms and industries), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Gifting travel, inspiring friends to become better people, inspiring people to go to new places and get new points of view, make an impact in their lives, travel is the best thing you can do How it started, a friend wanted to travel $140B on gift cards and less than 1% is spent on travel The goal of connecting giting and air travel industries Offering flight hours for $60/hour, and the ability to apply to virtually any airline The opportunity to crowdfund a flight Being able to sell tickets without dates or destinations Like creating a new currency Getting around liabilities in some restrictions The money goes to escrow accounts — if you don’t use the hours, the money goes back

Flexible, scalable cloud-based enterprise software solutions for the Reservation and Ticketing Management (RTM) space… Tal Shalit, Founder & CEO of Betterez (a leading reservations and ticketing management solution specifically designed to address the needs of travel, transportation and admissions companies, and part of the JetBlue Technology Ventures portfolio) joins John Matson (VoyagerHQ) and Bess Chapman (JetBlue Technology Ventures) in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: How Shalit used to work with Porter Airlines Learnings for bus industry – originally built a reservation system for small airlines Customers bus brands B to B, or B to B to C End to end reservation system, and how acquiring brands Selling the vision as assembling components Omnichannel experience for operators Getting going on any channel you need help with An intelligent way to set it and forget it and adjust over time An overlap for airlines Potential for air to bus to cruise, seamless customer j

Guiding consumer insights to build audiences, optimize marketing campaigns, collect data, and utilize life moments… Eric Bamberger, SVP of Hospitality for IgnitionOne (an award-winning Customer Intelligence Platform enabling marketers to understand, value and engage with their customers in real-time), joins “Fashion Is Your Business” podcast hosts Pavan Bahl and Marc Raco on location at the IgnitionOne Summit in New York. In this episode: Data has always been important to travel and other lifestyle industries Bigger companies operating with legacy systems, making consumer insights difficult Department of hospitality, organizing data, making it effective with clients IgnitionOne has a fundamental understanding of the customer journey First party data – the data a company can personally aggregate from their site, most companies don’t even know what to do with this data much less integrating third party data Connecting with CRM files Starting with cookies, using tags, create a scoring algorithm Processing in re

Streamlining the interaction between event organizers and venues… Kelsey Recht, CEO/Founder of VenueBook (a platform offering event venues that you can search, discover and book), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: A look at the meeting and events industry and what drives growth Despite digital, no substitute for in-person meetings, companies are hosting more events, but the types are changing Different ways people thinking about meetings, how the travel industry has to adapt to changing landscape VenueBooks’s user acquisition The influx of accidental event planners Circumventing issues with inventory side Becoming skilled at helping venues skew inventory toward what is most in demand The attention to better experiences A focus on top notch booking experience overall, a very sophisticated platform How VenuBook conversion rate is at 20% Availability and pricing are generally the biggest friction. Transparent pricing helps Customers are

Virgin and its mission of changing (travel) business for good… Allison Daniels, Investment Manager at Virgin (a leading international investment group and one of the world’s most recognised and respected brands), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Changing business for good Taking mundane experience or pain point and turning it into something better Making things better from sustainability to safety videos Capital intensive investment strategy, legacy and opportunistic Taking people to the next frontier Virgin Voyages  – new cruise business Whensuper-expericed people live and breathe the Virgin ethos and lead a new initiative A new way to cruise in a sector hungry for disruption, integrate health and wellness and a beautiful ship designed in part by known designers on land, making ship work for customers, technology plays a big part A lot more to be revealed about the ships, and the ecosystem on how the ships are built and limited supp

Day-use hotel rooms with early check-in as a hospitality marketing and revenue hack… Yannis Moati, CEO of Hotels by Day (gives travelers a comfortable daytime hotel room for half the price of an overnight stay), joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: The biggest opportunity hotel revenue management – the idea of reimagining a hotel Revenue management is a new science, becoming complex New orthodoxies in hotel revenue creation being developed regularly Conversation has changed from disinterest to wanting to discuss A niche play in nascent sector Flexibility of hotel consumption, responding to an on demand society A rigid check-in/out schedule doesn’t work for today’s society Protocol, tech, marketing funnel to become more flexible one step at a time, because it’s a big operation Hotels don’t see this as hourly play – more like a block of time Types of hotels that Hotels by Day works with, segmenting customer base based on hotels they have S

The real story behind WiFi on flights with Viasat… Chris Dankberg, who runs Partnerships for Viasat (a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studios powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: How Viasat is about solving really hard problems Why WiFi is slow on flights Prior to 5 years ago,ViaSat was about WiFi via satellite for government and private air services People got used to texting and checking sites that were urgent for destination (weather, hotels, etc.) The growth of market for Viasat’s tech , high capacity satellites over different frequency bands enabled differently, market wasn’t ready Why WiFi on planes is so expensive Allocating capacity on an as-needed basis Unprecented bandwidth economics The abiity that you could hand off seamlessly from ground to air started being palatable The opportunity waited for Viasat to launch a satellite Demand wasn’t forecasted correctly, so ther

The state of travel, the explosion of travel technology, venture capital, and the future of the industry from the perspective of investors in the travel space… Thomas Sparico, Founder/Managing Partner of Brand New Matter and Gillian Morris, Founder of HitList [Episode 33] join John Matson, Bess Chapman, and guest host Brandon McKenzie for a MouthMedia Network Live event recorded in front of a live audience at Experience by Knotel, an interactive space located in the heart of Noho in New York City (666 Broadway) designed to showcase the experience of working in a flexible, adaptable, always energized environment. Sponsored by Knotel – Your agile business deserves an agile space. Knotel will find, customize, and operate your ideal office while you focus on your business. Discover more at www.knotel.com In this episode: The fundraising landscape in travel, how it feels like someone else is getting all the money A lot of investors have been burned in the travel industry Location matters such as NY vs. SF Knowing

Lithium battery-powered travel… Ned Horneffer, Director of Business Development for Romeo Power Technology (creators of the world’s most energy-dense battery packs) joins John Matson and Bess Chapman in the MouthMedia Network studio powered by Sennheiser. In this episode: Romeo Power Technology is counting on that electrical is the future of transportation Electrification will take over all forms of transportation, batteries tech will increase The challenge of being able to retrofit vehicle with batteries Startups can move quickly, they are really sold on lithium and electrification Larger players, the secret is to find out how serious they are Developing and getting a proof of concept for a fleet of vehicles Regional transportation need so great, could affect regulation Will technology affect consumer behavior, or will consumer need push technology development and adoption Will people know how to handle it? Flying cars Influencing regulation as a brand UL certification important How battery power for aircra