Travel Is Your Business

Travel industry news and analysis with Gene Quinn of Tnooz… Gene Quinn, Co-founder of Tnooz (a news website focused on news and analysis about travel technology – looking at marketing, systems, devices, distribution, social media, startups – (bio)), joins Pavan Bahl, John Matson and Peter Crysdale at the MouthMedia Network studio at Voyager HQ. The birth of Tnooz, 800 startup pitches, and mobile is the future Quinn reviews Tnooz as an eight-year old brand created in depth of a recession, to cover digital travel economy, resulting in a B-to-B media company. How the industry thinks of itself when covering itself. The digital travel economy, innovation through startups (which mean disruption), running more than 800 startup pitches, looking at systems. How he’s excited about mobile, and started a business three years before Facebook started. Mobile vs. mobile first, vs. mobile-centric, how a lot of companies have created incubators, and looking at global distribution companies like Amadeus. OTA’s, a new merchand

Smart luggage and Internet of Things travel products with Bluesmart… Diego Saez-Gil, Co-Founder and Chairman of bluesmart, a company offering a suitcase that tracks itself, auto-locks, and charges devices – (bio)) joins Pavan Bahl, John Matson and Peter Crysdale at the MouthMedia Network studio at Voyager HQ. Company origins from a passion for travel, first to market, and the biggest challenge Saez-Gil discusses his origins in Argentina, how backpacking around Europe created a passion for travel, leading to travel company on of the first mobile apps to book reservation from phone, WeHostels, the decision to create a smart connected suitcase with GPS, charging and tracking, weight sensors, digital locking, launched through an extremely successful crowd-funding campaign, raising a large amount of capital, and building a global brand bringing innovation into travel goods industry. Creating the first major suitcase innovation since adding wheels decades ago, the biggest hurdle was in R and D and creating reliable

Portable Outdoor Travel Safe with AquaVault… Avin Samtani, Co-Founder of AquaVault (a Portable Outdoor Travel Safe that was invented so you can lock up your valuables and go for a worry free swim) – (background), joins Pavan Bahl , Samantha Shankman and John Matson at the MouthMedia Network studio at Voyager HQ. A robbery leads to a business, perfecting the design, and Shark Tank Samtani recalls how the theft of the co-founders’ own belongings at a beach realized the need for a safe to store valuables at a beach or pool, and that day the AquaVault was born. Portal safes that lock on any lounge chair or umbrella, or any tubular support, how people get hands on the safe, prototypes with 3d printers, how it took 7 prototypes to be satisfied with the design, and getting patents. How the co-founders decided to do move forward with a strategy, starting with an inventor trade show, surf expo, then Shark Tank the experience of being one of the only companies to be selected from of tens of thousands of applicants, an

Airbnb property management and concierge service… Matt Lerner, Founder/CEO of MetroButler, (a front desk, concierge and cleaning service rolled into one for shared homes like Airbnb that eliminates all the logistical burdens of short-term renting by providing services customized to your home) – (bio), joins Pavan Bahl , Samantha Shankman and John Matson at the MouthMedia Network studio at Voyager HQ. Business model, expansion, and competition Lerner discusses how hosts come to MetroButler, which takes over a property and does everything necessary to make the rental successful, whatever is related, and MetroButler gets 25% of the fee of bookings, the host has to do nothing. Typical host demographics, advertising in NYC, expanding in other cities and some pilot cities, how it takes a lot of time to work out quirks of other properties, and lead gen is largely inbound. A fragmented market with a lot of competitors, defending against companies that perform a lot of services that might want to pivot into this spac

Overtourism in Barcelona and globally… Samantha Shankman, travel reporter, producer currently working on a documentary about overtourism in Barcelona (bio), joins Pavan Bahl and John Matson at the MouthMedia Network studio at Voyager HQ. Skift and Time, Inc., post-Olympic Barcelona, and responsive infrastructure Shankman talks about covering the business of travel, working on travel stories from the early days of Skift, joining Time Inc., working in the capacity of booking travel, now owning a bed and breakfast outside Barcelona, and how all of the experiences have allowed her to see travel from several angles, and on both business and consumer sides of travel. How a cold email got her a job as an early employee of Skift, how she decided to go into video production, and turned onto overtourism. Barcelona as an unknown city before the 1992 Olympics, its improved infrastructure, how Barcelona succeeded in building a brand as an artistic city with urban and beach experiences, great for dining, nightlife and art.

Travel innovation community building with Voyager HQ… John Matson, ‎Digital Director for Voyager HQ (a club for travel innovators which connects travel startup founders, investors, and corporations), and Co-Director of Startup Grind New York – (bio), joins Pavan Bahl and Samantha Shankman at the MouthMedia Studio at Voyager HQ. A pilot, helping companies grow, and a dent in innovation Matson discusses his background as a growth strategist being involved with startups, and current role helping companies grow as the Digital Director, with a focus on marketing. Voyager is a “pilot” to demonstrate necessity and impact of a structured community and space for travel innovation, powered largely by the family office of Fareportal’s Sam Jain [Episode 001]. Finding that travel startups need immense capital or a unique set of dynamic partnerships, how B-to-C really is B-to-B-to-C, providing this resource to these kind of companies, and why it turned into more of a community approach and an open ecosystem. How Voyager is

Aruba’s travel innovation and entrepreneurialism with ATECH… Varelie Croes (bio), Co-Founder and Board of Directors of ATECH Foundation (a community of entrepreneurs and investors and the Caribbean’s top conference for startups in Aruba featuring international speakers, and investors) and Founder and CEO The Liv Group, joins Pavan Bahl, Peter Crysdale and Tamara Wood from the studio at VoyagerHQ. Creating an ecosystem, building on what’s there, and what Aruba already knows Croes discusses the great conference of ATECH, Aruba as a great melting pot of cultures and history as a Dutch Colony, how rapidly growing tourism was developed by choice in Aruba, and creating a technological ecosystem and entrepreneurship to start or spend time in Aruba. How ATECH focuses on travel to build on what’s already there and how Aruba knows hospitality and travel and because it involves a broad sense of the movement of goods, people and data. Data, airport logistics, and biometrics in travel Data sources on the island and stat

CRM-driven reservation management… Joel Montaniel (bio), CEO/Co-Founder of SevenRooms (helping hospitality operators make better service easier with a customizable, CRM-integrated reservation book that intimately ties reservations to existing guest profiles and helps hospitality businesses to build new ones) joins Pavan Bahl, Peter Crysdale and Tamara Wood. Empowering hospitality, a 360-view of each guest, and keeping consistency Montaniel talks about what brought him from a career in finance to a switch into the tech world, making guests feel at home at hotels, nightclubs, restaurants, and more, about an essential data aggregator that’s helping hospitality groups make informed decisions, and how info on guests was built far more manually in the past. The difference in the sense of experience when different personnel are present. Moving from transaction-based business to understanding the guests at a multi-tier level. The power of integration with POS systems, the ability to access and aggregate data cross mu

In-flight entertainment and connectivity in aviation… Bess Chapman, Manager of In-Flight Entertainment and Connectivity for jetBlue Airways (bio), joins special hosts Marc Raco, Rob Sanchez and Julie Macalaster (Head of Strategy & Growth at Def Method) on-location at the Millennial 20/20 Summit in New York City. A place for the latest and greatest, next-gen features, and bringing humanity back to travel Chapman discusses falling in love with the aviation industry and how the job at jetBlue fell into her lap working at a media agency, what she prefers in on her own in-flight entertainment, what features and controls are necessary, on-demand capability, legroom, looking at the entire realm of what’s possible, wanting to replicate the at-home experience in the sky, enabling dual screening, free hi-speed internet, and making the aircraft a place to see latest and greatest and try new things. How jetBlue is trying to introduce passengers to their new favorite things, easing customer experiences, and defining i

Covering travel, leisure, food and wine with Time, Inc… Christina Grdovic (bio), Managing Director (overseeing advertising sales and marketing) of Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure Magazines at Time, Inc., join Peter Crysdale (Co-Founder of ReCorp), Pavan Bahl (CEO Open Source Business), and Tamara Wood for the second episode of Travel Is Your Business podcast. Starting with Time, Inc., new media, and content Grdovic discusses how she got to know and became involved with Food and Wine and Travel and Leisure, and the scope of the brands, publications and the work. New media, using data and the way it is packaged and sold, analyzing focus on content coverage, the relation to what advertisers need, how research shows people spend more money overall when traveling, and playing in luxury travel. Innovation, native content, and Top Chef Trying to keep up with the changing travel industry, and keeping a pulse on innovation. Comparing travel advisors as friends telling you where to go and what to do, and augment

Online Travel Agencies with Fareportal and CheapOair… Sam Jain (bio), CEO/Founder of Fareportal, CheapOair and OneTravel.com, Board Chairman of Voyager HQ, joins Peter Crysdale (Co-Founder of ReCorp), Pavan Bahl (CEO of Open Source Business), Rob Sanchez (COO of Open Source Business), and Marc Raco (CPO of Open Source Business) for the first episode of Travel Is Your Business podcast. Taking initiative to fill a gap, customer service, and introducing technology In one of his few in-depth interviews ever, Jain covers why he started CheapOair to fill a gap in current digital online travel space, and because of the lack large contact center presence. How his background in business-to-business and customer service led to creating a digital online travel agency with a customer service focus, now the only OTA today with a toll free number on every web page, and more than 2,000 travel agents full time. Turning a 4k debt on AmEx card into a huge business by trying to solve a dysfunction. his “coming to America” stor