Sustainability in travel hasn’t disappeared, it’s just gone quiet. After a decade of bold net-zero commitments, ESG branding, and high-profile climate pledges, the conversation in the U.S. has cooled. Political pressure and cultural backlash have pushed sustainability out of the spotlight, leaving many to assume momentum has stalled. But beneath the surface, the opposite may be true. Major airlines are still investing in SAF. Hotels continue to fund energy efficiency and retrofit progra...
Jul 21
48 min
Destination management organizations occupy a strange place in the travel ecosystem. They exist to promote places — countries, cities, regions — to travelers around the world. But they rarely control the product, they almost never touch the transaction, and their ROI has always been notoriously difficult to measure. Which raises a question that’s hard to avoid right now: do DMOs still matter? The short answer is yes, but not in the way they used to. The traditional DMO playbook — trade show p...
Jul 14
57 min
Travel is one of the largest industries in the world, yet its economic significance is chronically underappreciated — by consumers, by policymakers, and even by the markets that price it. In the United States alone, domestic travel accounts for the vast majority of the industry’s GDP contribution — yet public discourse and government measurement almost exclusively focus on inbound international tourism. Meanwhile, the World Travel & Tourism Council estimates that travel and tourism repres...
Jul 7
51 min
Private equity is playing an increasingly visible — and influential — role across travel and hospitality. From platform rollups and carve-outs to growth equity investments in scaled travel tech, PE capital is reshaping who owns what, how companies grow, and what “success” looks like beyond venture-backed exits. This episode unpacks how private equity really works, how it differs from late-stage venture capital, and why travel and hospitality have become such compelling hunting grounds for PE ...
Feb 24
53 min
As we close out Season 3 of Travel Tech Insider, we’re stepping back to reflect on the conversations, debates, and signals that defined the past year—and to look ahead at what 2026 may have in store for travel, hospitality, and the technology shaping it all. We kick things off at the macro level, asking our guests to share one or two defining lessons from 2025. Those insights span far beyond any single theme—touching on investing, AI, business building, travel behavior, and even how leaders a...
Dec 30, 2025
49 min
When we last visited the corporate travel side of the industry with OG Steve Singh about a year and a half ago, most of us were still kicking tires on ChatGPT and “agents” still referred to humans. Fast forward to today, and the implications of agentic AI are reaching into every nook and cranny of even the most slow-moving corners of the industry, like corporate travel. With travelers getting more comfortable relying on LLMs to help them plan leisure travel, will they naturally extend that us...
Dec 23, 2025
54 min
The cruise industry has quietly become one of the most fascinating — and technologically advanced — corners of the travel sector. Once viewed as a niche for retirees and sun-seekers, it’s now riding a powerful wave of innovation, luxury, and digital transformation. From ultra-high-end yachts to fully connected smart ships, cruising has evolved into a microcosm of where travel is headed next. In this episode, we unpack the major trends shaping the modern cruise market — and explore what makes ...
Dec 9, 2025
1 hr 2 min
Fintech has quietly become one of the most transformative forces in the travel industry — shaping how we pay, how we earn and redeem loyalty, and increasingly, how companies manage global transactions behind the scenes. From B2B payment flows between hotels, OTAs, and suppliers to B2C innovation in digital wallets, loyalty currencies, and embedded finance, fintech is no longer just an enabler — it’s a strategic differentiator. Fintech also plays a role in the expanding agentic AI space. After...
Dec 2, 2025
57 min
Show Notes Agentic AI is the latest buzzword in travel tech — but beyond the hype, it raises big questions about how travelers will discover, plan, and book their journeys. Will the power of agentic AI reinforce the dominance of OTAs like Expedia and Booking, or will it open the door for smaller travel brands to compete on equal footing? In this episode, we explore what agentic AI means for personalization in travel retailing and service delivery: how it could reshape loyalty, rewire customer...
Nov 25, 2025
1 hr 4 min
Generative AI is not only impacting how travel is bought and sold as we heard in Part 1 of our AI Effect series, it’s also impacting how companies are building and delivering the travel services that are bought and sold. Companies used to stockpile servers, engineers and access to bandwidth, all of which required considerable capital. In this new AI era, anyone can use Replit or Lovable to spin up their own travel app in a matter of hours. Companies no longer need teams of expensive engineers...
Nov 11, 2025
57 min
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