Travel Tech Insider
Episodes
Private Equity Roundup & Rollups in Travel
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Private equity is playing an increasingly visible — and influential — role across travel and hospitality. From platform rollups and carve-outs to ...
Season Three Season Finale
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 yea...
Corporate Travel (Still) in Flux
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Cruising into the Future: How Technology Is Transforming the High Seas
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The cruise industry has quietly become one of the most fascinating — and technologically advanced — corners of the travel sector. Once viewed as a...
Adventures in FinTech: Stablecoins, Blockchain and Crypto
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 in...
The AI Effect (Part 3): Agentic AI & Future of Personalization
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Show NotesAgentic AI is the latest buzzword in travel tech — but beyond the hype, it raises big questions about how travelers will discover, plan, a...
Agentic AI (Part 2): The Emerging AI Tech Stack
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
The AI Effect (Part 1): The Future of Travel Distribution
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Generative AI has upended just about every part of the travel lifecycle for both buyers and sellers of travel services. From the consumer perspective,...
Social Commerce: Dead or Alive?
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With all the debate over agentic AI and its impact on the traditional search ecosystem, we seem to have forgotten all about that other massive acquisi...
Vacation Rentals in Flux
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The vacation rental industry has transformed from a scrappy alternative to hotels into a global powerhouse—but is the model starting to strain under...
SALON: The New Era of Investing - Lessons Learned for Investors
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this emerging AI era, what’s different this time when it comes to tech investing? We’ve seen major disruptions before, both business model (eg,...
SALON: The State of VC in Travel: APAC Edition
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In our first two seasons we took a deep dive into the venture investing scenes in both the US and European markets, comparing and contrasting the star...
Season Finale | What’s on Tap for 2025
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wrapping up season two of the Travel Tech Insider podcast, we turn the tables on our favorite trade media voices to hear what they’re keeping an eye...
M&A Part 2: The Exit | Founders Perspectives
24 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In part 1 of our exploration of M&A trends in the travel sector, we talked to the bankers and advisors who have a front row seat to the circus tha...
What’s Cooking with Food & Beverage Innovation?
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dining out, room service, fine dining, continental breakfasts, a fancy cocktail, and food and drink in general have always been a part of the travel e...
M&A Part 1: Buyers, Sellers and the State of the Market
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve spent a lot of time on the pod talking about startups, and now we’re going to shift gears to talk about the finish line, and what the climat...
The Travelization of Finance with Bilt Rewards and Super.com
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The fintech sector has expanded massively beyond its origins as a way to modernize and connect the plumbing across the various segments of the financi...
Aviation Innovation: What’s Up in the Air
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It might be hard to tell at times, but we’re in the midst of a renaissance when it comes to the air travel experience. Everything from the aircraft ...
The Future of Travel: Digital Identity & Universal Profiles
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve talked a lot on the pod about the mythical Connected Trip concept, and the vision for a unified travel experience across all the different tou...
The State of VC in Travel: Europe Edition
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last season we took a deep dive into the venture investing scene here in the US, including the different approaches taken by corporate ventures teams ...
Are Ancillaries Becoming the Main Dish? With Elad Schaffer & Michael Wolf
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ancillaries! It’s such a nebulous term for the travel industry that it’s incredibly hard to figure out exactly how big the market is — but we kn...
Innovation in Corporate Travel with Steve Singh
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Corporate travel has been ripe for disruption for quite some time, so why is it taking so long?Road warriors hate the tools they are compelled to use ...
Salon: The State of Innovation - VC, Corporate VC and Venture Studios
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Following up from our Season 1 episode on the investor perspective in travel tech, we bring you the latest from the front lines of venture capital and...
Season 1 Finale
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The season finale is here! Episode 10 wraps up with some special guests to help us check in on the latest goings-on among all the hot topics we covere...
AI: What We Know So Far, Part 2 - The Big Guys
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week we continue our deep dive into what we know so far about AI, and how it’s being used, being disruptive, being overestimated and perhaps un...
AI: What We Know So Far, Part 1 - The Startups
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a little over a year now since ChatGPT burst on the scene like a cannonball into a pool, soaking us all. The initial waves have settled do...
Social Commerce & the Zillennial Set: A New Paradigm for Travel?
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The way we travel has evolved pretty dramatically since the pandemic. The traditional “Dream/Plan/Book/Go/Share/Repeat” lifecycle has essentially ...
State of Loyalty
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The loyalty program as we know it was pioneered by American Airlines over 30 years ago. A lot has changed since then. As travel has become commoditize...
Emerging Business Models in Travel Tech
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To paraphrase Lenin (Vladimir, not John), “there are decades where nothing happens, and then there is NDC”. For those of us who have worked in tra...
What's Next for Luxury Travel?
26 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The luxury travel segment has always been about high-touch service and premium experiences. In a rapidly changing post-pandemic world where AI turns t...
Investor Perspective: Why is VC in Travel so Tough?
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to sexy startup ideas, the travel sector usually ranks at the head of the class. Nearly everyone travels, and thus can relate to the pai...
Destination Marketing: Where Are We Headed?
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Destination marketing is one of the biggest forces powering the travel industry that we rarely talk about. It’s the Goliath economic influencer hidi...
Innovation vs. Regulation
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guest Mark Farrell joins the pod to talk about balancing the need for innovation against the need for regulatory guardrails to keep us safe and ensure...