Experience This! Travel Industry Insights and Opinions

Gilad Berenstein, venture capitalist, AI expert, and longtime travel tech entrepreneur joins us to discuss how AI is reshaping travel and hospitality. We explore the rise of agentic AI, the future of the connected trip, why many AI trip-planning startups may struggle to scale, and where AI can create real value behind the scenes for operators and hospitality businesses. Show videos are posted on Y...

In this episode of Experience This! Travel Show, we explore the future of the Connected Trip from TikTok's push into travel bookings and Google's evolving role in travel discovery to Expedia's AI strategy and the growing importance of in-destination engagement. We’re joined by Antoine and Marius, co-founders of IWander, an AI-powered travel companion that creates self-guided audio e...

Cathy Bennis (Audley Travel) and Ali Raymer (Peace and Pearl Travel) join Experience This! to discuss the evolving role of travel advisors, the rise of experience-led travel, creator-led trips, and why trusted human curation may be becoming increasingly valuable in the age of AI and overwhelming choice. Show videos are posted on YouTube , subscribe and Like! Comments and discussions on the Experie...

Is AI changing everything or just accelerating what was already true? In this episode of Experience This!, we sit down with Mauricio Prieto, co-founder of eDreams and creator of Travel Tech Essentialist, to explore the real impact of AI on travel, work, and business. From “structural optimism” to the risks of over-automation, we dig into what leaders should actually be paying attention to right no...

In this episode of Experience This!, we sit down with Jack Harris, founder of Tally Ho Experiences, to explore how AI is moving from a “nice-to-have” to the core of running a tours and activities business. From vibe coding custom dashboards to deploying autonomous AI agents, Jack shares how he’s rethinking operations, data, and decision-making in real time. Show videos are posted on YouTube , subs...

Lori, Bruce and Christian are joined by Beth Santos and Nikki Padilla Rivera to discuss She Shapes History New York, a walking tour concept focused on the hidden history of women. From storytelling and experience design to creator-led travel businesses, this episode explores a fresh and meaningful direction for the experiences industry. Show videos are posted on YouTube , subscribe and Like! Comme...

What if tour operators could build their own software in minutes without writing a single line of code? In this episode, former Carpe Diem CMO Oli Green introduces “vibe coding,” a new (not so new)  AI driven way to create custom tools just by describing what you want. Build dashboards, landing pages, and operational tools instantly. But, when should you build something yourself vs. pay for existi...

Group celebrations aren’t just trips.  They’re high-intent, multi-booking moments. In this episode of Experience This!, we talk with the CEO of Batch about how celebration-driven demand is reshaping discovery, booking behavior, and operator strategy. Show videos are posted on YouTube , subscribe and Like! Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page   (Follow us and Discuss!) Pod...

Sustainable Travel, Intellectual Travel, Niche, Luxury Travel, Food, Discovery, Small Groups.  You name it and Mary Collins from Far Horizons and Blue Fern Travel covers it all.    She's a rockstar and she joins Experience This! Travel to give us the full picture while also keeping us laughing. Show videos are posted on YouTube , subscribe and Like! Comments and discussions on the Experience...

Nick Gray, Co-Founder of Keyguides Connect introduces his approach to how Tour Guides are searched, booked and run their businesses. 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.

Josiah Filler, CRO at Peek joins the Experience This! Travel Show to discuss Peeks $70M raise and acquisition of Connect & Go and ACME Ticketing. 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.

James Lemon from Stripe joins us as we discuss Instant Check out in Chat GPT, the world of Agentic Commerce Protocol vs. Model Context Protocol and how operators can ready themselves for this new world. 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:...

Groupon is dusting itself off, investing heavily in Tech, becoming an AI first company and dominating the Things To Do space.   Listen in as Carrie Keplinger and Masha Sharma walk us through why the TTD vertical at Groupon has seen double digit growth for the past 6 quarters.   Show videos are posted on YouTube , subscribe and Like! Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page  ...

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.

In this episode we learn about multi-day tour tech from Murray Decker, founder and CEO, Tour Amigo. Tour Amigo is a leading SaaS platform for the multi-day sector. There are surprisingly few SaaS platforms for multi-day tech, and Murray discusses the challenges and the differences he sees with the Destination Experiences sector.  Arival has just launched a new research study on multi-day, the firs...

The show with Chris and co-hosts Lori Timony and Christian Watts was one of the most practical shows we've had about AI in a while.  Scrunch is going deep with AI search, and Chris provides some great tips and ideas in this show, I highly recommend you take a listen to this quick clip and hear Chris's main points: "The first thing we've outsourced at scale to AI is BROWSING&quo...

Get introduced to Jessie Fischer, Founder & CEO, GuestOS. Jessie got an early start in the hospitality business, starting when she was 12 years old, working at her family's motel near Yosemite National Park ​GuestOS is an AI-driven concierge platform tailored for the hospitality industry, aiming to enhance guest experiences through personalized, 24/7 multilingual support. Founded in 2023...

Greg Fisher, Founder and CEO of Tripshock and Wave Rez and author of "Mastering OTA's" joins the team at Experience This! Travel to discuss the need for and rise of niche OTA's, how Google is changing the search and buy landscape and of course, his new book and how it can help you grow your business. Show videos are posted on YouTube , subscribe and Like! Comments and discussio...

How will AI Agents impact OTAs and Google's Market share? We have a difference of opinion - shocking I'm sure. 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 have an AI update with Tahnee Perry from A25 featuring a discussion about her toolkit (115 and counting!).  But since this is the week (January 17 to be exact) that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold the U.S. ban on TikTok, we pivoted to also include Madi Rifkin, founder and CEO, Mount for her perspective. As a Gen Z entrepreneur with an "army Show videos are posted on You...

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 Experience This! team joined an Arival Pro Insiders Meetup for a discussion about Bruce's top 10 trends from 2024. Not predictions or forecasts, but what were the top trends with a look back at the top trends from prior years. For this show, we use a Zoom format with a few guests participating live and in real time.  Enjoy! Show videos are posted on YouTube , subscribe and Like! Comments...

Rap, Going Viral, Mastering Content, Customer Retention, Franchising and more with Justin Buzzi, CEO and Founder of Get Up and Go Kayaking! 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.

Patricia Yates, CEO of Visit Britain/ Visit England fills us in on her recent trip to China, Visit Britain's upcoming launch of the latest "Film Tourism" campaign "Starring Great Britain" and how DMO's should consider the challenges of regenerative tourism Show videos are posted on YouTube , subscribe and Like! Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn...

Erika De Santi of We Road, Co-Founder and Chief of People Experiences joins Lori and Bruce to discuss We Road's secret sauce behind the companies highly successful growth strategy.  Learn about how they are building communities one trip at a time. Show videos are posted on YouTube , subscribe and Like! Comments and discussions on the Experience This! LinkedIn Page   (Follow us and Discuss!) P...