Travel Tech Essentialist #130: YOLO
What do jobs, a global pop icon, AI, GenZ, and YOLO have in common? They're all starring in this edition of our newsletter :-) I hope you enjoy it.
Pattern sponsors this newsletter:
Pattern enables online businesses to provide their customers with personalized insurance products powered by its innovative platform. Enhancing customer experience in bookings and registrations, Pattern learns consumer preferences through machine learning to deliver the most meaningful, tailor-made propositions. Customers benefit from a single integration to offer multiple products controlled via a no-code backend and optimized conversions. Contact Pattern to learn more.
0. The most clicked link in the previous newsletter
The most clicked link in Travel Tech Essentialist #129 was Brian Chesky’s interview on Lenny’s Podcast.
1. Introducing the Travel Tech Jobs Newsletter
Last week, I launched a new
newsletter. Seeing the consistently strong interest in the jobs section of this newsletter, it became clear that there was a need for a dedicated space to explore the latest and most attractive job opportunities out there, from dynamic startups to industry leaders. Every two weeks, I will send a recap of the top and recent jobs from the Travel Tech Essentialist Job Board. Check out issue #1 from last week.If you're contemplating a career move, simply curious, or an HR professional seeking job insights, I hope you’ll subscribe to the
newsletter.2. Impact of GenAI and social video in travel planning
According to a Deloitte Travel Survey, Gen Z leads in adopting social tech in trip planning. Long video content is preferred to short video content by Millenials, GenX and Boomers, while GenZ prefers shorter videos. Millennials lead the way in the use of GenAI tools for travel planning.
3. How Taylor Swift is changing travel
Over the past decade, Taylor Swift has significantly influenced the music and entertainment industries. Her Eras Tour is shaping the world of travel, with cities hosting her concerts experiencing record-breaking hotel occupancies and innovative promotions. The tour has led to substantial economic benefits in each location, with hotels, airlines, cruises and tourism sectors adapting to accommodate the surge in demand from Swift's fans. This CNN article, with data from Lighthouse, STR, and RateGain highlights how Swift's tour is reshaping the tourism and hospitality industries worldwide.
4. The Taylor Swift Short-Term Rental Effect
More on Taylor Swift. According to an AirDNA analysis, her Eras Tour generated $27.3 million in revenue for short-term rentals in the 20 US cities she visited. Across all 20 cities, 75% of the revenue lift was driven by greater demand for STRs during concert weekends, with the remaining 25% coming from average daily rate premiums.
Next summer, the Eras Tour is headed to Europe. It will cover 18 cities with 48 concerts and is already setting the stage for an extraordinary surge in short-term rental demand.
5. What Amadeus Ventures is focused on
The Travel Innovation Report 2023, published by Travolution, features an interview with Suzanna Chiu, Head of Amadeus Ventures. Since its founding in 2014, Amadeus Ventures has introduced more than 3000 startups to the different Amadeus business units and partners. Some of their current key areas of interest are:
Generative AI, from trip planning and travel searches to productivity tools like reviews and customer service.
VR, particularly around hotel shopping and booking.
Leveraging the power of data to create a better experience for the traveler through increased personalization and supporting more efficient operations of the travel providers.
Sustainability, both from the environmental and social perspectives, so that tourism can contribute to local economies and favorably impact the lives of those there.
The report also includes a feature on Spain’s thriving travel tech ecosystem and IT travel sector spending trends.
6. Revenue comparison Marriott, Booking, Airbnb
From 2005 to 2020, Booking.com steadily narrowed the gap in annual revenue compared to Marriott. However, the actual difference in their yearly revenues has remained relatively consistent since then. Both have widened the revenue gap vs Airbnb in the past three years.
7. Sell, Sell, Sell
I’ve always thought it curious that business schools have plenty of classes on finance, marketing, HR, operations, etc…, and very little on sales. Sales is a core skill in entrepreneurship. As a founder, you are always selling: to yourself, potential cofounders, employees, customers, media, partners, and investors. This article by Michael Alter, a professor of entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth, discusses the importance of sales skills for entrepreneurs. It's about the founder being the central sales force, using a mix of knowledge, discipline, and skills. It also breaks down four myths about sales in entrepreneurship, stressing that effective sales is not just about having a great product or hiring a salesperson.
8. The premium of proximity
Scott Belsky (Behance founder, Adobe CPO, Implications newsletter) writes that as every company becomes increasingly remote-friendly, physical proximity and new digital equivalents will become a competitive advantage. He forecasts that:
Virtual companies will need the benefits of a physical offsite annex, which could breed a new form of hospitality: “retreat properties” designed for collisions with people and relationship building instead of isolation and privacy. The opposite of hotels, designed to keep people apart.
New technologies will emerge that make remote work feel more physical, such as Roam's "virtual cloud headquarters," bridging the remote work gap by recreating physical offices' spontaneity and visibility.
Managers will augment themselves with AI to provide better feedback, monitor performance and decision-making, and ensure objectivity and data-driven insights.
9. YOLO sells travel
A great ad by Plum Guide and a good reminder that travel can augment life.
10. Fundraising and deals
WeRoad, a fast-growing group adventure travel scaleup, closed an €18 million Series B round led by H14, an Italian family office.
Raus, a platform offering cabins for nature-based stays, raised €8.5 million in a round led by Roch Ventures.
@hotel, the platform enabling instant booking via Instagram, completed a strategic funding round of $4 million. Lead investors include Jeff Boyd (former CEO of Booking), Robert Mylod (Chairman of Booking), David Fischer (CRO of Facebook), Morgan Brown (Product & Growth at Instagram), Luc Levesque (Chief Growth Officer at Shopify).
Layla, a Berlin-based travel discovery platform, closed €3 million in a round led by Firstminute Capital, with participation from Booking.com’s co-founder Andy Phillips, Skyscanner co-founder Barry Smith, and Paris Hilton.
LUGGit, a Portuguese luggage management service startup, closed a €1.8 million round led by GED Ventures and Caixa Capital.
In its 1st acquisition since going public, Airbnb bought Gameplanner.AI, which has been operating in stealth mode since 2020, in a deal valued at $200 million. Co-founded by a creator of Siri (now owned by Apple), the startup will be "accelerating select AI projects and integrating their tools into our platform," according to Airbnb.
Travel Tech Essentialist Job Board
Explore hundreds of open positions on the Job Board. For tailored updates, subscribe to our job alerts: You can opt for broad alerts on new postings or more specific alerts, such as, for example, when new roles in Spain, or new Marketing roles in London, or new remote jobs are posted.
Here are the five most clicked jobs this week:
Virtuoso, VP Hotels & Resorts (New York)
Airbnb Business Operations Lead Spain & Portugal (Barcelona)
DHARMA, Marketing Director (Remote)
Airbnb, LATAM Connections & Media Activations Lead (Mexico)
Expedia, Director of Business Planning (Multiple locations)
→ Are you hiring? If you want your company's openings featured on our job board, please fill out this quick 1-minute form, and we’ll showcase your opportunities to our talented community of professionals.
Travel Investor Network
Travel Investor Network is a private platform launched by Travel Tech Essentialist for investors and innovators to discover innovative travel startups. If you are a startup looking to raise a round (from pre-seed to Series D), maybe I can help (for free). Please start by completing this form.
If you like Travel Tech Essentialist, please consider sharing it with your friends or colleagues. If you’re not yet subscribed, you can do so here:
And, as always, thanks for trusting me with your inbox.
Mauricio Prieto
This idea of “Retreat properties” designed for collisions with people and relationship building instead of isolation and privacy... something to be hopeful for, I think. I stayed in a newly revamped hotel in Brussels recently that had this kind of flavour – big brutalist thing (I happen to quite like brutalism) with space for privacy, and large yet casual spaces for meeting and collaboration, especially the busy dining area. Full of young/middle-aged professionals. Great vibe.