Travel Tech Essentialist #134: Evolving
In this edition, we explore how the hospitality sector is adapting to major consumer trends, examine the role of AI in enhancing sales productivity, and provide insights for strategic career decision-making. I hope you enjoy it!
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0. The most clicked link in the previous newsletter
The most clicked link in Travel Tech Essentialist #133 was David Sacks’ The Dark Side of Sales on how to prevent the unintended consequences that powerful incentives can create.
1. Digital hotel operations study
h2c published its Digital Hotel Operations Report based on feedback from 84 hotel chains representing more than 17,000 properties and 2 million rooms worldwide. Some of the conclusions:
63% of hotel chain revenue was booked online in 2023, up from 59% in 2022.
46% of online bookings were direct, up from 34% in 2022. OTA bookings were 54% of total bookings, down from 66% in 2022.
Ancillary sales during the stay are only used by 27% of hotel chains today.
Within the guest journey, the greatest potential for improving the guest experience through digital operations is in the arrival and stay phases.
2. Luxury hotels catch the sleep wave
I wrote about the forgotten hotel product: Sleep Experience in my last newsletter. This article by Vanita Salisbury also discusses the rising trend of sleep-focused travel experiences and technologies. There is a shift towards seeking rest and peace in travel, with luxury hotels like the Carillon Miami offering advanced sleep-enhancing technologies. The article focuses on the Bryte bed, available in various luxury hotels, which customizes firmness and provides a full-body massage with audio meditations. The bed tracks sleep metrics, offering users detailed reports on their rest. The article highlights hotels prioritizing sleep in their room designs, incorporating soundproofing, blackout shades, and a special bedding setup to create an optimal sleep environment. The sleep economy is booming, valued at $432 billion in 2019 and expected to reach $585 billion.
3. Quebec's travel twist on the pickleball craze
With 36.5 million players, pickleball was the fastest-growing sport in the United States in 2023 for the third consecutive year. Tapping into this craze, Destination Canada just announced the opening of a Pickleball Spa in Quebec. It's a pop-up winter spa experience, with pickleball as its main attraction. Mastering your pickleball skills while wearing a bathrobe comes at a hefty price, though; a four-day, three-night stay starts at $4,715 per pair. Read +.
4. A crucial stage of company-building: -1 to 0
The concept of ‘-1 to 0’ contrasts with the more commonly known ‘0 to 1’ phase in startup development. While 0 to 1 focuses on achieving Product-Market Fit, -1 to 0 is about Founder-Market Fit. Ruchi Sanghvi, founder of South Park Commons (SPC), describes -1 to 0 as a critical period of figuring out what you want to build before trying to build it. To get to Founder-Market Fit, entrepreneurs must explore ideas to find one that resonates deeply. Read +.
Good ideas aren’t enough—you need great ones. The difference is conviction earned through a disciplined ideation process. Others might call it proof: the thing you build, the story you tell about the problem it solves, and why you are the right person to build that solution. You should try to find as much as you can of each in -1 to 0. — Ruchi Sanghvi
5. The three laws of human behavior
This article by Aline Holzwarth introduces the Three Laws of Human Behavior, drawing inspiration from Isaac Newton's three laws of motion.
Isaac Newton's law of motion #1: An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion unless an external force acts upon it.
Law of human behavior #1: Humans are creatures of least resistance, sticking to the status quo unless significant effort is made. There are two types of forces influencing behavior: "friction" (obstacles) and "fuel" (motivators).
Isaac Newton's law of motion #2: The force acting on a subject is equal to the mass of that object times its acceleration. F = ma.
Law of human behavior #2: There are two crucial elements for understanding human behavior: individual characteristics and the environment.
Isaac Newton's law of motion #3: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Law of human behavior #3: For every decision made, there are tradeoffs and the potential for unintended consequences. This law highlights the concept of opportunity cost and the importance of weighing pros and cons.
The article notes the growing importance of applying behavioral science in various industries, drawing a parallel with the impact of Newton's laws on the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment.
Jose Luis Vilar, co-founder of Caravelo, shared on LinkedIn how they apply these behavioral laws to his company's strategy in designing and building solutions for airline subscriptions.
6. The pocket guide of essential early-stage sales advice
Thanks to Rustom Birdie (Strategic Accounts Executive at Pachama), I discovered the insightful Twitter account of Jen Abel, who specializes in founder-led and early-stage startup sales. Her insights are invaluable for anyone in this space. These 20 bite-size learnings give plenty of food for thought (and action). Here are a few:
0-1 sales talent does not exist. Founders, this is you.
80% of early sales is getting them excited by YOU, the Founder — how you see the world and how you uniquely solve their specific problem. The product is the other 20%.
Product/market fit is almost always found in adjacent markets. Don’t handcuff yourself to Day 1 market vision.
If the problem is not being measured or managed, it’s likely not a priority.
The quality of your questions is critical for discovery; the quality of their questions is critical for intent.
Someone asking for more features is never an early adopter.
7. 10x Salespeople
The concept of '10x engineers' seems to get more airtime, but this short post by Tomasz Tunguz -10x Salespeople- highlights the transformative potential of AI in boosting sales productivity. By compressing prospect research time, automating email composition, and capturing transcripts from sales conversations, AI can automate about 50-80% of tasks usually done by Account Executives. AI is enabling salespeople to work with multiple prospects simultaneously, in contrast to the traditional sequential approach. This could result in Account Executives achieving 10x sales volumes. In extreme cases, this potential performance boost might result in adjusting sales compensation towards equity rather than cash because retaining these 10x salespeople will become a strategic imperative to the business.
8. AI Sales Software
If you’re interested in digging deeper, you might look at this list of AI Sales Tools, organized into various categories (Email Outreach, LinkedIn Outreach, Account Research, Intent Signals, Sales Assistant, etc.…).
9. The “Next Next Job” - a framework for making big career decisions
Andrew Chen, partner at Andreessen Horowitz, proposes a strategic framework he calls "Next Next Job" for making significant career decisions. It begins with the question: What do you want the job after your next job to be, and why can't you get it right now? This method helps identify long-term career goals and the steps needed to achieve them rather than making decisions based on immediate roles and offers.
To apply this framework, we should:
Define broad career goals or "big buckets" of potential “next next” jobs.
Talk to people already in those roles to understand the required skills and experiences.
Identify the gaps we need to fill to reach the desired “next next” job.
Consider if there's a "superpower" that can compensate for any gaps.
10. Funding and M&A
Center, a corporate credit card and real-time travel & expense management solution, raised $30 million in Series C.
Indian luxury hospitality start-up Elivaas, raised a seed round of $2.5 million.
Joyned, an Israeli SaaS company that offers a social shopping plug-in for travel websites, raised an undisclosed amount from Velocity Ventures.
Mallorca-based distribution platform Fastpayhotels acquired Payparc, a startup that creates instant digital payments.
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Mauricio Prieto