Virtuoso is hosting its third annual Travel Tech Summit during the 36th annual Virtuoso Travel Week on Saturday, August 10, at ARIA Resort & Casino. Dedicated to innovation within the luxury travel industry, the Travel Tech Summit focuses on "using smart technology to enhance human connection, rather than replace it." The aim of this year’s summit is to give Virtuoso members and partners access to thought leaders who will share their views on the future of travel technology, as well as best practices on adopting technologies to further enhance business back home.
The summit is led by tech entrepreneur, investor and Virtuoso board member Gilad Berenstein, who will open the discussion by sharing updates about the state of the travel tech ecosystem, key themes and trends he’s following in the development of AI, the “travelization” of finance, social commerce, the connected trip and more. He will be joined by Shane O’Flaherty of Microsoft and Richard Kerr of Bilt, who will also share their own work and learnings within key travel tech niches. Additional technologists, corporate innovators, venture capital investors and industry analysts within the Virtuoso network will take the stage, too. A fireside chat with academic leaders Dean Michael Chen of Florida International University’s School of Hospitality and Professor Christopher Anderson of Cornell’s School of Hospitality will cover the connection between business, technology and academics, as well as what students are currently learning as future leaders of the hospital industry. Carolyn Corda of Deloitte will share data surrounding the impact of AI on consumers and their evolving expectations from brands.
A panel of Virtuoso travel agency owners will focus on data, AI and how best to incorporate both into the luxury travel business. Attendees will later hear from a panel of venture capital investors including Cara Whitehill of Thayer Ventures, Betsy Mule of F-Prime and Meryem Aydin of Amadeus Ventures to discuss nascent innovations they believe are driving the luxury travel sector forward.
For a peek into the ongoing digital transformation at Virtuoso, Travis McElfresh, SVP, digital and consumer products, will highlight the development and significance of the Virtuoso Technology Ecosystem, discuss recent trends and partnerships, and explore how these innovations enhance the experience for member agency owners, advisors and preferred partners.
Finally, the Startup Showcase will return. Fifteen startup businesses will provide a deep dive into what innovation looks like in real-time, allowing attendees to be early adopters and advocates of future technologies. Startups will be divided into three deep dive sessions as outlined below, and attendees will be able to engage in two showcases of their choice. Information on the participating businesses follows:
Advisor, Agency and Hotel Tech and AI
- Mindtrip will give a deep view into the utilization of Generative AI. As one of the Generative AI trip planning services, Mindtrip helps travelers discover and plan trips, all with a focus on proprietary content, data and insights from a given agency, advisor or creator.
- Trip Boutique is focused on one-to-one AI recommendations based on a specific traveler, advisor, agency and their individual trip preferences and insights. Different from the generic recommendations that can be provided by GenAI, Trip Boutique is purpose-built for advisors and agencies who want the power of AI, but strictly within their own knowledge and content.
- GuestOS is using AI for customer service in a unique and differentiated way. Its AI learns about a hotel or other travel offering by reading content, data, and past interactions with guests to provide highly specific answers and recommendations to travelers.
- TravelWitz showcases AI technology in addition to its booking engine to help with package recommendations and yield management. It will show attendees how to use AI to create additional value for travelers while earning more commission and optimizing the entire booking flow.
- Travel Genius uses Computer Vision to scan a property, ship or any other type of physical space, to provide highly detailed information that can be used to answer specific questions and inform travelers of the realities and details of their trip—anything from the feel to the ambiance, the furnishings, mobility questions and other needs. This creates an opportunity to use AI to answer questions that most travel providers have historically struggled to answer at scale.
Social Commerce, Visual AI and Virtual Reality
- Joyned, an early pioneer in the arena of travel social commerce, enables travel companions to plan together on a given travel website, keeping them engaged with a given brand. Joyned is pioneering a new concept called social revenue, which goes deeper than other Gen 1 social Commerce platforms.
- GreetHer is a trip discovery and planning platform that utilizes a local "Bestie" to help female travelers dream, discover and plan. Once on the ground, the Bestie is there to support, answer questions and provide advice to help maximize the trip.
- @Hotels is a travel seller on social media and an innovator in travel discovery and storytelling. It proves that the conventional wisdom that travel bookings do not happen on social media is flat out wrong.
- Globe Thrivers is a platform that enables organic communities of travelers to be formed with all the social tools needed and expected by the Zillennial Traveler. With both B2C and B2B elements, agencies and travel brands can learn from Globe Thrivers’ organic approach to the next generation of traveler.
- Feeel uses virtual reality, along with 2D technology, to help a travel advisor or their client get a real “feel” for the property they will soon visit. Feeel will share how to use VR and imagery to tell a story that engages and increases conversion rates and traveler satisfaction.
Travel Perspectives and Optimization
- Wheel the World, a travel startup focused on access for the market of travelers with disabilities, will share its story and innovation on how it combines modern tech and age-old hospitality to better care for travelers.
- Intimacy Moons is a travel and retreat company that focuses on a segment of the market of travelers who wish to gain mental and psychological wellness through travel. It will share insights and innovation to show how to care for travelers who want more than a good time from their trips.
- Winnow helps hotels and other venues where food is served to tackle sustainable reduction of waste; a critical mission for an ever-growing segment of travelers who care deeply for sustainability. Winnow will demonstrate another example of computer vision AI and show how it creates the Win Win Win: happier travelers, improved economics and a positive impact on the world.
- Swayed is one more example of computer vision used alongside other types of AI to help hotels and other travel operators better understand their physical spaces and how travelers utilize them. This provides data and insight at scale, helping companies better understand the why and how of travelers’ needs and perspectives. Swayed will share how to collect new types of data and how to use that to improve physical spaces.
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