Take the robot out of the human

I saw a saying this week about how AI can “take the robot out of the human” which really struck a chord.

As we’ve moved into the next phase of our roadmap with Videreo, we’ve been going deep on where creator’s pain points are. What are the things they wish they could do more of but don’t, because it takes too long or is too laborious, and makes the lemon not worth the squeeze.

This is where AI can excel.

Most creator’s we’ve spoken to go through the “what should I post next” anxiety and some of the more creative ideas can take a long time to set up - with no guarantee from the all-conquering algorithm that it will get the result they hope for.

Funnily enough we’ve also come across this same pain with non-creators. Travel agents have told us they know their socials are not great (but wish they were better). It isn’t their skill set. Same again with small tour operators.

Most of all, all these groups want to add value to those who have chosen to follow them. This is how they’ve earned the respect and trust of this audience. It’s not something they take lightly.

These insights have led us into what we need to build next for those we serve, these same creators or who just want to create.

Very excited about what is coming next.

This content is provided by the (interim) newsletter sponsor Videreo.com

Linz Tourism breaks the internet with AI created video

The new AI created tourism advertisement for Linz Tourismus is something else!!! Woweee - talk about pushing AI boat out!

And I love it!

I always advocate to those I consult with that if they are going to go down the AI creation route - they need to come up with a concept first and then go all in.

I usually use Tourism Western Australia “Walking on a Dream” campaign of a giant whale shark floating in the sky over WA’s famous sites as an example of good concept for AI.

No-one watching, is perceiving what they are seeing to be real and therefore, there is no risk of the viewer feeling duped when they actually arrive.

The Walking on Dream campaign was pre Gen AI video and therefore no doubt expensive to produce.

And that of course is the point.

Doing wacky stuff is now not (theoretically) expensive to produce.

Agency Fora Ultra 4000 have done a great job here and I’m sure it still wasn’t cheap but before this year, I’d say it wasn’t realistically possible at all.

Very happy I now have a new and very AI example to offer clients on how to go all in, if this is the approach you want to take.

The tourism board here is walking the talk on “Take a Risk on Linz”. Congrats to them all.

Want to try your own concept? Midjourney released its Video Mode yesterday.

Marriott, Accor and Expedia all open up on AI

Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano dialed in from the sunny south of France during the Cannes Lions festival with this interview with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi.

When it came to AI Capuano said “We've created something called the Marriott AI incubator where we're running all sorts of proofs of concept, but I think you hit on both the points. At the property level and above property level, there are some work streams that are going to be enhanced significantly in terms of efficiency through artificial intelligence.”

For Capuano, AI is an enabler for speed and scale. And at almost 10,000 properties across the portfolio, that is what they need.

“The way I talk about it internally, whether it's AI or other technology platforms, what they'll do for us and for our associates is create capacity. Thankfully, ours is still a human connection business, but if through the use of technology, I can create 30, 60, 90 seconds of capacity for my front office agent, rather than looking at a screen, to look you in the eye, figure out why you're traveling, if you've had a tough travel day, maybe do something to enhance your experience, that's maybe the piece of technology I'm most excited about.”

Further North in Paris at the Viva Technology 2025 conference Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin and Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin “described how generative and agentic AI are reshaping internal operations, customer experiences and partnerships.”

“For Bazin, who leads one of the world’s largest hospitality groups with 6,000 properties and 350,000 employees, AI can streamline non-customer-facing tasks.

“Before you come into the hotel, after you leave the hotel, you will be 90% AI-driven,” Bazin said. “Booking, choosing what you want, what you need — all of that will be clearly AI.”

Probably half of the people within a hotel do tasks which have nothing to do with guest enhancement,” he said. “They’re managing plumbing, electricity, logistics, legal, tax. All of that will be 90% removed by AI. It’s going to be automated, it’s going to be faster, it’s going to be more reliable.”

Crikey.

Bazin was quick to qualify, “You’re going to have very few jobs actually replaced by AI, as long as you can offer a new mobility, a new experience, a new skill to that person,” he said.

As for Expedia, the article reports “Expedia’s strategic vision is twofold. The company plans to build AI-powered experiences across its own platforms and embed those capabilities in other companies.”

There was quite a bit of talk about Expedia’s new consumer facing “Instagram Trip Matching” tool, which we’ve covered here before. Of course, they are only like to embed that tool for other companies on the proviso that the end booking happens on Expedia……… which is not what most partners want.

We’ve had quite a bit of outreach from other companies asking if Videreo can provide similar technology for them (and end up in their own booking links for the packages).

The answer to that is Yes, so reach out if that is of interest.

5 big AI travel fails

Forbes took a look this week at some AI travel fails, many I hadn’t actually heard about.

“For example, in August 2024, Qantas accidentally listed first-class round-trip tickets between Australia and the U.S. for just $3,400—a whopping 85% lower than the usual cost.”

The company contacted all the lucky purchases to let them know their purchase had been cancelled. Not big on the “surprise and delight” over at QANTAS. I pretty sure as a story that could have received well over $1M in EMV from PR had they closed the loop then told the story. So, a double fail really.

“In Bavaria, an Iraqi tourist asked about "train carriage separations" using a translation app. The app misfired, rendering it in German as "train explosion." Alarmed, a fellow passenger alerted authorities. The train was evacuated…”

AI giving up secret plans, facial recognition leading to jaywalking fines for someone whose image was on a bus advertisement and a chatbot trained on X data going rogue and getting nasty with people (shock! 😲) were the other fails.

GEO grifters

A pointed post on LinkedIn by Michael Curtis, Head of SEO at 7Dots this week called out some of the Wild West behaviour around the topic of GEO (the new SEO for AI models).

“I know, clients want an AI strategy and they want it now. I'm getting asked that regularly too. Having the hard conversation - that the data isn't there, it won't get published at least until they launch ad networks, and even then the business model around producing that content is still far from obvious - isn't easy.”

Curtis cautions those who are giving advice around GEO without any data to back it up “is just straight up grift. It's grift! You are grifting! You have become a scam artist, a grifter, and are acting far less ethically than anyone who ever flogged a link for £20. It won't work, and eventually it'll blow up in your face when those C-suite types realise they've been had by a bunch of grifters.”

Not everyone in the comments agreed. So go take a look.

Singapore releases a “Plushie” that can answer your destination queries

Deep in a Yahoo re-write of a PR release I found this little nugget.

“AI is reshaping travel in the era of hyper-independent travel and introduced "AI XiaoXinxin," an AI assistant in plush doll form. It could seamlessly answer Singapore-related travel questions from both the host and guests, while also acting as a fun companion for photos and emotional support on trips.”

The quote is attributed to Chen Gang, CEO of Mafengwo around a partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

I had a look around the internet but couldn’t find any videos of this doll answering these questions. If anyone finds them, please post them and tag me! I’d be very interested in seeing this. (I did find pictures of STB plushie from an older campaign).

For listeners of the podcast, you’ll understand my fascination here as in the 2025 prediction show at the beginning of the year, one of my big predictions was that the number 1 toy this coming XMAS would be some type of toy that has AI voice baked in and the child can chat with, sing songs with, play games with and so on.

At the time that didn’t but have anything to do with travel….. but now…….. 😃 

Also this week in the a16z podcast, a16z partner Justine Moore tells the story of a parent whose child wanted to go deeeeeeeeeeeeep on Thomas the Tank Engine. After about 10 questions the parent fired up GPT voice on the phone and handed it to the kid. 2 hours later, the parent wondered, who is my child talking to?? GPT likes to go deep on Thomas. Never bored. Always there.

If you think someone (or everyone) you know or work with could grow from being more informed on the topic of ai + travel (or could use the training above) then please forward this email to them and they can click the button below:

Marketplace Spotlight: Propellic

Brennen Bliss is on a blitz to keep people updated with everything happening between AI & search. And a lot is happening.

Here is what Brennen recommended yesterday:

“Your travel content isn't a destination anymore. It's raw material.

While most travel marketers are still optimizing for clicks, smart brands are realizing their content has become infrastructure for AI systems.

Here's the shift that's happening right now:

• From Traffic Driver to Training Data Your destination guides, tour descriptions, and travel tips aren't just web pages anymore. They're being retrieved, understood, and assembled into AI answers that millions of travelers will see.

• New Goal: Get Included, Not Clicked Success used to mean someone clicked through to your site. Now it means your expertise gets cited, quoted, and synthesized into the AI response. The traveler might never visit your website, but they're still consuming your knowledge.

• Content as Building Blocks Think of every piece of content as a LEGO brick that AI systems can snap together. Your "Best Time to Visit Santorini" blog post might get combined with someone else's flight data and hotel recommendations to create the perfect AI travel answer.

The metrics that matter are changing. Instead of just tracking pageviews, ask yourself: Is my content quotable? Is it becoming part of the collective travel intelligence that AI systems rely on?

Your content strategy needs to optimize for retrieval and synthesis, not just search rankings.

Are you creating content that AI wants to include?

DMOs... you may be in trouble if you haven't changed your reporting to focus on this over traffic.”

Be sure to follow Brennen, he can keep your finger on the pulse.

If you have a B2B business underpinned by AI and looking for people to notice you, you can sign up to the marketplace for peanuts (top right corner, 5 mins, bring your logo).

I’ve priced for bootstrapped startups but also accepting larger companies too.

Mindtrip chosen to power the new BrandUSA: America the Beautiful campaign

Caught this message from Dan Rosenbaum on LinkedIn that Mindtrip is powering itinerary creation as the core piece behind the “America the Beautiful” campaign released as part of the IPW conference.

From all reports this campaign was pulled together in record time and AI being able to create new things on the fly is very helpful when timelines are short.

Congrats to all involved.

Slack Group!

Shorts

Every week a lot of stuff is left on the cutting room floor. I thought maybe I’ll just lest those here for anyone interested in digging more:

• Magpie gets their MCP server up and running for tours and activities

• Gilad Berenstein predicts some possible futures in our Travel AI futures - including the winners!!

• Expect a jump in your traffic from GPT to be captured by your GA4

• Mary Meeker is back with her first trends report since 2019 - here is what it says about travel (kind of)

• AI influencers for travel are really taking off in India

Podcasts and Sponsors

Podcasts now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts:

New podcasts are now showing up on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for your easy listening pleasure!

This week we caught up with the author of Agents Unleashed, Gam Dias and had a great chat about AI + big data and sustainability.

Gam has just released his tourism specific Whitepaper which you can get for free here.

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Most clicked last week was the link to Accenture’s recent report.

That’s it - you’ve made it to the end of this edition. I’ll be putting the result of the most clicked post in next week’s edition so you can see where others are focusing. If I’ve missed something, you’ve got a tip or any feedback at all - you can simply reply to this email and it will come straight to me. I’m doing this for You so please don’t be shy to tell me what you think