Author: Abrar

Larger travel companies have and will continue to dominate the initial wave of large language model AI benefits. Where does that leave (comparatively smaller) travel startups

While it can be challenging to differentiate travel startups & travel apps from a customer viewpoint (the most important of viewpoints at the end of the day since they are paying all the bills so say), it's an essential step in identifying, attracting, and retaining hyper-niche customers. By focusing on unique value propositions, user-centric design, excellent customer support, continuous innovation, and unique strategic data sets, travel startups and travel apps can set themselves apart from competitors and communicate their unique strengths to customers.

As a traveler or even as somebody from the travel industry, have you ever struggled to differentiate between two different travel app offerings? Perhaps you've found yourself comparing two travel apps, or two different travel software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers (expense reporting services, trip itinerary aggregators..), and felt like they were virtually indistinguishable from one another. This can be very frustrating for somebody within the travel industry so you can imagine how it would be for consumers, especially when they're trying to make an informed decision about which service to choose within a narrow band of time and interest.

One of the main benefits of the metaverse is that it can provide people with immersive experiences and opportunities for exploration without the need for physical travel. This means that the metaverse could potentially reduce demand for traditional travel services, such as airfare, hotels, and rental cars. At the same time, the metaverse could also create new opportunities for the travel industry. For example, travel companies could create virtual travel experiences that allow people to explore different destinations and cultures from the comfort of their own homes. These virtual travel experiences could be designed to be highly realistic and immersive, ... Read more

As we move into 2023, there are some exciting new developments that are set to shape the way we travel. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at some of the newest trends in the travel industry for 2023.

This post firmly offers advice to travel startups and companies starting to raise capital, have partially raised a round, or any travel startup that needs more capital & revenue.   Remember that my viewpoint refers to capital raising and funding, not the overall travel market, which will likely be strong through Q4 2022, as I addressed in an earlier post.   Capital Is Scarce For all but the most successful travel startups, capital raises are not an option for all intents and purposes (broadly speaking, for angel investors and VCs in general). The small % of overall travel startups I am ... Read more

If I ran a travel startup or company, I would actively plan for 18 months of challenging capital raising times starting Q1 2023. You need to survive the next 12 months and, in all likelihood, the next 18 months without raising any additional capital. Act now if your travel startup expects to run out of money in the next six months. Make the tough decisions now to lower your burn rate and extend the financial viability of your travel startup. Prevention is better than a cure, as they say.

Our beloved travel companies are one sector bucking the trends (cue long overdue applause and cheering). This bucking of the trend is (a) not being fully appreciated or recognized, (b) it's essential to focus on the positive in addition to the negative, and (c) for travel companies to make hay while the sun is still shining.

The travel industry is NOT experiencing the case of "rising tides lift all boats"; the tide (for the travel industry) isn't rising that fast, nor as broadly, to warrant this characterization, in my opinion, as of Sep 2022. At the moment and in the future, successfully investing in travel requires an experienced travel industry veteran point of view to know where to invest and where to avoid. You cannot just be savvy and have money and expect a positive return (in my experience).

People ask if the pandemic is forcing me to switch away from exclusively investing in travel companies versus opening up our mandate for other industries, to which my response is a resounding NO. Absolutely not; it's more profitable to make travel investments with the industry turning the corner on COVID (tangibly and in sentiment). One notion from last week's discussion with Jean-Francois that particularly resonated was how significant change - everyone knows the travel industry has experienced and continues to - enables lucrative opportunities.