I go down the AI rabbit hole so you don’t have to!

Great to see ai move it’s way into the actual travel experience by creating something new & exciting that hasn’t been seen before

The recent leak of over 2,500 pages of Google's internal API documentation, disclosed by Erfan Azimi on GitHub, has unveiled significant insights into how Google's search algorithm operates. Brennen Bliss, CEO at Propellic discussed the implications for SEO in a recent Linked In post, especially in the travel industry, emphasizing the disillusionment with Google's long standing claims. He states, “Google’s clearly been lying to us… ‘writing high-quality content’ is not enough.” Key revelations include the importance of click-through rates (CTR), domain age, and site quality, contrary to Google's previous denials.

Notably, the leak confirms that clickstream data from Chrome browsers significantly influences rankings through the NavBoost algorithm, validating the role of user engagement metrics. Moreover, it highlights that Google whitelists certain trusted sites, potentially skewing rankings, and treats subdomains as separate entities, which contradicts its public stance.

Bliss advises travel marketers to focus on high-quality backlinks, maintain updated content, and ensure a logical site architecture to leverage these findings. He stresses the necessity of regular content updates and strategic backlink acquisition to align with Google’s actual practices rather than its public statements.

This leak calls for a reassessment of SEO strategies, urging marketers to critically analyze Google's guidelines and adapt based on the newly revealed data. The overarching message is clear: trust practical SEO experience over Google's official narratives.

Who is looking after your SEO? Check Propellic out for yourself here.

Two important reports from McKinsey provide a collective insight

McKinsey dropped not one, but two important reports for those of us interested in the intersection of ai & travel. (We’re very interested in it here )

The first was on the adoption of ai generally and reveals a significant increase in generative AI (gen AI) adoption, with 65% of organizations regularly using the technology, nearly double from the previous year. The adoption is widespread, with notable growth in professional services.

Organizations are seeing material benefits, such as cost reductions and revenue increases, particularly in marketing, sales, and product development. However, risks such as inaccuracy and intellectual property infringement are prominent, with high-performing organizations actively mitigating these challenges.

As gen AI becomes more integrated, companies are moving from simple, off-the-shelf solutions to more customized and proprietary models to maintain competitive advantage.

The second report was on the State of Tourism & Hospitality in 2024. The main highlights here were:

Domestic and Regional Travel Dominance: Despite the allure of international travel, domestic and intraregional trips dominate the market. Domestic travel accounts for 75% of global travel spending and is expected to grow annually by 3%, reaching 19 billion lodging nights per year by 2030.
Emerging Travel Markets: New source markets like Eastern Europe, India, and Southeast Asia are rapidly growing. Travel spending in these regions is increasing at higher rates compared to established markets, although their per capita spending remains lower.
Changing Luxury Travel: The luxury travel market is evolving, with a significant rise in demand from Asian countries. The preferences and behaviors of luxury travelers are diverse, requiring tailored marketing strategies.
Experiential and Wellness Travel: There is a growing demand for unique, experience-based travel. Wellness tourism is becoming particularly popular, with hotels offering personalized health and wellness programs to attract guests.
Tourism Overcrowding and Destination Readiness: Popular tourist destinations are facing challenges due to overcrowding, which impacts infrastructure and visitor satisfaction. Effective management strategies, including data analysis and capacity assessments, are crucial for handling future tourist flows.
Adapting Business Models: Tourism and hospitality companies are transforming their business models by unbundling offerings, cross-selling exclusive experiences, and leveraging data-driven strategies. This approach helps cater to personalized traveler needs and opens new revenue streams.

Depending on the exact type of business you are in within travels broad church, the last one here I think applies equally to nearly everyone. For example, can an experience you provide to your customer that gives you a competitive edge, also get unbundled into a product for separate customers who you might not otherwise reach. This has certainly been a big focus in recent consultancy projects and I expect a lot of great products to emerge from this process.

Are we there yet? (Spoiler: No)

Travolution interviewed a number of executives about where they thought we were currently at with ai. I got our friend ChatGPT to give us the headline summary here:

– Eric La Bonnardière, President of Evaneos: AI is already changing travel with personalized recommendations and will grow exponentially, enhancing authentic and sustainable experiences.

– Henrik Kjellberg, CEO of Awaze: AI impacts the booking experience but hasn't changed how we travel.

– Chris Hemmeter, Managing Director of Thayer Ventures: AI will change travel after overcoming barriers like outdated tech and data management. Hemmeter expects mass personalisation to occur but “"None of that will happen, however, before suppliers get their data house in order and address the technical debt in their antiquated tech stacks.”

– Gee Mann, CEO at Travlr ID: Optimistic about AI's future in travel but sees current issues with AI accuracy and innovation.

My own thoughts on this overview here are that, to date, most ai things are happening in the background. The reason for this could be two-fold. First, many brand owners might be a little gun shy on getting public facing ai properties out which are not perfect. The second is that by taking the optimisation route, they are solving long held internal problems which are also saving them money, medium term (or even immediately). A penny saved after all is a penny earned!

Staff shortages are real, especially post COVID, so finding a non staff way to deliver great service or unlocking existing human capital by freeing them up from their non value work tasks or being able to more rapidly and efficiently train the new influx of staff coming in (especially for seasonal businesses) are all advancements we are seeing thanks to ai solutions.

Headout decides to Dabble in ai

Something we’ve seen very little of so far is the acquisition of ai companies into more established ones as a way to get a leg up on the competition. We previously saw Airbnb make a small acquisition (with a powerful team) and AskLeyla pick up fellow ai startup Roam Around.

Now tours and activities business Headout have jumped in and picked up Dabble. “The Dabble team sits at the cutting edge of the intersection of AI, computer vision and new media – a combination that makes them perfectly placed to help accelerate our mission of getting everyone to head out to the world’s best real life experiences”, said Headout CEO and co-founder, Varun Khona“

Dabble is an ex YC graduate “built one of the earliest AI platforms that enabled image recognition and augmented reality on mobile devices. They have also deployed immersive AR and VR experiences at multiple large venues across North America and have a deep understanding of the design and technical challenges involved in building location-aware technologies.”

Excited to see what comes out of this as it seems like it could be new incredible experiences produced by Dabble that use Headout’s established distribution relationships as the GTM. This would give Headout its own products and move away from just the middleman OTA space.

I’m surprised there aren’t more acquisitions happening to be honest as it seems like a cheaper and quicker way to innovation than just trying to develop from within. Even if you aren’t entirely enamoured with the product, what teams have learned over the last 18 months is now invaluable in accelerating what you might be dreaming up.

Are you interested in growing your business through these types of acquisitions? Reach out if so as I may be able to help identify targets.

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:

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Paul Bocuse hosts sensory dining experience in Dubai – but he passed away 6 years ago….

So what type of experiences might you find in a Headout + Dabble world? Perhaps we got a clue this week when Dubai CNN reported on a new ai powered multi sensory dining experience now underway in Dubai.

The experience is the brainchild of digital artist Anton Nenashev, chef Vladimir Mukhin, and entrepreneur Boris Zarkov. “Zarkov, the restauranteur behind the acclaimed White Rabbit in Moscow (where Mukhin is also head chef and co-founder) came up with the idea for Krasota while visiting teamLabs digital art museum in Tokyo in 2017, which featured an interactive “tea house” experience.

Here is how the experience unfolds:

In a round room, at a 20-seat circular table, guests prepare for the show. The walls are projector screens, with more than 20 projectors and a multitude of sensors on the table, “the late French chef Paul Bocuse explains the next dish”.

1. First Course: Served on a Star Wars-inspired space station, a futuristic take on soup and sandwiches features a light miso soup and high protein "bread" made of sea urchins and tuna, topped with caviar.

2. Second Course: In a fantasy garden guarded by androids and glowing animals, guests enjoy plant-based tacos and all-natural "cola" in a glowing cup.

3. Third Course: Underwater in a sci-fi Atlantis with glowing jellyfish and cyborg whales, custom-made ceramic plates and crab claw-shaped cutlery enhance the immersion.

4. Fourth Course: A cyberpunk cityscape inspired by Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore sets the scene for a gourmet gold-topped burger and fries served on a tablet screen.

5. Fifth Course: An apocalyptic setting post-nuclear warfare reveals a dish of eggplant marinated in 12-year fermented miso, with bespoke 3D-printed cutlery that appears worn from the blast.

6. Seventh Course: AI-designed in the style of French chef Paul Bocuse, a quail and foie gras pie recipe is balanced by Chef Vladimir Mukhin for a refined touch.

7. Eighth Course: In a serene field of flowers representing a future of robotic bodies and nature harmony, a dessert features a chocolate butterfly on a glowing egg-shaped bowl, with floral feijoa flavors.

8. Finale: The experience concludes with a nighttime Dubai skyline projection, as a robot tangos to slow music, bringing diners back to the present.

We drew inspiration from the intriguing prospect of AI (re)creating individuals based on comprehensive data about their lives and experiences, Living hand-in-hand with artificial intelligence has shifted from fantasy to reality,” Zarkov adds.

I love this type of experimentation that makes the unreal now possible. What is in your imagination that could now be real for your customers and the world? Drop me DM on Linked In if you’d like to discuss making your ideas a reality.

Got a tip or seen a story I’ve missed? Let me know by simply replying to this newsletter.

aaaaaaaand action!

Sticking in the realm of the unreal becoming reality, the Tribeca Film Festival this week announced they will have a special category of films this year that have been 100% created with OpenAI’s Sora video creation product. As marketers who have, in the main, struggled to keep up with the demands of video production, this is something you should be keeping an eye on.

In a similar vein, this post on Linked In from Kane Kallaway alerted me to a project I hadn’t previously come across called Showrunner. Showrunner allows anyone to create their own version of a well known show, like Southpark for example, via a simple text prompt. It obviously works best on animated shows at this point with the current technology.

Showrunner’s proposition is that the content created can only be viewed on Showrunner and can’t have distribution elsewhere, thereby protecting the quality (and existing distribution deals) in place with the original versions.

Imagine however if you were a DMO & you could create a version of the Simpsons visiting your town or city and it could be up in running in about 20 minutes?

You can see the small film the Showrunner team made with the tech here. Like some other big reveals of the past, you might want to take the final product here with a grain of salt – but the thinking here is brilliant and the outcome feasible with gen ai tech. For example, no one expects the Simpsons version of your town to be a perfect replica (something gen ai might continue to struggle with) and yet this form of media can still deliver a powerful message and benefit.

UBER uses ai for experiences

I was intrigued to spot in this piece about the Web In Travel conference, this reference: “Uber showcased its integration of AI to refine its ride-sharing services, which are now linked with restaurant and activity reservations, pointing towards a potential for increased personalization.”

Hmm. Haven’t heard a lot about this so I decided to research it more via Perplexity and here is what it came back with:

Uber is leveraging AI in several ways to enhance the experience of booking restaurant reservations and other events/experiences through its new "Explore" feature:

1. Graph Learning for Recommendations:

Uber is using graph neural networks (GNNs) to power personalized dish and restaurant recommendations on the Uber Eats app[1][2]. They create bipartite graphs representing users, dishes, and restaurants, with edges capturing past order data. The GNNs learn from these graphs to surface the most relevant food and dining options for each user.

2. Demand Forecasting with Neural Networks:

Uber employs neural network models to forecast variables like rider demand, ETAs, and capacity requirements[1]. Tools like X-Ray help identify the most predictive features to improve these forecasting models. This likely aids in suggesting popular restaurants and estimating wait times.

3. Personalization through Past Data:

The Explore feature surfaces recommendations based on the user's past orders, preferences, and use of Uber and Uber Eats[3][4]. This personalized approach leverages the vast data Uber has on each user's dining habits and mobility patterns.

4. Integrations for Reservations and Events:

Uber has integrated the Explore feature with partners like Yelp for restaurant reservations, reviews, and discovery[3][4]. It has also partnered with PredictHQ to surface relevant live events that users can book tickets for[4]. These integrations expand Uber's offerings beyond just transportation.

In summary, Uber is combining AI techniques like graph learning, neural networks, and personalization algorithms with third-party integrations to create a seamless experience for discovering, booking, and getting transportation to restaurants, events, and other experiences[1][2][3][4].

Citations:

[1] https://www.uber.com/en-AU/blog/uber-ai-blog-2019/

[2] https://www.uber.com/en-AU/blog/uber-eats-graph-learning/

[3] https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/01/uber-launches-explore-to-book-events-and-reservations/

[4] https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/1/22955104/uber-explore-concert-tickets-restaurant-reservations

[5] https://www.uber.com/en-AU/blog/uber-button/

Seems this is mainly from 2022 (which I vaguely remember and this is pre gen ai) and I couldn’t verify if it is still live given I’m not in one of the first nominated cities. Curious that they are demoing it at conferences……… hmmm.

This piece in Digiday caught my eye. The premise of the article is that everyone should throw all the data they have into a communal bucket for everyone to share from – so we get the best experience for the end user. “An anonymized ID for travel would ensure that all these brands can collaborate to reduce the friction of an incredibly fragmented experience. Through collaboration, all parts of the travel industry can benefit greatly.”

I have no clue how much this already happens – probably a lot more than I think it does. The article does say “However, openly sharing that information with partners without any protection is impossible and violates most privacy laws and guidelines.”

The thought I did have however is what incentive would the industry give to the consumer should they keep and maintain the data the industry wants to give this great personalised service, locally on their own device? What is it worth to you in the industry for the consumer to say spend 3 minutes a month doing a survey or quiz to keep us all updated on what is happening now and next in their travel world and then allowing them to connect that data source to us – when they are out browsing? If that delivered me better than market rates on everything I purchased as “part of the club”, I’d do it as a consumer.

Slack Group!

The Slack group is full of the brightest minds in ai in travel. They are the ones actively building or buying ai solutions and running them as businesses or in their business. If looking for community based feedback on your ideas, approach or tools you are considering – this is the place.

Some solid advice

Finishing this week with some solid advice from Matteo Castiello on Linked In around designing ai workflows. As Matteo says “The best use cases we've built are able to tear out a chunk of a humans existing workflow so that they're exponentially more efficient.” This is definitely true in the areas of tactical optimisation. Matteo explains it thus “workflow is augmenting a human throughout their existing process to 2x-10x their productivity. The key word here is augment.”

The post itself goes into a lot more detail but with great animations and simple explanations anyone can follow. Highly recommend.

How to work with Tony

The calendar is now very full I’m afraid.

Lots of work going on to launch the marketplace for buyers and suppliers to find each other with ai solutions. If you have an ai solution in market (product, SaaS tool, service) – please get in touch to get information about being listed. We are grandfathering forever the lowest listing price for those who are in for the launch.

Please email me to deep dive into the specific opportunities within your business you might wish to explore. By interviewing key internal stakeholders we can identify which of your bottlenecks are most ripe for an ai powered fix and the approach to take to fix those across a month long project. The earliest I am available for this is now July with very limited availability.

For the fully committed business who now understands the transformative power of this technology, the final phase is to move to build your own internal “AI centre of excellence” which is combination of building an ai culture in your business by taking a human centric approach as well as building out or buying in the best solution to each identified issue. Please email me for more details on any or all of these phases.

Want to follow in Propellic’s footsteps and get in front of a highly engaged audience of travel decision makers by sponsoring the newsletter? We are booking Q3 & Q4 sponsorships now. Also email me on that one for rates and details.

Always happy to chat to anyone looking to engage either of the two travel related startups:

HandbookFM.com for those looking to up their training and onboarding game such as DMC’s who want to show prospective customers how they will train their local teams on the customer brand values and safety criteria

Customised Trip which is an ai that mimics the human travel agent to build out a bespoke itinerary for a client before the human sales team gets involved. It comes also with a fulfillment option so the whole process from conversation to travel experience is taken care of if your business doesn’t do fulfillment. Great if you have an engaged audience and looking for something to really add some big value and big revenue.

Most clicked last week was the link to the story about Google’s real world experiences with ai. 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 focussing. 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

Glossary

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Artificial intelligence leverages computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind. (source IBM)

Generative AI (GAI) is a type of AI powered by machine learning (ML) models that are trained on vast amounts of data and are used to produce new content, such as photos, text, code, images, and 3D renderings. (Source Amazon)

Large Language Model (LLM) is a specialized type of artificial intelligence (AI) that has been trained on vast amounts of text to understand existing content and generate original content.

ChatGPT – Open AI’s LLM; sometimes referred to by its series number GPT3; GPT3.5 or GPT4. These are used by Microsoft & Bing.

BERT – Google’s suite of LLM. BARD is the most common of these.

If wanting to go even deeper into the AI lexicon – check out this handy guide created by Peter Syme for the tours & activity sector

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