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A question I’ve been thinking about lately. As a small, on-ground operator with strong background in curating locally rooted experiences, I often wonder how international travel curators make this choice. From the outside, it seems many prefer starting with established DMCs or the big names. Is it because of structure and reliability? Or simply better pricing and ease of scale? Smaller operators often bring deeper local insight, flexibility, and more rooted experiences; but what actually drives someone ...

We have had a very large swing towards people booking directly instead of coming through the OTA's this year. We use Bokun as a booking provider and have been looking at WeTravel & Ventrata all of which have some good and some bad points to them. The thing im trying to streamline is the guide management part, ideally if we could do that within the booking system then great, but they all have there limitations. Just wanted to ask the community what you do? What systems you use and if you have any ideas i ...

Hello everyone, we're looking for your advice today. How do you choose your travel agency? What makes the difference? What do you look for? Is there a detail which makes you say "that's the one for me!" ? Perhaps : - a cool website - Security, reassuring... - Good communication from the agency - A nice "about us" section so you know who you're dealing with... - Good reviews on Tripadvisor or trustpilot - the price - engaging photos... Looking forward to hearing your answers!

I was travelling and kept thinking, why is booking still so hard? So much of it still feels more difficult than it should be. You spend ages searching, comparing, filtering, and trying to work out what is actually the right fit. Then even when you think you have found something, the pricing is not always clear and the final cost can end up feeling different from what you first expected. A big part of the frustration for me was not just the search itself, but how cluttered the experience often felt. Too ...

Starting this discussion for members to share information about the impact of the Middle East Conflict (e.g. war in Iran) on their travel business, or travels. The purpose of this thread is to help people stay better informed through this crisis. Rules: ✅ Share your own observations and experiences ✅ Share any shifts in customer behaviour that you have observed ❌ Strictly no geopolitical debate or comments (this is a positive space) Let's use the power of our community to support each other!

Over the past year, while designing journeys in India, I’ve noticed an interesting divide among travellers. Some arrive with a clear preference for the usual, touristy routes. They’re excited about the classic highlights and often hesitant to move too far off the usual path or are just not curious enough to try something different. While, others are exactly the opposite. They're consciously looking to avoid the typical circuits. They’re far more open to exploring quieter, lesser-known regions; sometimes ...

Hi everyone! I'm headed to London, Bath and Cornwall in two weeks for spring break with my two kids (ages 4 and 7) and husband. While we have some stops planned, I wanted to check in with my Travel Massive community since your suggestions have been great: what's not to miss in London, Bath, Cornwall, particularly in terms of cafes, restaruants, or hiking experiences/views? When it comes to actual paid tours, which ones are worth paying for (rather than self-guided) Three of us are vegetarians. Also ...

Something I’ve noticed while working with hotels across Australia and South East Asia is how much travel behaviour has shifted over the past decade. For a long time, the hotel room was the primary product. Everything else — the pool, spa, beach club, rooftop bar — was seen as an amenity attached to the stay. But increasingly, travellers seem to be booking the experience first. I have spent many years observing luxury resorts, to find that the guests are often of older generations and the amenities largely ...

Hi, we're collecting feedback on Afghanistan's new online visa service which is now online at eafghans.com/e-visa/ and should greatly simplify the visa process and open the country further to tourism. Have you tried it out yourself or heard of it?

Travel influencers / content creators, how are you optimizing for LLM visibility? We’ve been experimenting with making user accounts and travel reviews highly structured, and switching from guest posts to Featured Traveler interviews to generate stronger author mentions. But I’m curious what creators are doing to increase their chances of being recommended in AI chats. Or are most people still focused mainly on traditional SEO?

AI trip planning tools are having a moment and the conversation in most industries has settled into two camps: "AI will replace us", or "AI is just a tool". I think travel is more interesting than that and I believe the real question isn't whether AI can plan a trip. It clearly can, to a point. The question is what it can't do. AI can't read a client who says they want adventure but actually needs comfort. It can't call in a favour with a property that's technically full. It can't sit across from ...

The Africa Rally team and I will be attending the World Travel Market (WTM) event in Cape Town (13-15 April), and wondering who else will be there. Keen to meet up and network.