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 ...

Something I’ve been thinking about lately. Recently, a traveller sent me an Instagram reel and asked if we could include that exact experience in the itinerary. The same café, the same road, the same visuals they had already seen online. Around the same time, another traveller told me, “I don’t even want to read the itinerary properly. I just want to go with the flow". Both experiences stayed with me. One arrived with expectations shaped by content. The other arrived with curiosity. It made me wonder ...

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 ...