MAY 22, 2019
THE SYMPOSIUM FOR INDUSTRY LEADERS AND TECHNOLOGISTS TO SHAPE THE FUTURE OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
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2018 LINEUP
These innovators led the conversations during the morning presentations, roundtable sessions, and startup pitch panel.
2018 SCHEDULE OF THE DAY
8:30 AM BREAKFAST/NETWORKING
9:30 AM KICKOFF
10:00 AM FIRESIDE CHAT
10:45 AM panel
11:30 AM COFFEE/NETWORKING BREAK
12:00 pM FORUM
12:30 pM keynote
1:00 PM ROUNDTABLE LUNCH
2:30 PM COFFEE/NETWORKING BREAK
3:30 PM startup pitches
7:00 PM afterparty
2018 SESSIONS
KICKOFF
Sam S. Jain, Founder and CEO of Fareportal delivered a welcome address, followed by John Matson, Managing Director of Voyager HQ, who guided the crowd through the itinerary for the day and how we are approaching the travelers experience through the roundtable format.
FIRESIDE CHAT: HOW TECHNOLOGY IS CLOSING GAPS IN THE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
Rashesh Jethi, SVP Engineering for Americas & Head of Innovation for Airlines at Amadeus IT Group, dissected the traveler’s experience today, how technology plays a role in each aspect, and the points of friction in that experience that are open for innovation
PANEL: BLOCKCHAIN, NDC, AND THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL DISTRIBUTION
Passenger needs are changing, and new technology is emerging to meet those standards. The advent of blockchain and decentralized open-source platforms have potential to bring a revolution in the way travel inventory is distributed. In this panel, experts in airline distribution discussed how airlines can increase profit while embracing more efficiency for a growing market of travelers
FORUM: OPEN SOURCE TRAVEL INDUSTRY, A LOOK AT API ACCESSIBILITY AND PARTNERSHIPS
Travel startups in launch phase still struggle with the accessibility of inventory and way of approaching partnerships. In this talk, Andrew Stein, Senior Director of Marketing and Innovation at Fareportal, unbundled the API process and addressed the challenges and potential solutions found in B2B collaboration
KEYNOTE: THE MILLENNIAL VALUE PERSPECTIVE—KEEPING UP WITH THE NEXT GENERATION OF TRAVELERS
How many business platforms contemplate a lifetime of consumer engagement? Companies that can exploit the unique characteristics of millennials will benefit from deeper insights into key inflection points of the millennial lifestyle, literally creating opportunities that span a lifetime. Mark Abe, Partner of Fieldstone Equity, broke down a recent white paper that explores the impact of millennials on the travel industry and provide some unique insights into what has become the largest generational group.
2018 ROUNDTABLES
These actionable sessions brought together various thought leaders for focused conversations on specific phases of the travel experience. Attendees were selected to participate in one of the following topics:
DISCOVERY / INSPIRATION
Travelers spend countless hours consuming travel content before making the decision to book a trip. This conversation is focused on engaging people at this earliest stage of their travel experience.
Moderators:
Gillian Morris, Hitlist
Jim Sherman, ShermansTravel
SEARCH / AGGREGATION
Consumers searching for travel do a lot of comparison shopping across channels, companies, destination, dates, levels of service. This conversation focuses on solutions for sourcing, optimizing, and packaging all the data needed to generate a conversion.
Moderators:
Alix Arguelles, Amadeus
Rama Poola, SkyHi
INVENTORY / DISTRIBUTION
Getting travel inventory to consumers is a high-friction process caused by suppliers, distributors, wholesalers, and resellers with competing interests. This conversation focuses on the using advances in technology to streamline the the booking experience.
Moderator:
Werner Georg Kunz-Cho, Fareportal
Eran Shust, Splitty Travel
PAYMENTS
Travel brings a lot of complexity to payments because of the big ticket nature of most travel purchases as well as restrictions on and regulations of cross-border of money transfer. This conversation will focus on solutions that make travel more accessible to everyone from anywhere.
Moderators:
Richard Gilbert, Payoneer
Raffi Kayat, Borderless
TRAVEL
The actual travel part of the experience involves port infrastructure, vessels, carriers, government organizations. This conversation will focus on improving the physical journey for the consumer.
Moderators:
Bess Chapman, JetBlue Technology Ventures
Perry Michael Davis, Lufthansa
Gilad Goren, Raleigh&Drake
Daria Rebenok, Grabr
TRANSIT
Post-arrival and in-trip transportation is important both to travelers and locals, but these groups often have different needs and expectations. This conversation will focus on solutions that allow visitors to explore destinations more fully via local-friendly transportation options.
Moderator:
Bharath Krishnamoorthy, Axle
Eric West, AIMHub
HOSPITALITY
The quality and availability of suitable accommodations can make or break a good trip, but every traveler defines suitable in a different way. This conversation will be centered on the role of technology in supporting the host’s mission.
Moderators:
Premtim Gjonbalic, Butler
Raja Goel, Highgate Ventures
DESTINATION
No trip is complete without experiences at the destination. Every traveler has different tastes and expectations when it comes to tours and activities. This conversation will focus on solutions that make activities better.
Moderator:
Jared Alster, Cox & Kings
Susan Ho, Journy
CORPORATE TRAVEL
Business travelers have their own set of needs across all phases of the travel experience, more so when leisure is added into the mix. This conversation will focus on solutions for the modern business traveler and travel manager’s competing interests.
Moderators:
Duke Chung, TravelBank
Preston Payne, FROSCH
STARTUP PITCHES
The day's programming concluded with a selection of early-stage visionary founders pitching their innovations for the near future of travel, in a competition for a top prize. All founders received feedback on four criteria (business model, pitch, fundability, and product market fit) from both the panelists and the audience members.
STartups
Panelists
AFTERPARTY
Attendees, partners and sponsors of the Travel Disruption Summit closed out a day of innovative conversations and content at a cocktail reception to continue networking with some of the most disruptive startups and forward-thinking companies in the travel industry at HGU New York's bars, The 1905 Lounge and Rooftop at Rose Hill.
Tickets to the Summit include admission for one to the Afterparty.
PRICING
Members
$299
Exclusive discount for Voyager HQ member startups who are accepted at a Roundtable.
Startups
$399
Companies under four years of age with less than $5M in funding are eligible for discounted tickets to the Travel Disruption Summit.
Industry
$499
All innovative companies and thought leaders in the travel and technology industry are invited to the conversation on the future of travel.
ORGANIZER
Voyager HQ is the startup club for the global travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. The community brings together entrepreneurs, corporate partners, and investors from around the world to create the future of travel experiences through curated events, workspace, and actionable introductions.
2018 VENUE
The Pennsy NYC brings together some of New York’s most well-known food personalities for its high end food hall above Penn Station. The second floor includes 6,000 square feet of private event space that's been a proud host to American Idol, Grammy's After Party, and UnderArmour parties.
travel & accomodation
Attendees received travel and accommodation discounts from local partners.
The Evelyn, a historic boutique NYC hotel in the NoMad neighborhood of Manhattan boasts modern amenities and a relaxed atmosphere, with accents that reference the rich heritage of the neighborhood. The landmarked building will make you feel right at home in the heart of New York City.
Located in the heart of the Chelsea neighborhood and Flatiron District—only one block from the Voyager Clubhouse— this Holiday Inn is close enough to the action of the Big Apple, yet secluded enough to enjoy a quiet night's sleep.
2018 SPONSORS
Our partners are industry leaders in supporting the travel innovation and entrepreneurship landscape.
MEDIA PARTNERS
BLOG
Innovative founders from the Voyager HQ community were selected to moderate each roundtable. Read about their contributions to the future of travel and some of what you can expect at the event in their guest blog posts below.
