Travel Trends with Dan Christian
Welcome to our Travel Trends Podcast, the #1 B2B global travel podcast for professionals shaping the future of travel.
Hosted by Dan Christian, this show features candid conversations with global travel leaders, startup founders, tourism boards, hospitality executives, and technology innovators. Together they explore the ideas, innovations, and strategies driving the next era of travel.
Whether you're building a travel startup, leading a destination, scaling a hospitality brand, or new to the industry, you’ll gain actionable insights and real-world perspectives from the leaders redefining the global travel economy.
Episodes
207 episodes
Travel with Meaning: Rethinking Purpose-Driven Travel with Mike Schibel
He got fired, bought a one-way ticket to Australia, and accidentally built a travel media brand. In this episode, we’re joined by Mike Schibel, founder and host of Travel With Meaning and one of the early voices in travel...
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28:11
Global Luxury Hotel Trends Part 3 with Stuart Greif
Five-star luxury has a secret most travelers never see. It’s not the lobby, the suite, or the amenities. It’s the consistency behind the scenes, delivered by teams who feel supported enough to show up with genuine warmth every single time. That...
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1:17:31
Event Preview: Phocuswright Europe 2026
Barcelona is calling, and not just for the beaches. From the floor of ITB Berlin, we sit down with Pete Comeau and Florence Kaci to preview Phocuswright Europe 2026 and why it has become a must attend event for travel leaders who are driving re...
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27:48
Global Luxury Hotel Trends Part 2 with Emily Goldfischer and Marlene Poynder
Luxury hotels don’t win by doing more. They win by noticing more and by building teams with the time and confidence to act on what they see.In this episode, we’re joined by Emily Goldfischer, founder of Hertelier, and Ma...
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1:23:35
Shaping the Future of Urban Tourism with GetYourGuide
Seventy five percent of travelers visit just four percent of Italy. That statistic alone explains why Europe is rethinking tourism and why simply attracting more visitors can no longer be the only goal. Following a live panel at GetYourGuide...
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49:51
Luxury Hotel Trends in 2026 with Jonathan Raggett, CEO, Red Carnation Hotels
Luxury travelers are becoming harder to impress, not because they want more “stuff,” but because they expect less friction and more recognition. In the first episode of our Luxury Hotel Series, Jonathan Raggett, CEO of Red Carn...
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Season 7
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Episode 2
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1:09:33
Guided, Personal, Anywhere: How Pintours Is Creating Experiences Worldwide by Empowering Guides
What if your best friend in every city could design your perfect day and get paid for it whether they are with you or not? That is the idea behind Pintours. In this episode, Dan speaks with founder and CEO Lou Chatta about how hum...
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57:04
How the Art of Mentalism Can Elevate Travel Experiences with David Stryker
We're incredible thrilled to launch Season 7 with a full video interview featuring an LA Based Celebrity Mentalist and Magician, David Stryker, who show us how to apply his techniques to enhance our travel experiences. We wanted t...
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Season 7
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Episode 1
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1:07:37
Event Spotlight: Optimizing and Innovating Canadian Luxury at Virtuoso Forum Canada 2026
Luxury travel is evolving quickly, and Virtuoso is leading that transformation with Canada playing a pivotal role in its global expansion.At Virtuoso’s Canada Forum in Calgary, Dan sat down with GM, Canada Karen Hardie, Sen...
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2:40:21
Solving Global Payments in Travel with Airwallex with Erich Ko, Senior GTM Partnerships Manager
Money movement is the hidden engine powering travel and too often the root cause of stalled bookings, compressed margins, and delayed supplier payouts. In this episode, we sit down with Erich Ko, Senior GTM Partnerships Manager at Air...
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53:28
Event Preview: Arival 360 Valencia with Bruce Rosard
Ready to meet the leaders driving the next phase of multi-day tour growth?In this Event Preview Episode we’re taking you inside the plans for Arival 360 Valencia, a focused three-day gathering where operators, distributors,...
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27:39
Rethinking Travel Distribution: How Travelier Is Connecting the World
Most travel stories skip the middle. The ferries, buses, and trains that actually move us between major gateways and the places we are dreaming about rarely get the spotlight. In this episode, we focus on that overlooked backbone of the travel ...
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1:00:05
Travelzoo Best Bets: Where to Go in 2026 with Susan Catto
Ready for a clear eyed look at how to travel smarter in 2026? Dan and Travelzoo’s Senior Editor and co-host Gabe Saglie close our 10-part Best Bets series with Susan Catto, Head of Publishing and Production at Travelzoo Canada, fo...
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56:47
Why Experiences Are the New Currency of Gifting with Spur Experiences
People don’t just want to go somewhere anymore, they want to feel something. That emotional shift is powering the experience economy and changing how we celebrate love, milestones, and meaningful moments. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we si...
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1:12:40
Travelzoo Best Bets: Where to Go in 2026 with Chile Travel
A country this slender shouldn’t hold so much, yet Chile layers entire worlds end to end: a cosmopolitan capital set against the Andes, a desert where the night sky feels close enough to touch, vast Patagonian parks that safeguard wild silence,...
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55:13
Event Preview: ITB Berlin 2026 with Deborah Rothe
Big rooms. Bigger ideas. And a roadmap for what’s next in global tourism. In this event preview episode, we’re joined once again by Deborah Rothe, Director of ITB Berlin, to unpack what’s coming when more than 100,000 travel pr...
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32:51
Why 2026 Is the Year of Transformative Travel with Jake Haupert and Joe Pine
The moment a guide stops narrating a place and starts guiding a person, everything changes. That idea anchors this season finale with Joe Pine, the visionary behind The Experience Economy and his latest book The Tr...
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Season 6
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Episode 22
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1:11:37
Travelzoo Best Bets: Where to Go in 2026 with Niagara-on-the-Lake
History lovers, wine enthusiasts, and weekend escape artists will feel right at home in Niagara on the Lake. In episode eight of our 10-part Travelzoo Best Bets Series, Dan and Travelzoo Senior Editor and co-host Gabe Saglie trave...
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50:08
Making the Modern Travel Agency: Humans, Hospitality & AI with Jake Peters, Fora
The biggest surprise in travel tech right now isn’t a model, it’s a movement. From a 20 page memo to a Series C and $1.5B in annual sales, Fora’s rise has been powered by a community of 11,000 advisors, a product organization that ships fast, a...
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2:15:43
The Next Generation of Flight with Oliver Christian
A 14-hour flight with nothing but coloring books sparked a lifelong fascination. In a special episode closing out our Aviation Series, Dan sits down with his son Oliver Christian, the kid who once built LAX in the garage and could identify airc...
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Season 6
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Episode 21
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1:12:52
Travelzoo Best Bets: Where to Go in 2026 with ProColombia
What if one trip could deliver six different adventures without crossing a border? In episode seven of our 10-part Travelzoo Best Bets Series, Dan and Travelzoo Senior Editor and co-host Gabe Saglie head to Colombia - selected ...
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50:49
A New Era for High-end Travel: National Geographic Signature with G Adventures
Luxury is changing fast and we wanted to know what it looks like when comfort, curiosity, and real local impact meet. Luxury is entering a new era, one defined less by thread counts and more by access, education, and meaningful impact. In this ...
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1:17:03
Why Flexibility Is the New Fare: Inside Airline Innovation with Hopper
Flight canceled, heart rate rising, clock ticking. Now imagine a single tap that rebooks you on any airline in minutes or delivers a full refund without lines, calls, or frustration. In this episode, we sit down with Patrick Steadman, VP of Dis...
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1:01:43
Travelzoo Best Bets: Where to Go in 2026 with Choose Chicago
Chicago isn’t just back, it’s surging. In episode six of our 10-part Travelzoo Best Bets Series, Dan and Travelzoo Senior Editor and co-host Gabe Saglie sit down with Lisa Nucci of Choose Chicago to map out the exper...
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56:46
How Heys Luggage Became a Global Travel Icon with Emran Sheikh, CEO, Heys
A family basement isn't where you’d expect a global luggage brand to begin, but that’s exactly where the Heys story took flight. In this episode, we sit down with CEO Emran Sheikh to unpack four decades of innovation, bold design choices...
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Season 20
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Episode 6
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49:11
