The Impact of AI on Destination Marketing featuring Discover Puerto Rico

In the third and final episode of our Mindtrip mini-series, we sit down with Discover Puerto Rico’s CMO, Storm Tussey to see how AI is reshaping trip planning - making it easier, smarter, and more personal while keeping culture and community at the heart of the journey.

Our conversation explores how the destination uses AI to turn inspiration into real itineraries - helping travelers move from “where should I go?” to “here’s my perfect trip.” From safety questions to salsa lessons, from coffee haciendas to eco-adventures, we unpack a practical framework for personalization that respects the island’s identity and lifts up small, local businesses.

Then, Mindtrip’s CMO, Michelle Denogean joins to share what they’re seeing across destinations: how conversational trip planning surfaces hidden gems, why human storytelling still matters, and how AI-driven insights are helping DMOs refine content, fill information gaps, and connect more deeply with travelers.

If you’re rethinking how to market destinations in the age of AI—or simply want to see what smarter, more human-centered trip planning looks like - this episode offers both inspiration and actionable ideas for the road ahead.

We hope you enjoyed this series! For more information, please visit Mindtrip.

Don't forget to oin us at our AI Summit next week for a panel discussion “How DMOs Are Being Transformed By AI,” hosted by Matthew Gardner from Travel Massive London. If you’re listening after October 28–29, watch on our YouTube channel: Travel Trends Podcast.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Series Setup And Guest Lineup
• 1:58 Introducing Storm And Puerto Rico
• 3:20 Puerto Rico’s Status And Identity
• 5:45 DMO Mission And Measures Of Success
• 7:45 Balancing Community And Visitor Needs
• 9:20 From Promotion To Curated Journeys
• 11:20 Personalization At Scale With AI
• 14:00 Rethinking Navigation And Content Surfacing
• 16:00 Mindtrip As Interactive Trip Planner
• 18:30 Safety, Culture, And Human-Made Content
• 21:00 Full-Funnel AI And Partner Integration
• 23:00 Data, Regionalization, And Segments
• 25:30 Practical AI Adoption Advice
• 28:20 The Near Future Of Destination Marketing
• 31:10 Campaign Vision: Live Boricua
• 33:20 Why Travel To Puerto Rico
• 36:00 Where To Learn More And ESG Focus
• 37:20 Introducing Michelle From Mindtrip
• 39:20 Why These DMOs And What They Share
• 41:30 Mindtrip’s Origin And Vision
• 44:00 From Consumer App To DMO Platform
• 46:40 Behavior Shift To Conversational Search
• 49:10 Content Gaps And Key Facts Strategy
• 51:40 Implementation Lessons And Stakeholders
• 54:20 Pricing, Fit, And Getting Started
• 56:40 How To Connect And Upcoming Events
• 59:00 Series Wrap And AI Summit Details

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:03

And travel was picked because it's such a considered purchase and it's so fragmented and so siloed that what they saw was this opportunity to bring the entire end-to-end travel journey together.

SPEAKER_02: 0:19

Hello, everyone, welcome back to our special three-part series of travel trends where we focused on the impact of AI on destination marketing. This is your host, Dan Christian, and today in part three, we're gonna bring you Storm Tussey, the CMO of Discover Puerto Rico. We kicked off this series, as many of you know, with Jeanette Roush from Brand USA. And then last week we spoke to Lynn Carpenter from Visit California, and there was one additional person I wanted to make sure we brought into this series, and that is the CMO of Mind Trip, Michelle. And she's actually gonna be joining us at the end of this episode because she has so much to share on the future of tourism marketing based on the experience of this platform with multiple destination marketing organizations. Now, in today's episode, you're gonna hear first from Storm Tussey from Discover Puerto Rico. Storm has an extensive background in the travel industry, so she has a great deal of insights and perspective to be able to share, and especially now with where the industry is headed in the face of AI. So I look forward to bringing her into the conversation. And I just wanted to quickly mention that Storm, Jeanette, and Michelle will be joining us at our AI Summit next week. I hope you have the chance to join us as well. They're gonna have an amazing panel hosted by my friend Matthew Gardner from Travel Massive London. If you're listening to this after October 28th and 29th, you can actually find it on our YouTube channel right away. So be sure to check out Travel Trends Podcast on YouTube and clips and highlights from this episode on Instagram and LinkedIn. Thanks again to Mindtrip for the partnership with this series. Now let's bring in Storm Tussey from Discover Puerto Rico. Welcome, Storm. Thanks so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_01: 2:00

Thanks so much for having me. We're really happy to be here.

SPEAKER_02: 2:02

Absolutely. So tell us a little bit about your role. Discover Puerto Rico. People heard about your background in the beginning. You've been in the travel industry for a number of years. You worked with HerterGerten. Tell us how you got to this role at Discover Puerto Rico and a little bit of your background in the travel industry.

SPEAKER_01: 2:17

Yeah, so I've been in and out of the travel industry most of my life. You know, I have a passion for destinations as well as for adventure travel. And so when they started looking for an ACMO for Puerto Rico, uh, you know, the recruiter reached out to me and started talking to me. And I already had an affinity for the island. What people don't know about Puerto Rico is this island has everything you could possibly want. It has gastronomy, it has history, it has fashion, it has, it has beautiful, amazing beaches. It's one of the only places you can snorkel and scoob, snorkel, scuba, and surf 365 days a year, where you have the only tropical rainforest in the world, um, where you can go mountain biking and rock climbing. Um, and then you also have these amazing caves. And so when they started looking, I was like, well, I do love adventure and I do love all this other stuff. I would be happy to come and represent the people at Puerto Rico. And what's really great about Puerto Rico is the, I always say it's the place where your spirit comes alive. There's a lot of uh negativity in the world right now. Uh yet when you come to the island, you don't feel any negativity. Everybody is so welcoming and so inviting. So it's impossible not to love it here. Um, so when they said, hey, we'd love you to join, I was like, who wouldn't say yes to Puerto Rico? So that's how I ended up here.

SPEAKER_02: 3:35

I totally understand. Uh just a note to our listeners, I had the privilege to travel to Puerto Rico last year for the first time. I was there for a board meeting. I sit on a board, a company called Nicer Travel that's based in Puerto Rico, and I had the most extraordinary time, San Juan being the oldest city in America. And obviously, there's more to uh Puerto Rico than San Juan, but it's such a beautiful place in the world. And I knew so little about Puerto Rico before I traveled there, so I want to make sure that all of our listeners understand its place in the world. And the one question that I always came up against is that so is Puerto Rico a state? You know, is uh Puerto Ricans are Americans? How does that all work? And I know I did my research at the time and it's a territory, but tell everyone about where Puerto Rico is on the map as people are quickly googling and checking out discoverPorto Rico.com. But tell everyone where Puerto Rico is and how it connects to the United States.

SPEAKER_01: 4:23

Yeah, so Puerto Rico is, I would say, the entry point to the Caribbean. So we are an island in the Caribbean. Um we are a common what the what most people say is we are a commonwealth. Um so we are an unincorporated US territory. Um so we belong to the US, um, we're considered an integral, an integral part of it. Um, but our relationship is somewhat of a complex one with like historical, political, and social dimensions. So we are Puerto Ricans are US citizens. Um, however, uh, and we can move freely between the island and the mainland um without a passport. However, we don't get the um Puerto Ricans don't get the right to vote in a US presidental election while residing on the islands. Um we have a non-voting representative in the US Congress, um, and we can vote in committees, but not on the House floor. So it's a little bit con it's a little bit complicated. And if you listen to the music of the Puerto Ricans, um you'll hear a lot of conversation about what it's like to be a Commonwealth and part of the United States.

SPEAKER_02: 5:23

Yeah, no, it's a fascinating bit of history, and I definitely encourage everyone to read up a bit more about it. But I, you know, Discover Puerto Rico is, of course, the tourism board or destination management organization. And when we were coming up with this series in partnership with our friends over at Mind Trip, we very much focused on the idea of how tourism boards are being impacted by AI and leveraging AI to be successful in 2025 and beyond. And so with this series, we were very keen to understand the world of DMOs and tourism boards, which is not a background and expertise for me, but it certainly is for you given your background. So tell everyone a little bit more about Discover Puerto Rico, the organization itself, and sort of what your priorities and mandates are.

SPEAKER_01: 6:05

Yeah, so you know, Discover Puerto Rico is the island's destination marketing organization. So we're really charged with positioning Puerto Rico globally as a leisure and business destination. Um, what I do is I really leverage the insights, the storytelling, and the technology for how we drive our mission forward. Um, our goal is really to not only amplify Puerto Rico's unique brand story globally, but also to connect travelers and make sure that we're delivering tangible, measurable results that drive economic growth for our local partners. Um for us, it's about a commitment to celebrating Puerto Rican culture and ensuring tourism creates that economic impact. Um, we aren't measured solely by visitors' numbers, which a lot of companies are, um, but what we're measured by is also by the prosperity of our local partners, the artisans, the small business owners, and the 78 municipalities who are the heartbeat of the island. We're dedicated to ensuring the growth is sustainable, preserving that very culture and natural beauty that draws people to Puerto Rico, and really making sure that we're constantly innovating to help travelers embrace that Barriqua spirit and turn inspiration into direct bookings to benefit.

SPEAKER_02: 7:12

Well, what's interesting to me about DMOs and tourism boards is that there's a complexity, as I've come to understand it, between you know working with the local community and all the different uh constituents within an island like Puerto Rico and then also working with travelers to help understand the destination. So maybe let's start a little bit on the island side, given you know, you've got an amazing history, a beautiful island. How do you make sure that you are accurately representing the community and being able to bring travel to the island in the right way, if you will?

SPEAKER_01: 7:43

Yeah, so for us, there's only one way to um help the island, and that's to be the first, best, and only in our world. So it's not just a slogan, it's a mandate. We really work hard to experiment with emerging technologies from AI and immersive storytelling to design campaigns that travelers can't find anywhere else to ensure that Puerto Rico just isn't uh in a conversation, but is really leading it. We really believe the future of tourism isn't really just about a vacation, but it's about a purposeful experience that benefits both the traveler as well as the community that supports that traveler.

SPEAKER_02: 8:19

Well, you mentioned about supporting the traveler. Obviously, today, more so than ever, technology, and I know technology and marketing is a big part of your background. So when you look at an organization, especially you've just joined recently, uh, but an organization like Discover Puerto Rico, you know, you've got this incredible story to tell, and you're trying to connect to global travelers who are now, you know, they've been using online resources now for more than 20 years. They've also been leveraging social media and what people are saying about their experience to Puerto Rico. So very keen to understand how Discover Puerto Rico looks at technology and then specifically, of course, AI and how that's changing the consumer journey from your perspective.

SPEAKER_01: 8:57

Yeah, so you know, because we're always looking for innovation, we really approach things it from a curious perspective. Um, and how we've really done is we have shifted from promoting the destination to re um just promoting it as an idea to really curating and facilitating the visitor journey. So for us, it's about leading the transition from just being aware of the destination to really building a sustainable strategy that creates tangible values for both the community that we represent and for the travelers that come to our to our location. And so with AI, we're really using that to personalize at scale, providing real-time support, um, helping us make the customer, the guest, um have an easier time fully planning their um planning their time on the island and making sure that it's no longer just about inspiration, but it's really about driving action within the destinations ecosystem. And a big part of that customization with AI is also highlighting and educating our local communities and partners, our artisans, our small business, our hoteliers, um, our restaurants, just to make sure that they then can make sure that they're able to service the guest a little bit easier and help the guests also choose the right places that meets their needs in a more authentic fashion, instead of just being like, oh, I saw on TikTok this one guy said this restaurant was good, but I don't really like fish, so that's maybe not the best restaurant for me. We want to help you find what you want on the island in the easiest way possible so that you have the best experience here.

SPEAKER_02: 10:36

Well, the thing that's I find really fascinating about destination marketing, having worked with tour operators a number of years, we were always working with DMOs or tourism boards when we were opening up a new destination and partnering with them to make sure we got the right product and the right experience. But that was very much a B2B mentality with us developing product to sell into new destinations and working with those tourism boards. I know one of the big shifts that we've seen with uh our AI summit, and uh and I've certainly seen as someone that's uh you know, continues to be a practitioner in this practitioner in this field of travel marketing and technology, is just how significantly AI is changing the customer journey. I mean, some of the things that we've talked about in our podcast is just it's amazing to see how many people are now using AI to plan their trips, to build out itineraries, and then ultimately arrive at a partner booking and ready to book. Like the conversion rates are actually substantially higher for someone who has done their research using AI tools, which is incredible. So I guess when you think about that today, you know, 2025 going into 2026. How have you approached that in terms of the tools you've implemented and some of the initiatives that you're undertaking to make sure that Puerto Rico remains very relevant in an age where we used to have to focus on search engine optimization and now we have to focus on AI optimization?

SPEAKER_01: 11:54

Yeah, so for us, we're we're really not just focusing on the tools, but we're focusing on the customer journey, right? So all customers, all guests, they fall into really one of four journeys and they're intrinsic motivators for why they're looking to take a vacation. And so for us, it's about moving from one size fits all marketing to really adaptive journeys. Based off of what that what that user, what that guest is really looking for. Traditional navigation is limiting, right? Let's just be real. Traditional navigation is limiting. Um, so AI allows us to surface the deep editorial content, our hidden gems, our cultural stories, working with our partners to better showcase their products in a conversational and intuitive way. And it takes travelers beyond the home page and directly in that personalized discovery. You know, at the beginning of our conversation, I mentioned all the cool adventure things that Puerto Rico has. I don't even get to the culture things, the art, the music, the theme, the dance. Um, you know, there's so much here that it can sometimes be overwhelming. And so if we can actually use AI tools to um scale and make sure that if somebody asks for salsa dancing or coffee haciendos or eco adventures, that they um that they get surfaced, authentic partner-driven recommendations or even customer-generated, um, you know, user-generated responses, um, ensuring that the traveler's first interaction really reflects the Puerto Rican culture and that sense of welcoming and inviting you to live by.

SPEAKER_02: 13:26

Well, so you brought up something I actually have um that I'm really keen to know from your perspective, which is that you know, when you're building out a website, you have the choice of navigation, to your point about that, and you're trying to figure out the customer journey. And the world that we've lived in for many years has been that people go through search engines, they go to websites, and then when they're on their website, you're trying to give them the information you think they're looking for and optimize the UI or the user experience based on people's search behavior. And you can see that based on your Google Analytics data and try to figure out where people are spending the most time, or you want to give them access to information that they're currently not uh finding on the website. And so you're very concerned about the user journey, and then also you've got to got partners that are trying to make sure they're well represented on the website because they want people to find out about their region or about um uh the different activities they have on. How does that work in a world of AI?

SPEAKER_01: 14:18

Uh well, you know, it's not easy. And I would say uh it's not perfect by any means. Uh, for us, we've really been using Mind Trip, and we found that that has really been transformative. For us, it's not just a chat, it really is an interactive planning tool that helps the guests build itineraries, it integrates our map and the 78 municipalities. Um, it connects directly to the partner businesses almost as like a mass aggregator. Um, and that also lessens the work on the partner. So we again we have a lot of artisans, a lot of small single proprietorships who don't have websites. And so this oftentimes allows them to directly connect with a guest in a more um functional way, in a less uh work-intensive way. And then it also adapts in English and Spanish. Obviously, Puerto Rico is a Spanish-speaking uh region, um, but they also speak English. And so it just makes it a little easier, depending on where you're coming from, to find your native language so that you have the best experience. And again, it just turns that casual browsing into an actionable trip planning. We've found that those that interact with us and interact with our planning tools, their time to their vacation is much shorter than those that choose traditional search, which then it takes them a little longer to be prepared for their trip. And so, you know, preparing for the trip can be exciting, but it also can be overwhelming. So if we can make it easier for them and just so that they can live in the excitement and be excited that they get to try, you know, new dances, new music, beautiful art, new fashion, um, then it's better for everyone, both the island and the guest.

SPEAKER_02: 15:54

Well, you mentioned personalization and certainly AI, so AI definitely started with chat experiences and then content generation. That's sort of what we've seen over the last, you know, it's been nearly three years since Chat GPT came out, which is crazy when I think about it now. Yeah. Three?

SPEAKER_01: 16:09

It's been three years? I feel like it was just yesterday.

SPEAKER_02: 16:12

I know exactly. November 2022. I know. It's like the, you know, now we're on Chat GPT-5. And so many companies were quickly embracing AI tools, as you well know, for chat. Chat was like the one of the first uh successfully kind of rolled out uh implementations of AI, and then everyone was starting to use it for content generation. But you mentioned something really interesting around personalization and the importance of personalization, and that's one of the things I was keen to understand because you know, someone can reach out to Discover Puerto Rico through chat to be able to ask questions or get it more immediate feedback, which has always been a challenge for travel businesses since customers require a great degree of hand holding, especially when they're trying to select a trip that is literally likely gonna be the third biggest expense after a car or a house is like a trip. And it's often more important because this is your time off. Like this is like the one-week holiday you're gonna get. So people put so much time, energy into it uh for all the right reasons. So when it comes to personalization, I'm keen to know how you approach that when people are visiting Discover Puerto Rico and you are, as a marketer, trying to figure out that holy grail of one-to-one marketing, of trying to figure out, you know, are they a family, are they a couple? Because obviously that's one of the things I always saw on you know traditional websites, is you're trying to cater to all the different personas that might be coming to your website and give them the information. So tell us a little bit about how you are approaching personalization, whether it be with Mindtrip or just overall as an organization.

SPEAKER_01: 17:41

I mean, we are using Mind Trip a lot. I mean, I would say it's the base of all of our personalization. But for us, the biggest challenge is balancing innovation with accuracy, right? So we have to make sure that we're training the AI carefully to reflect both the brand voice, the island voice, and avoid misinformation and understanding of the culture around us. And it also allows us to test and create feedback loops, which are super critical, so that we can kind of meet that guest where they are and understand where their pain points are. Safety is a big piece. People wonder, you know, where in the Caribbean is safe. Um, Puerto Rico is super safe. We're one of the only Caribbean islands that you can actually travel around the whole island and be safe and you don't have to stay in one location. Um, and so it has really helped us repurpose and scale content efficiently so that people can get the most out of their time on the island. And we really work to create more snackable social posts so that they can also share it with the people that they're traveling with so that they can actually plan together. Because the thing you'll know about, you'll learn about Puerto Rico is Puerto Rico is a social area. They love talking to people. It's one of the few places that you'll go and you go to the restaurants, and you know, you always see people staring at their phones. Here, you never see people staring at their phones. You only see people talking. And if they see you alone, they're gonna invite you to their conversation. Um, and so for us, AI allows us to make it so that you can plan your holiday or your your um visit here into something that you can actually plan with your friends. So not only is the vacation about your friends, but also the whole experience of what you're doing with how you're planning and how you get there is also with your friends. And we've also been testing, you know, subject lines and emails. We've cut time to market um without sacrificing creativity. And we've found ways to really make sure that the cultural resonance um gets lifted out of the out of the deep muck of it and into the top line so that people really have a better understanding of what to expect when they get to the island, well before they get here. And then that makes their time on island easier and better because it also means that they're more socially aware of what to do and not to do on the island. Um, and also how to care for the fragile ecosystem that we live in, as well as how to have the best experience here. And again, there's not a person I've ever met that's come to Puerto Rico that didn't have a phenomenal time on the island.

SPEAKER_02: 20:09

Certainly, since you're ahead of the curve in embracing AI and your background in terms of marketing and technology, one of the things I wanted to understand, because uh, with this series, I want to draw out some highlights for other DMOs and tourism boards around the world that are looking to figure out their overall strategy in terms of marketing their destinations in this new age of technology and AI. And you mentioned content generation there and how you can surface content that is going to make it more meaningful and interesting for people to be able to book a trip to Puerto Rico. And I'm very keen to know how that translates into your social media activity or email marketing. How essentially are you leveraging AI beyond, say, Mindtrip, even the that are you using other AI platforms yourself to be able to be able to produce that content and then be able to distribute it across multiple channels?

SPEAKER_01: 21:01

So we actually do AI a little differently, right? So we don't treat AI as a side experiment. We integrate it into our full funnel. Um we connect it to our partners, we measure impact, we're very into the data. I I often joke that I'm a mad scientist, 50% of my brain is data, 50% of my brain is creativity. Um so that way we treat AI really as a growth engine tool, um, not just a shiny object that just has people's attention. Um and when you come at it from that mindset, it allows the table stakes to be a little different. Um the fact is, is while we're using this as a tool, we're not using AI for AI's sake. So actually, none of our content on the website is AI created. Um we actually have a content team and we work with our local partners as well as we use a lot of UGC to make sure that everything is authentic and actually written by a human with a real world experience. Um, and that's very different than a lot of people that are using AI for content writing. However, like you said, we then do use AI to distribute that information across all of our different channels and feed it into that funned off of the choices that the guest has made on the website or in CRM if they've clicked on something and started to build their vacation. Um, so that's kind of where we've used AI. It's also worked really well with a lot of our partners that are using um things like toast or hotelier's booking engines, um, because it helps connect all those pieces. And it's done so automatically and dynamically versus us having to do manual pieces like we had to do like five years ago.

SPEAKER_02: 22:43

Well, you you brought up another topic there actually that I was very keen to ask you about, which is data. Because as marketers, we're obviously looking at as much data that will help us make informed decisions about increasing conversion rates. So it's been something that's very common for both of us to look at Google Analytics data and be able to see the customer journey and figure out how we can actually get people to request a brochure or sign up to our newsletter or ultimately book a trip or refer to a partner. But when you're actually looking at data and insights, as uh as a mad scientist the other half of your time, tell us a little bit about what data you're looking at and how you actually leverage some of those insights to apply them to kind of target your audience or uh understand new uh market trends.

SPEAKER_01: 23:30

Yeah, so that's a really loaded question. And if I told you everything that I do, then I would lose the secret to myself. So I won't tell you everything that we do. Uh what I can tell you is that we use data in a lot of different ways. Um, so we're really heavy into the research side and we feed that research into the way that we book advertising. Um and then when we see people click through through our advertising onto our website, we actually look at that data really closely to see what are they interacting with, what are they engaging with, what content they have. So that then once we they get to that content, we can really look at where they're staying the most so that we can make sure that we're really answering those questions. Um Mindtrip has some great data that I can dig into that I use all the time to make sure that I really understand where the journey is adapting, where the journey is ending, so I can figure out the whys of it is ending versus why didn't they completely book. Um, I'm also really been getting into regionalization. Um, again, I'm rather new to this role, but I've been using AI technology and many other roles. Um, but we're really getting into regionalization here because our Spanish consumers that are coming from a Latin American region are very different than our European customers, and they're very different than our mainland customers. And so we just need to make sure that those guests have the best experience possible and customizing everything based off of their specific needs and also their wants. Um, the other thing that we're seeing is, you know, we see a lot of multi-generational travel. We see a lot of solo travelers book through us. And so we want to make sure that we have the right content that they're looking for and also pair them with the right partner because that makes or breaks your total time on the island. If you're a solo traveler, we want to put you and we want to encourage you to go to a location that's not only safe, but that also has other solo travelers so that you find like-minded people to bond with and have a great experience. And if you're a family, you want something a little bit maybe less loud and maybe a little less dancing until 2 or 3 a.m. So we want to make sure that we're routing you again to those partners. Same thing with food. Um, and so AI has really helped us a lot with that. And the data has helped it make the customer journey a lot easier. And then we're seeing that in the bookings, right? Our travel to the island has increased significantly over the past two years. And it's largely because we've been surfacing things and making it easier for people to feel confident that they're gonna get their needs met while they're on the island.

SPEAKER_02: 26:00

Well, I appreciate you being open about what secrets you can provide us and being transparent as possible with your experience. So, one thing I wanted to ask you on that topic is you've you know you've shared a couple of challenges. You talked about the fact that you need to make sure the accuracy is there, uh, you're training the models, and that's always something that uh since ChatGPT came onto the scene, and I'm using them as just one example. I mean, there's five or six other major LLMs that many of our listeners might be utilizing. And I certainly use I use Jasper, which is a paid platform. Um, I use Claude, I use Llama, I use so there's there's such a variety of tools, and I always encourage people to try out the LLM and find the run that's right for them and their team. Um, but many people, of course, are familiar with generative AI by virtue of ChatGPT, and one of the things that has always come up is accuracy. And so many naysayers are quick to point out when AI doesn't get it right. Even with ChatGPT 5 launching and Sam Altman saying, look, it's a professor on every topic, and then people were saying instantly, but it can't do this and it can't do that. So I I'm keen to know some of the challenges and how you've either overcome them or some of the, you know, for anyone else looking to go down this path, and this is the reason I asked this question and I and I make this point a bit more emphatically is because the option of avoiding AI in your career, your company is like, you know, that's out the window. You have to find a way to embrace it and become successful with it. And so pointing out its flaws, as as so many people have said to me, this is the dumbest it'll ever be. Like every day it gets smarter, it gets better. And so tell us a little bit from your experience, some of the challenges you face, how you guys have overcome those.

SPEAKER_01: 27:42

Yeah, so um, I'm gonna answer your question, but in a roundabout way. So you have to be patient with me here. Um, you know, my advice for anybody that is looking to adopt AI is you know, start small, but start now. Um, because if you don't pilot a tool, you don't gather acts uh insights and you don't let your strategy evolve, you don't really know what you don't know, right? And so I think that that's the first way you should go into AI is really explorative. The second thing is, you know, the longer you wait, the further behind you're gonna be when AI adoption becomes table space. And we're almost there for marketers, right? Um and then I'd say, you know, don't chase the shiny object. That's a big piece for us. And, you know, there's a lot of conversation about it. And it's really easy for the C-suite to get caught up in the hype. And it's really important for us to always just come back to what is our purpose and what is our goal, and then use it as a tool to get to that goal, not as the goal itself. And I think that's where a lot of people go wrong. Um, and the places that I've worked at that have just chased every shiny object, you're just constantly switching strategies and it just affects your team and you're just not going to be as successful. But if you always know what your North Star is, as you always know your ultimate goal, and our ultimate goal is to um invite visitors and invite travelers to the island to promote economic development across the island, all 78 municipalities, then we can start having a real conversation. And what we have found is there was a period of time that in a different company that we used AI for a lot of our content creation, and we found that that was easy and fast, but it didn't actually meet the needs of the guest, right? And so that's part of the reason why Discover Puerto Rico doesn't use any AI-generated content. Everything is human-made, and then we just use AI as a distribution tool and as an analyst tool. That's kind of where we focus. And it allows us to avoid misinformation, it allows us to really understand the guest in a deeper way. And it also makes sure that our partners are getting the service and the support that they need. And I would say that now with AI, our data that we feed to our partners actually improves their business just as much as it improves the traveler's experience. So that's a win win for us.

SPEAKER_02: 29:51

Well, and that thinking forward now, going into 2026 and beyond, I mean, 2030 seems like a long way off, but it's not. And uh certainly this. Technology is continuing to evolve and enhance. And the number of people I've spoken to that say, you know, you can't even train or take courses on this because it's changing so rapidly. But at the same time, as a marketer looking at how this technology can be leveraged, I'm keen to get your perspective on where you think we are headed. And I'll just share one example with all of our listeners too. One of the developments that genuinely people are asking is when uh websites become obsolete in the age of AI, when you all of a sudden have an agentic AI that can shop and browse on your behalf. But oftentimes those are actually then using the website. So who are you building the website for now? Is it for a human or is it for AI? But we've also been building websites for many years for the Google algorithm. So tell us a little bit on your view of AI for tourism boards. What does the future look like? How are you planning to, you know, what is the the future of destination marketing in the age of AI in the next couple of years?

SPEAKER_01: 31:00

Yeah, so it's a really hard question. And honestly, I don't have an answer. Um and I might change my mind in a week. Um but what I can tell you is that right now, uh I don't think websites are gonna go anywhere. I actually think websites are really important, um, especially if you build it with the customer or the traveler that you want in mind. I think that that's the most important thing. Also, it's a really great connection tool. And so I think people should view um websites and should view technology as a great connector. It's a way to help us better involve our relationships instead of just treating it as um a nice to have, right? And there are many people that are like, oh, well, everything's just gonna be immediate answers and there's not gonna be any relationships at all. But we see with the growth of Reddit, with the growth of some of the more um traditional channels that were kind of going away for a little while, really rise. It shows that that connectivity and that importance of relationship building is more power than ever. And so for us, and very much to support the Puerto Rican culture, for us, it's really about making sure that we're using destination marketing as a way to connect the spirit of Puerto Rico, the people of Puerto Rico, the beautiful artists and crafts and food and drinks of Puerto Rico to the rest of the world and let them get a taste of us. We don't mean live barigua just to as a slogan. It's a something we truly believe in. We want to ignite your soul. And the only way to do that is through technology until you get on the island. Um, so I know that's not the answer you want. I know that's not the answer of like the future is gonna be awesome and we're gonna have like jets and robots everywhere. But I actually think the best future we can have is to truly let technology be a tool, as I said earlier, and not the end goal. Because at the end of the day, what makes us come alive, the reason why we go on vacations is to find connectivity with other people, to experience new things, to actually re-invigorate our spirit. And tech can't do that. Only people can.

SPEAKER_02: 33:12

Yeah, no, it's a really good point. And I think I appreciate the honesty in that answer more so than trying to speculate for something that may or may not come to fruition. And I think that uh humanoid robots, I do think there is a high probability that those are going to be in people's homes in the next 10 years, but all the different outcomes of that are still to be determined. But I got a few last questions for you, and you've been incredibly helpful in giving our listeners that are genuinely curious about AI and its role today in destination marketing. So before we finish on Puerto Rico itself, I just wanted to give you one last opportunity to share any other advice you might have for DMOs out there that are looking to adopt AI in their marketing efforts.

SPEAKER_01: 33:55

Yeah, um, so the best things that I can tell you about adopting AI is one, make sure you know who you're doing doing business with. You know, one of our greatest success rates has been because the mind trip team has been amazing. I've also worked with uh Satisfy Labs, um, and they are amazing to work with from a guest relations perspective. Um and so I would just say just know who you're working with is 50% of the battle, right? Um and then I'd say the next 25% is have really clear goals. Do not go into AI just for AI's sake. Like you have to have really clear goals about how you're going to use it. And then the last 25% I'd say is know its limitations. It is not gonna fix everything. It is not a silver bullet. You still have to know your guests, you still have to know your commercial intent, you still have to know um what does success look like. And if you don't know that, AI's not gonna tell you that. I mean, it could, but you're probably gonna fail at it. Um, and so those are the things I'd approach it. Um I'd also say, you know, go in with a little, a little doubt, a little can a little concern because there is some AI that's happening right now that you don't know the long-term implications for. So just be really thoughtful about how much data you're giving them. You know, we train our data based off of um our knowledge base. Uh, we train our off of our knowledge base, off of uh some of the interactions that we see after we clean all the private customer information out. And we're just very thoughtful in our approach because we want to protect the travelers that come here. We want to make sure that we only use data for good. And we want to make sure that we're doing it to solve a problem for our guests and for our partners. We're not doing it just to do it. And so I think if you keep that in mind, then you'll have success. Um again, I have seen some failures where people are just like, we're just gonna go after a gentech and it's gonna fix all of our problems and it's gonna be amazing. And then, like six months later, you know, they've laid off staff because a gentech is gonna fix it all. And then uh, you know, six months later, they're like, that was a really bad decision. Um, because they did not lay out a plan. And there was nothing better than knowing your partner and having a really good plan. And partnership really is the make or break. And again, mind trip has been absolutely phenomenal for us. And every time we come to them with like a big problem or like a crazy idea, they've been so cool that to be like, okay, we don't know, but let us figure this out and then we'll come back to you. And that's great because I'd much rather somebody say, let us figure it out than just kind of sell me on something without really knowing how to do it.

SPEAKER_02: 36:29

Yeah, no, it's a really interesting point. Whenever I'm asked a similar question, I always point to, you know, find the champion in the organization that can really champion AI in your business was very similar with the whole digital uh transformation journey that many companies have been going through over the last 10, 15 years. But the part that you mentioned about finding the right partner is often the thing that I point to because unlike in the early days of the dot-com era, when you could turn to a web agency to build you a website, and then you would turn to a digital marketing agency to help you actually drive more traffic. We're very much in this new world where everyone knows they need to be utilizing AI. There was an amazing uh study that was done by TMT Labs, which is uh Lufthansa's lab based in Berlin. 79% of people who work in the travel industry are using AI, but less than 30% have been trained or actually have so they're they're trying to figure it out on their own. And that's that's highlights where we find ourselves at the moment and the importance of a discussion like this with someone like yourself that has had Storm, the you know, the hands-on experience, and is working with these tools today. So I really appreciate your insights. I also wanted to finish by highlighting Puerto Rico itself as the a destination to travel to in 2026. So we've got two last questions for you. One is tell us a little bit about the marketing activities you have planned for 2026, some exciting campaigns or initiatives you have planned for next year.

SPEAKER_01: 37:51

Yeah, so uh again, I'm still rather new to this role, so I don't have all the plans figured out. What I can tell you is that we'll continue expanding Live Bodyqua. Um so for us, it's not, again, it's not just a slogan. It is actually the culture of Puerto Rico. And we have great, um we have great components to it. We have continued relationships and advocates for it. Um you see Bad Bunny living, live body qua every single day. He is clearly body qua. Um, and so he's really representing Puerto Rico and really selling that lifestyle. And so it's really our pleasure to continue expanding on that and helping people understand how our gastronomy programs can really ignite your soul. Um, we have a great rum road where you can have the best rums in the world. We are the home of rum. Um then you also have great art, great music, great culture, great dance, um, amazing fashion. Again, I'm gonna pick on Bad Bunny. Like you won't find a more fashionable man. Um, and almost everything he wears is from Puerto Rican designers, which is really great, at least during his shows. Um, and so that's the best part about Puerto Rico is we just get to tell these really authentic stories from these local artisans and help connect that story to other people and really helping them come back to life and get in touch with themselves. You know, Puerto Rico is really interesting and our campaigns are really interesting in the fact that most people think that we're just selling in and I we're just selling a place, but we're not. We're selling in a way of living to just embrace yourself as you are authentically. Um, you know, people always come here and they go, oh, well, we're gonna dance. Oh, but maybe I can't dance sauce in the best, or maybe I can't dance plain or a bomb butt. Well, you know what? As long as you're having a good time, nobody cares if you're dancing the right steps. They just care if you're having a good time, just get on the dance floor and just money. Right. Um, just own your own your authenticity, own who you are and have an amazing time. And that's that's what we're doing in 2026, is we're just celebrating the unique characters of Puerto Rico and helping people understand how they can let their uniqueness shine in this island and how it you'll find your tribe by doing that. And there isn't a better thing to market.

SPEAKER_02: 40:07

Yeah, I love that. Well, I was inspired by Bad Bunny when I was there, and we had our final dinner function. I had to wear a collared shirt, and I went into downtown San Juan and I bought a locally made, designed golf shirt that was super bright, very colorful, uh, a local designer, and I was so proud to wear it to dinner that night, and everyone got a real kick out of it. And I've been wearing it ever since, and it's just like, yeah, I thought it's in Puerto Rico. This is like, it's my Puerto Rico shirt. I'm like, yeah, so I played golf with it. I've I've I I love that shirt. It's hanging in my closet now. And uh so yeah, no, I the the thing I'd love for you to leave us with, given that I've at least had the privilege to go to Puerto Rico once, I can't wait to get back. Uh leave everyone with three reasons they should travel to Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_01: 40:49

Oh, that's really hard. Um, so the first reason to travel to Puerto Rico is there is not a place that you will you will find yourself more than in Puerto Rico. Um the second place is, or the second reason is you won't find a more beautiful island in the world. We everything that you want in an island can be found here. And the third reason is um if you like food, we have the best food. It is a combination of um Teanu, um of West African, as well as of Spanish. And so the combination of the food, there is no way you can walk through the streets of Old San Juan or out in Rincon and not have have every meal be the best of your life. Um, so between those three things, uh, you will have an amazing time on this island. And I should say for fourth, I'm just sorry, I have to go. The people of Puerto Rico are the kindest, most welcoming, like joyous people you'll ever meet. They are the only people I travel 50% of my time. This is the only place where everybody looks you in the eye and remembers your face. I lived, I've only lived here for a month. And um, within three days, my Starbucks guy totally knows my order. I always go out to the little bodega on the corner for my lunch. I walk in and they start preparing my lunch. And I mean, it's bad because it shows like how systematic and regimented I am, but it's good because they recognize me and they already know that. And so it makes you feel like home, almost like a cheers moment where everybody knows your name, even though you're new to the island. And so there's nowhere else in the world you can experience that. So that's also a reason to come to Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_02: 42:34

Well, I 100% agree about the food and the cuisine and some of the innovative concepts. And I'll just leave everyone to one of my one of my tips as well for my experience, which is the uh Choco Bar, um, Choco Bar Cortez, which in old San Juan, I had never had such a delicious hot chocolate. And this is where, you know, not only is the environment like it's you know, obviously I was inspired by social media as well, but I've also never put cheese on my uh hot chocolate. But that combination of salty and sweet, it was like delicious. And so I actually brought that home. I still have some. I brought it back for my wife and kids because it was so incredible. I still couldn't fully recreate the magic of being there, but I nevertheless I tried, and I still have some delicious chocolar hot chocolate in the cupboard.

SPEAKER_01: 43:17

I love that. And what a wonderful thing to bring to bring home and get somebody to experience. And now you'll forever want those two combinations.

SPEAKER_02: 43:25

Absolutely. Yeah. No, thank you so much, Storm. I've so enjoyed our conversation. It's been very inspiring, very informative. Uh, I'd love for you to leave us with where people can find out more information about Discover Puerto Rico.

SPEAKER_01: 43:36

For sure. So uh first, thank you so much for having me. I'm so grateful. I really enjoy that conversation and getting to know you. Um what I would say is absolutely come visit discoverporto.com. And then we also have thegreenpath.com, which tells you a little bit more about the sustainable, uh the sustainable travel activities that are available on in in Puerto Rico. We have a lot of effort to try to make sure that we have a full ESG program across the island so that um we are thoughtful in everything that we do with the travelers when they come here.

SPEAKER_02: 44:05

Thank you again, Storm. I wish you all the best for 2026, and I look forward to keeping in touch.

SPEAKER_01: 44:09

You too. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.

SPEAKER_02: 44:14

Well, I hope everyone has enjoyed this special three-part series. I have immensely because I am fascinated by the destination tourism space, and I was thrilled to bring this series together with our friends over at Mind Trip. And at my request, I wanted to bring Michelle, who's the CMO at Mindtrip, into the conversation, as I mentioned at the beginning of this recording, because she is an incredible marketer, and they have such a fascinating company that's got so much potential. And that's one of the reasons I wanted to do this series, but I also wanted to bring Michelle onto the podcast so you can learn more about her and everything that's going on with Mind Trip. So, Michelle, welcome to the Travel Trends Podcast.

SPEAKER_00: 44:48

Thank you for having me, Dan.

SPEAKER_02: 44:49

For sure. Now, Michelle's actually, this is your second time on our show because you were part of our Focus Right event spotlight, which was a huge highlight, and you let off that episode. And we've gotten to know each other really well the last couple of years, and you know I have a great respect for you as a marketer, and you know, we just genuinely get along. And when we talked about doing this series, we both had a shared vision for what's happening in the industry and how we could bring it together. And I'm thrilled the way it did. So no, no, thank you again for the partnership, but also for bringing together such an extraordinary group of guests. So tell us a little bit how you selected these individuals. We heard from Janet first from uh Brand USA, then we heard from Lynn from Visit uh California, then of course we just finished up with Storm from Discover Puerto Rico. How did you decide to bring these three amazing people together for this discussion?

SPEAKER_00: 45:31

Yeah, uh, it's a great question. And um, you know, I think one of the things that I am always focused on is recognizing where an industry is in its sort of education of certain topics. And I think when it comes to AI, and this isn't just destinations, this is probably the travel industry and the whole ecosystem, even though it's part of our everyday use for the most part, it's still new from a business standpoint of how can we leverage it. And, you know, we have been now working with destinations, uh, if you can believe it or not, it's been about a year. Um, and what we keep learning over and over again is how much there is interest in the topic of AI with destinations, but how scary it still is to a certain degree as to what to do with it, when to jump in, how to jump in, how to make sure that we have brand safety when we do that. Like there's this whole world of uncertainty that still exists. And so strategically picking some of these destinations who have already leaned heavily into it and are experimenting and learning every day because I do believe that people want to hear from people just like them. You know, uh, this is why I was always reticent to come on, because I know people don't really want to hear from me. They want to hear from other destinations, which they should. They should be learning from what people in the seat that they have are doing themselves. So I couldn't pick a better crew. Um, you know, Jeanette is out there every single day talking about AI, not just in destination websites, but just in the ecosystem uh overall. And uh Lynn and Storm are some of the first to jump in with Physic California and Discover Puerto Rico. And so they have more experience than most from a time perspective, leveraging this with their um travelers and the visitors to their websites.

SPEAKER_02: 47:37

What's really interesting about that, Michelle, and the reason why I was very keen to have you on the podcast as well, is because each of those guests have a great affinity for you and the team at Mind Trip. And actually, I thought it was important for our audience to understand more about the organization that they've now heard from. They certainly got a lot of valuable insights about what's happening in the destination marketing space and AI specifically, because clearly that was the theme for this series. So when they're talking about AI, Mindtrip is a platform that they're all utilizing. However, there was so much to be gained from the knowledge that they shared and the fact that they had such an affinity for you and the team, and the fact I've had the privilege to get to know you guys. I wanted our listeners to better understand the people behind Mindtrip. So you obviously are an important piece of that. But the rest of the team, this was the part that I was so fascinated when I got to to meet all of you, is the the core team has worked together before. So tell everyone a little bit about that backstory, because I think that's really interesting. It stood out to me, but tell us a little about this founding team behind Mindtrip. And I think that's a key to the company becoming the success it already is. But yeah, tell us how you get how you guys got the band together.

SPEAKER_00: 48:44

Yeah, that's a great term, getting the band back together, really, is what that is all about. Uh, but I like to tell people that the team at Mind Trip doesn't come from the travel space. Uh, so we're we're not from travel, but we aren't new to each other, or said a different way. The team at Mind Trip is new to travel, but not new to each other. And so what I mean by that is that we have most of us at this point, because we've grown a little bit, most of us have worked together at former companies. A good percentage of the company actually came from the last startup that we built and scaled in the automotive space. So we have all worked together for over a decade. Some some people, multiple companies. Our CEO, Andy Moss. Uh, I feel like Mindtrip is a collection of the most incredible people that he has ever worked with in his career. Because if you look, there's always a thread. Uh, but we're not we're not from the travel space, but we're so familiar with each other that I think it helps us as a company just sort of hit the ground running. So, you know, you asked about the the origin story, right on the heels of the company that we had built and uh sold to the largest uh player in the automotive space. The team, mostly our CEO and some of the engineers, got together and it was right at the time that Generative AI was becoming a thing, right? So Chat GPT had just hit the market and everybody was like experimenting with it, and uh they were all still kind of talking together. I was the foolish one that went and got recruited elsewhere. Uh, they all took time off and started this company, but um they started talking about how can we leverage this new technology? How do we build a company that is AI first using this, knowing that our superpower as a company is user experience? So, how do we build a consumer-facing user experience on top of this like conversational capability? And travel was picked because it's such a considered purchase and it's so fragmented and so siloed that what they saw was this opportunity to bring the entire end-to-end travel journey together. So, more than just a chat bot from the very beginning. It was like, how do we take inspiration to planning and uh building itineraries to booking, to you know, collaborating with people you're going on the trip with, to the on-trip experience and beyond? Like, how do we just create this full life cycle moment uh that some people refer to as the connected trip, right? Like all the way through. And so that has been the vision and just sort of like how the product came about. And what we really are doing, especially with our destination partners now, because it's we started as a direct-to-consumer website, which we still have, and we just launched an iOS app, but we built Mind Trip for Business, which is for currently for destinations, and that's where we started, as a way to bridge the gap between inspiration and action. So I think that's really just gives you a little bit of the context of where we are, and we're still pretty new. I mean, I think about this all the time because of how much we have accomplished, but the company's been around public launch about a year and a half to consumers and just coming up on a year for destinations. So it's not it hasn't been very long.

SPEAKER_02: 52:18

No, but in in in AI terms, it's been like two years, which is you know, Chat GPT has been around for three, and uh just so much has happened in this time. And I think one of the interesting connections when I was speaking to Lynn and getting a chance to meet her, clearly she knew the team and she got to know the team early and she's embraced the platform. But this is where there was a direct connection between the innovation and technology, the team, uh the Mindtrip team being based in California, all knowing yourself from previous startups. And I used the example of crossing the chasm, you know, the Jeffrey Moore book, of course, and just that Mindtrip has effectively, in my mind, crossed that chasm because you have a fit-for-purpose B2B solution that the market is embracing. And the point that you just made, which I wanted to share with our audience, was very much that you did start as B2C, you raised additional funds and moved into B2B, you've got great success and traction now with tourism boards, as we've heard throughout this series, but this is only the beginning of where Mind Trip can go. And so the I I strongly believe, and I've shared this with you, that the B2C is still going to be a really interesting angle for Mind Trip over the long term. But there's other industries and verticals you can move into. So you've got solid foundation uh and traction now within tourism boards, and that's only going to grow. And that's where I was keen to have you tell us a little bit about where you guys are headed with Mind Trip and what some of the things that people can expect even beyond tourism boards.

SPEAKER_00: 53:37

Yeah. Uh so you must be like reading our conversations or our Slack messages or something to know that uh a little tease, I suppose, is that we may or may not be entering the hospitality space later this year with Mind Trip for Hotels. So that is going to be sort of our next entree. But I do want to acknowledge like this ecosystem, there's so many different components in this ecosystem, and we recognize like that there is this strong pull to like just bring everybody together through the power of AI. And so we've had lots of conversations, you know, we're backed by a couple credit card companies, so you know, there's conversations happening there, media companies, um, but also you know, the advisor space is one. We just got back from the Virtuoso event and uh Gilad Bernstein's Tech Summit. So there's so much interest constantly inbound into Mind Trip as far as like what can we do for certain verticals that this is just really just the beginning. And we have a lot of exciting new things happening on the consumer side. And what I love about that is everything we do on the consumer side is kind of like eating your own dog food, right? We have our own website, so in a lot of ways, we're we're testing these user experiences on our ourselves in our own dime. And so, but once we have new feature functionality that quickly rolls into okay, how can this work? Does this apply to our Mind Trip for Business customers?

SPEAKER_02: 55:10

And that's so that's what I find fascinating, the way that you've positioned it for the B2C and the B2B. And this is where having someone like you as a very strong CMO with the background and the credentials to be able to get the right brand message, story, and narrative together for Mindtrip that resonates with the B2B community. And that's where I'm confident that the B2C will also uh flourish in time because you did have uh and still do a large audience that's utilizing the platform, but the key was obviously figuring out how to monetize it. And so the the beauty of B2B, of course, is that there's partners that need this technology and they're not in a position to be able to develop this on their own. So for me, even knowing that that might be a potential that you're gonna expand beyond tourism boards, hospitality seems to be a perfect fit because so many people are researching hotels. And the big theme of our conversation, uh, as you heard from these discussions, was how the customer journey is changing. And I'd love to get a few of your insights because just like I asked each of our guests, they have the opportunity to look at their own data on the Mind Trip platform. You have the opportunity to look at all the data on the Mind Trip platform and see people how people are using it. So I'd love to get some insights from you about how the customer journey is changing. What are some of the things that you're seeing at Mind Trip with your customers and even on the B2C side?

SPEAKER_00: 56:26

Yeah, I think the biggest thing just from a consumer behavior standpoint is it's fascinating to see how quickly people are going from, you know, the typical search engine where it might have been just a few keywords like top hotels in California, um, to these very long personalized, you know, questions. Like I'm traveling to California, I want to find a hotel that's dog friendly. I have a a daughter who, by the way, is a vegetarian. Like you're getting all of this in the prompts that people are putting in when they're starting conversations. And so just seeing just the amount of detail, I think, is eye-opening. I also think that we all need to be prepared. And uh, I've had lots of conversations with folks like Jeanette and Lynn about this for the future, because behavior is shifting. And when behavior shifts like this, it means that we need to be prepared to answer those very complex questions that people are now posing. Uh, and so one of the things, and I do this on Mind Trip, and we offer this to our destination partners as well, is uh I mine the chats for insights of things that maybe we don't have a great answer for yet. You know, a lot of uh when we work with the destinations, not only are we using the large language models and we have a knowledge base that you know allows us to make this visual interactive with photos and reviews and all that stuff, but then we index content, like at the top of the pyramid is indexing content and key facts from the destinations themselves. So there is a lot of different sources going into answering a question that somebody has, but when we hit one that still can't be answered with all of that, that is should be like gold to all of us. That's like that's like finding that like speck at the bottom, that diamond in the rough, right? Like, whoa, that is something that we don't have content on that we can own. And so I think one of the most interesting things I have learned in working with some free destination partners is yes, you know, embedding AI increases time on site and people are more engaged and they're building trip plans. But the insights that you can get from where the content gaps are, that's really what's going to be necessary information to move forward in this like future that isn't fully written yet, but we see glimmers of where it's going, right?

SPEAKER_02: 58:58

Yeah. Well, and then one of the things that stood out to me in these conversations too is that as they've implemented this application, the big shift between building out an existing website based on search behavior on uh a Google search engine, for example, and how they land on your website, and you've got landing pages, you've got a top navigation, you're trying to control the user experience. And what really was highlighted to me throughout these discussions was the fact that you no longer have that control. You now need to be ready for whatever the LLM is going to produce as a result. And therefore, your time and effort and visit California and Lynn's comments were fascinating in this regard with like four million pieces of data that they have that uh then they can work with Mind Trip to be able to curate that. Because if if it was so challenging, I know from my experience for many years trying to implement a great search widget within existing websites based on these wildcards of what people would search for. Things like insurance. People would just say, I can't find on your website, I'll type in insurance. And we would then learn from that and improve the navigation. But people are now asking to your point, lot. long string queries to try and they're getting more sophisticated about their prompts uh in order to get better results. And this is a a huge difference because all of a sudden you need to be focused on how do you make sure that your your tourism board, your travel company, is being indexed and represented the right way for any of these large language models. So this is a huge challenge and undertaking. And obviously even tourism boards working with a partner like you are learning what's necessary to be on that journey and to use a tool to be able to give people the right recommendations. And there was one other comment too about also if something is closed, like making sure that some of the things that might be produced to highlight that actually this does exist, but it's now closed. And so that users don't get confused if something gets produced that they get disappointed when they find out later it's closed. So um so anyway a lot of that was really fascinating. What what are some of the big I guess I was asking each of them some of the challenges that they've overcome. What are some of the things that have stood out to you either sort of the uh the challenges of implementing this or some of the opportunities you've then realized of like wait a second actually we've been thinking about this differently and it actually works even better for this reason.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:11

I'm you know this is where it's all so new I'm excited to hear your take on this Paul I think every challenge is an opportunity so I'm glad you put those two things together I you know I think we have learned as much from our destination partners as they have learned from us and that that truly is what makes it a partnership because we're constantly learning. So I think when we first got into this this world of tourism boards and destination marketing organizations, you know we had our consumer hats on and then we went over here and we're like wait a second you have members and priorities and different things that we have to take into consideration or you know you have very specific goals around what your destination narrative needs to be. And so those uh have really just honestly all those learnings and listening have just enhanced what we do today. I think one of the things that became so powerful so quickly that we implemented was something that we called key facts. And you can think of it like a hammer, right? So if there's something about your destination that's really important to you like maybe you know the um local authentic food in Puerto Rico because I know that that's a key factor that they have is really important to make sure that you surface anytime somebody asks about restaurant recommendations. Like this is an opportunity to put some of those priorities or maybe your priority sustainability right like put those in and make sure that what you are highlighting first and foremost isn't just only what the customer is asking for, but also include some of those priorities for the destination. So we've learned so much about what it means to manage a destination what it means to have to manage all those stakeholders and you know show responsibility for that. So it's it's been a really great and and beautiful exchange and I I always I'm a big believer if you're not if you're not continuing to learn then you should just stop.

SPEAKER_02: 1:03:19

Yeah well especially right now more so than ever so is kind of owning up to the fact that things are only continuing to get better because that's what I've always I've certainly heard uh in the last couple of years anytime you know there's a major culture change I've seen this several times before in my career because you always have people that are going to point out what doesn't work as opposed to the a hundred things that do work so well. And so you know the number of times I've heard people mention that Air Canada gave away some free flights on their chat bot and therefore we shouldn't have AI chatbots because and so but like literally that's a cautionary note but it's not a reason not to embrace technology and change. So now given you guys have also recently won an award the Fast Company Most innovative company of 2025 which is pretty cool because when I was at G Adventures Bruce Poontip really wanted to win that award we did a number of things. They eventually got there after my time but um that's an incredible recognition I'm a huge fan of Fast Company and I respect their process for selecting organizations. So the fact that you you guys are new to travel and then you know are winning awards for your technology and travel, you know, it's a testament to the team, the processes you guys have built and your background because you've adapted very quickly and are now really uh conquering the travel industry in a number of different ways. And that's why I think it's still very much early days. I I want to make sure and I know you're not on the sales side Michelle and I know you were reluctant to come on but I do want to make sure that any of our listeners can understand how they could engage and work with Mindtrip. And one of the things I had said to Michelle even before we were recording the series because I wasn't familiar with the different prices and packaging and options and like who it because I was like I think there's some people that I know that might really utilize this because I was at a conference in Quebec City earlier this year and the the local tourism board had asked me like we're thinking about using this tool called Mindtrip. Do you know anything about it? I was like yes and they're like do you know what it costs I'm like no and not that we have to get into those details today but tell everyone a little bit about I know on your website there's like the basic and there's you know there's the end uh um the enterprise option as well but like give everyone if you wouldn't mind a bit of an overview of how companies can work with you and reach out to the sales team not to yourself but to be able to learn more information book a demo.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:24

Yes well they're happy they can reach out to me too I mean we're such a small team it'll get it'll get into the right hand but um you know I think one of the things that I learned because coming into this industry first of all as a as a marketer myself and then working with other marketing leaders has been such a blessing. Actually it was one of the biggest surprises of everything was like oh like I speak their language this makes a lot of sense. But but there is a piece of language in uh in tourism boards and destination marketing organizations that they're very used to buying media and campaigns and maybe not as much software. And so the way that mind trip works is it really depends on the the size of your destination like are you a city are you a county are you a state are you a country right? Are you region? Uh but it also is the the complexities of you know are there certain configurations is there integrations we need to you know put in place how many languages are you going to want to translate into uh do you just want on your website do you also want this you know to function in a WhatsApp channel like there's there's a lot of different uh configurations of this software so it's all priced as a software as a service kind of like a monthly fee like you would pay for your CRM and other tools even though it is part of your digital you know media your website and so that's how it's priced and it just it varies it really does depend. We do have a basic model that is for like super small destinations that uh really want to get their feet wet into this and put something on your site. And then enterprise of course is like we need it translated into 10 different languages and we want it plugged into our CMS system and indexing this other website. You know there's lots of different things that uh take time for the team to implement. Does that answer your question?

SPEAKER_02: 1:07:28

Yeah it does. I think the main thing I wanted to ensure I conveyed to our listeners especially those smaller uh to medium size organizations is that it is accessible for you as well. That was the part that stood out to me and I won't mention any numbers because I'm sure they ultimately also they do change and you know the but the basic premium and enterprise plan but the basic plan is accessible to just about any organization based on cost. And then so there's not a reason that they shouldn't otherwise reach out or look to engage with you in their technology, which is why I also think it'll work for other uh verticals in travel as well. And then you know the there's all these opportunities for customization and we heard some great examples of that in these conversations. No I just wanted to to make sure we did cover that I thought that was really important for our listeners uh most importantly so thanks for giving a few more details on that. And then just in terms of connecting with you, you kindly obviously mentioned that you are you know you're very much a thought leader in this space. I know you do webinars all the time and I you know the um the level of marketing I continue to see coming out of Mindtrip just continues to to grow and build especially as you guys got your you know your second round and the team obviously is small but growing um so tell us how best for people to be able to connect with you or the team if they want to reach out and learn more about Mindtrip.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08:38

Yeah um so there's a couple different ways uh one you can go to Mindtrip obviously we have forms and people can fill out if they want a demo. If you just want to talk about AI and you don't necessarily want this deep demo and you're not ready for that yet and you just want to bounce things around you can reach me at Michelle at Mindtrip.ai or you can email my it's usually myself our COO like there's a couple of us on this at uh business at mindtrip.ai. So again we are all so accessible and available if you have any questions uh and wherever you are in that like decision tree is is totally fine.

SPEAKER_02: 1:09:18

That's great. Thank you Michelle and just one thing for all of our listeners too that we are airing this a week before our AI summit. So if you're listening to this within that times time frame make sure that you join us not only for the AI summit but also our session on how DMOs are being transformed by AI. We have an exceptional moderator in Matthew Gardner who is a great friend and heads up travel massive in London. So he's going to be moderating the session Michelle will be there and Jeanette as well so you actually will have a chance to interact with them live ask questions so don't miss that opportunity to join our AI summit, meet the team from Mindtrip and several of the tourism boards that you've heard from on this series. And then of course Michelle like me is at all the major industry conferences so she'll be back at Focus Right. And so if you want to reach out to her to find out where she's going to be in the world make sure to do that. And Michelle on that note I, you know I thank you again for this partnership. I've so thoroughly enjoyed this series and obviously uh I look forward to seeing you again in person and at our AI summit and uh seeing you in California because it focus right's in San Diego so it's close for you because you're based in LA.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:25

It is I actually am a graduate of UC San Diego. That was my undergrad. So uh it is like coming home being in San Diego. But yes to your point Dan I I will be at uh a lot of events here as we close out the year. I'll also be at the brand USA travel week for anybody that will be there in London. So happy to engage and uh would love to connect with people.

SPEAKER_02: 1:10:49

Awesome. Thanks again Michelle all the best to you and the team. We'll see you again soon. Thank you. Thanks so much for joining us on this special three-part series of travel trends focused on how destination marketing is being impacted by AI. I hope you enjoyed today's conversation with Storm Tustee, the CMO of Discover Puerto Rico and where the conversation started with Jeanette Roush from Brand USA and Lynn Carpenter from Visit California. And thanks again to Michelle for jumping in and joining us as part of this final episode. Special thanks to her and to the entire team at Mindtrip for sponsoring this series that I was so keen to bring to life. I look forward to seeing where this conversation goes and if you want to send any feedback please send me an email Dan at traveltrendspodcast.com. Now don't forget we do have an incredible panel coming next week at our AI summit that will feature Storm and Jeanette and Michelle hosted by my friend Matthew Gardner from Travel Massive London. And if you're listening to after that don't worry because you can find it right away on our YouTube channel at Travel Trends Podcast as well as clips and highlights from these conversations on LinkedIn and Instagram. And to find out more about Mindtrip, check out mindtrip.ai thanks again to everyone for making the time to join us on this three part series I hope you found lots of beneficial guidance and advice and I really hope you joined us for our AI summit as well. And until our next series safe travels