Checkin' In – The Hospitality & Tourism Podcast
Checking In – The Hospitality & Tourism Podcast
Welcome to Checking In', where honest conversation meets real hospitality. Hosted by Jeremy Nichols and Dr. Peter Ricci, this isn’t another fluff-filled industry chat. We dig into the unfiltered realities of hotels, restaurants, clubs, and tourism, from leadership and labor to culture, growth, and the uncomfortable truths most people avoid.
Our guests aren’t here to spin PR. They’re operators, executives, and innovators who’ve lived it, and they’re ready to talk about what’s really happening behind the scenes.
If you care about where the hospitality industry is headed, what it really takes to lead people well, and how to stay ahead in a business that never sleeps, you’re in the right place.
Every episode, we’re checkin' in on what matters most.
Checkin' In – The Hospitality & Tourism Podcast
Checkin' In (The Hospitality & Tourism Podcast) - Kim Bennett, Founder and CEO of AtlasGuru
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The AI Concierge Is Already Here. What Happens to Your Team?
Nearly half of travelers now use AI to plan trips, and hotels are starting to put that capability directly on their own websites. Guests arrive with golf, spa, and dining already booked. Concierge load goes down. Spend per stay goes up. So what does that mean for the people who used to do that work?
On Episode 12 of the Checkin' In, Jessica Platts and Dr. Peter Ricci sit down with Kim Bennett, Founder and CEO of AtlasGuru, a B2B AI itinerary platform that embeds into travel brands' websites and turns their own destination content into personalized, white-labeled itineraries and an AI chat agent that answers traveler questions instantly. AtlasGuru is built for hotels, DMOs, DMCs, travel publishers, and advisors.
Before founding AtlasGuru, Kim spent more than 15 years in senior marketing and digital leadership roles at Condé Nast, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Amazon, and Nordstrom. In 2023 she was named a Game Changer by Women Leading Travel & Hospitality for disrupting travel and hospitality.
We get into:
Why guests now treat AI as the starting point for travel planning, and what it costs a hotel to not be in that conversation
What actually changes for concierge, front desk, and guest services teams when planning moves online
Pre-arrival revenue and why the booking window for ancillaries is shifting earlier
What Kim learned building digital experiences at Amazon and Condé Nast that hotel operators still get wrong
The skills hospitality leaders should be hiring for as AI absorbs the transactional work
Real questions, no hype. Bring yours to the live chat.
Connect with Kim: / kimbennett
Learn more about AtlasGuru: https://atlasguru.ai/
Checkin' In: The Hospitality & Tourism Podcast is hosted by Jeremy Nichols, Gecko Hospitality, and Dr. Peter Ricci, Director of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Florida Atlantic University. New episodes stream live on LinkedIn and YouTube, then land on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.
You can follow Peter Ricci at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterriccihospitality/
You can follow Jeremy Nichols at:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremycnichols/
https://www.youtube.com/@JeremyNichols
Hey, hey.
SPEAKER_03Good morning. My couple Joe.
SPEAKER_04I have my Diet Coke ready to go.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna ask you, where's it at?
SPEAKER_04I like it when uh I like it when Jeremy's out and about and it's just us educators. I shouldn't say that because he'll watch it, but he will.
SPEAKER_03I'm hoping he's listening right now, actually.
SPEAKER_04So um And I know we talked about this before we went live, but it's so sunny behind you. I don't I can't believe there's a nor'easter coming.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, the winds are churning, the water is I the ferry was out there moving like this to Long Island or Black Island yesterday. I wouldn't have wanted to be on that, but no, thank you.
SPEAKER_04So I'm excited to have Kim on today.
SPEAKER_03I am like so pumped. Uh I am.
SPEAKER_04I know, you know, I'm so naive with AI. I uh I do my little bits, and you know, my spouse is is so tech involved and used every day. So I kind of hear and watch and learn that way, but I just find it fascinating. And I think this week we've had so many hotel questions. We have a uh down here, we have the annual hotel leaders panel next week that I'm moderating. So, of course, all of them want to know what questions are going to be thrown their way about AI and are they out of a job as a as a GM, and it's just interesting. But from the the concierge perspective, I just find it fascinating because the concierge has always been a human that I relied on for everything. If I really wanted to be in the know, here's my tip money, and that's the one who's gonna get me places. So she works in that space, so I'm just want to hear what she says.
SPEAKER_03All right, so let's we're gonna bring Kim right out. I mean, there's no further ado, I think. Hi, Kim.
SPEAKER_02Hi.
SPEAKER_04Hi, Kim. Welcome, welcome.
SPEAKER_02Excellent. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_04Of course, you know, I see concierge, technology, uh, high-end retail background. I'm like, just reach out, reach out.
SPEAKER_03We all wanted to talk to you, Kim.
SPEAKER_02I love it. Well, I have so much to say, and I I love talking about customer experience and technology, those are two passions of mine and have been for a long time. So I'm I'm happy to to join with you guys.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, I guess so. Why don't we start with that? Talk a little bit about your background in the the guest customer relations area and like how it led you to what you're doing now.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Actually, really, my background has been strongly on the I would say technology and retail side of things. So for almost 20 years, I've worked in e-commerce and marketing for um really popular consumer brands. So for Nordstrom, uh Martha Stewart, uh a little bit of time at Amazon. Um, so I worked for a coffee company in Seattle back in the day. So I I really, you know, learned about customer experience and how to elevate the customer experience and to talk to customers and learn what they're looking for, you know, for the last 20 years. And then I decided to go out on my own and to build my own company, which is Atlas Guru, and took a lot of that knowledge, a lot of that digital background experience that I was in in the retail side of things, and applied it to the travel industry. So uh that's where Atlas Guru was born. And we've made some changes, big changes along the way. Test and learn. That is something that is like ingrained in me. So not only be customer-centric, but test and learn and try and fail and experiment.
SPEAKER_04So um failure's their way to success. You have to, right? You just move along the way. I mean, Yulian, like before we ask you like another question, tell me what you have found so far, the similarities between the retail side and the hospitality side. To me, I have a hard time separating them. It's all experience, period, you know?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. It isn't a big separation, like you are trying to exceed a customer's expectation, right? Um, and so especially Nordstrom does that in a superior way, right? And I would say also Martha Stewart and Amazon. So Martha Stewart's all about beautiful brand, having practical products. Um, she's an amazing teacher, right? So, how do we um take something practical and useful and possibly elevate it? And then, you know, with again Nordstrom, customer experience is everything. And that's the same for hotels, right? It's what can we do to exceed a customer's expectation? Um, and technology, we'll get into this, is just there to help and support along the way. It is not to replace the human um and their expertise and their decision making necessarily, but it's there to elevate um, you know, already what a customer is looking for. And also on that front, uh, I remember the rise of e-commerce and what that has done. And a lot of people thought, well, that's just gonna wipe out um, you know, human touch. And actually, it's you know, it's all part of the same thing. You want to maybe talk to a beauty specialist through Nordstrom.com and have a conversation of, you know, what do I need, or talk to customer service or have a chat interaction. So um, as you were saying, Peter, it is all kind of one thing, right? We are trying to ultimately create an incredible experience for somebody, whether it's shopping or travel, um, it kind of all blends into one. Those fundamentals are the same.
SPEAKER_04It's interesting. You know, I'm I'm I'm thinking like two legs here because you know, it within our program where I teach at Florida Atlantic University, we have that kind of experience built into our MBA. It's more experience. It doesn't matter if it's a yacht, it's a dental practice, it's a veterinarian, everybody's trying to separate themselves. And yesterday I had an online chat with Exxon Mobil Rewards. My student said, How come you're not signed up for gas rewards programs with the gas prices so high? Have you ever done that? We're signing up with everyone. So, of course, I listened to the students to see keep young if if possible. Sometimes it goes in one ear and out the other because it's it's a student, but just know she's laughing because we both teach. But I went online and the guy was absolutely fabulous. So I said, It's a chat, you know, he's live chatting with me, his style, his grammar, his attention to the guests. I would I was blown away. I'm like, this is a gas station, ExxonMobil, and I'm having an online chat, but there was a human behind it, it wasn't a chatbot. It was because I asked him, I said, Are you a chatbot? He said, No, no, I'm in Memphis or wherever he was, I forget. Um, but it just elevated the whole experience, even for something that's a commodity like gasoline. So it's just weird. I mean, it it can be done, it's just executing it, is the hard part, and getting the buy-in from your your staff, to me, anyway. Yeah. So, what does your company do now? Tell us a little bit about what you do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So, Atlas Guru, we are a software product um that focuses on AI solutions in the travel and hospitality space. So, what that looks like is we have AI generated itineraries and we have AI chat. Um, this can be applied to hotels, travel advisors can use this software tool, um, DMCs, especially uh unlocking all that data from DMCs. That's one need that we've been actually talking to several DMCs is how do we take all their knowledge base from decades that's in all kinds of various forms and create itineraries for sales proposals that go then back white labeled to travel advisors. So DMCs have quick turnaround times that they have to send proposals back to travel advisors for their the travel advisors' customers. And so they want to be able to unlock all that data quickly, and the LLMs are just fantastic for that. So that's that's one area that we're looking at, and then the other piece is like travel publishing. So, you know, taking years of travel publishing content and using our technology to then serve up incredible itineraries. So we are doing that now with um a publisher called the Hotel Guide, uh, where you can go and do an itinerary and it searches all their content and serves up an itinerary based upon the content from that website. So it's really kind of the new unlocking um where search used to be. Now we're using AI technology to unlock all that kind of data.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Jess, what are what uh what's your first question of the day? Because I mean this just blows me away because it's coming and evolving so quickly. And I'm just not afraid of AI. I think it makes us better. I mean, if I've worked at a DMC for 20 years in Philly, where Kim is, I know the permitting, I know the local venues, I know all this, but sourcing it in a matter of a minute across everything and and curating it right up on a plate is just amazing. But I still need to be the one to guide you and hold your hand during the event or the thing or the whatever it is, conference, convention, wedding, you know?
SPEAKER_03This isn't even one of the questions we have teed up here, right? But like for you, Kim, is it like are you working more with in that sales group business space from event travel, right? Or are you working with other groups in, you know, singular travel, whether it's a it's a one-woman show and this person needs to hit seven different locations, whether it's for work or for pleasure. Like, is there a specific secret sauce in your in your software? Is not necessarily.
SPEAKER_02I think the secret sauce for us is that we are really um focused in the travel space. So anybody can go to Chat GPT or Claude or what have you and ask questions, but we really are rooted in the data of that client. Um, so for example, a hotel, right? We talked a little bit um about hotel concierge. Well, what we can do is for the hotel, a traveler can go to that hotel website and say, Hey, I want to come to this destination for three days. And, you know, my husband loves fly fishing, I love tennis, um, not interested in golf whatsoever, but create us an incredible uh three-day holiday at this particular resort. And AI, our sophomore, will then pull together a really beautiful itinerary using all that hotel's data and say, hey, here's what we've heard, here's what we've outlined, and then you can interact with it, right? Like, no, I'm not interested in you know horseback riding, but I would like it to add another day of tennis or something like that. And so you can kind of chat back and forth, and the power is with the traveler, but it's using all that data from the hotel. So, again, the better you've probably heard this many times, the better the data, the better the output, right? So all of this can then be pulled together in an itinerary and then sent off to the hotel concierge to really make that happen. So instead of emailing back and forth and revealing a PDF that might be slightly outdated, we can actually have real time as long as that hotel keeps their data pretty up to date. You know, the traveler can create something unique and bespoke to them. And then the hotel can execute against that. They can book the dining reservations and the tennis court and the fly fishing excursion and all the different things that can add revenue back to that hotel.
SPEAKER_04Wow, that's kind of interesting. I love it. Um, what are what are your thoughts on the future of the human concierge? Because it was such a profession that you trained for, you were moved along pathways to be uh, you know, a star performer, there's a global group, you know. Uh I think this person still will be there, relying on the background. But what what are your thoughts on that whole profession?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely agree that we still need that expertise, that person who has the working knowledge of that neighborhood or that city. Um, so that is still going to happen. Again, where AI fits so nicely is just we we're using technology in a way that can kind of eliminate tedious tasks or you know speed up the process or put some of the onus back to the guest or traveler. They don't have to do any of this if they don't want to. If they want to talk to the concierge one-on-one, they certainly can. Um, but we are just making it easier for all to work with this technology to then unlock it and let the concierge do what they do best, which is engage with the traveler, share their experience and knowledge. Um, so I don't see that going away. In fact, uh example, I was just in Croatia, stayed in an incredible property there, um, Villa Dubrovnik. Shout out to them. And they they found um my friend, uh, her like hairdryer or curling iron or what have you, totally blew up and burnt out. She didn't know where to find one. We went to a pharmacy, they didn't sell them there. The concierge tracked it down for her. They drove out, sent her photos of different options, and brought her back what she needed. So I, and that is five-star service, right? So it and it's incredible. And that's exactly what we need from our concierge is to help solve problems, have a human touch that can do that. But and the the the same front is like we're all planning ahead of time, right? And we want to say, you know, hey, maybe a month before the trip, what are my options as a traveler? What what do you have at the hotel that maybe we could pre-book in advance? And so the concierge can use this as a tool that can just help and support them. So I don't see the concierge being eliminated.
SPEAKER_04Interesting. And you know, you mentioned earlier it's all about the you know, good data in, good data out, but it's also the if I don't hear it every week, I hear it at least three times in the week, make sure I'm using the right prompts. And I was I was always a lengthy prompter, even in old Google search engine, or Yahoo! I would always ask a question, and they're like, you're asking it a question as if it's a human. And I'm like, Yes, but I get better answers. So that's what AI is all about, right?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So the better your prompt, and that's where the human element comes in. It does sound like that doesn't seem to make sense, but it is true. The better you are, the more context you bring to that prompt. If you're using Chat GPT, give it some background about you. Um, I have that for my own personal travel. I have a little um background on what I like, and you know, I like boutique hotels and maybe smaller cities. And you know, I give it some, I say, here's one of my favorite hotels I've stayed at. These are the kind of restaurants I like. So I give my um LLM a little background on me. So then when I'm asking it whenever about planning trips or things, uh it already has information about me. So absolutely. So the better your prompt, the better your output. And I think that's again a human touch that we've learned where Google search, it was very specific, you know, find me this uh restaurant opening time in Philadelphia, where now it's like you can ask questions as if you're talking to somebody. So you you're absolutely right, Peter.
SPEAKER_04And how does it change for the hoteliers and the restaurant owners and the you know, the people who want to get into your platform? Like we all talked so long about having the right keywords and having the right things in the background. Like, how does the industry evolve now in the background to do a better job?
SPEAKER_03Great question, Peter. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And you know, Marriott or Best Western or whoever was always in the background on your keywords. Improve your keywords, you know, right?
SPEAKER_03Well, and let's pause that because that's what we're teaching our young professionals and the students in the classroom to do with their resumes, right? Like you've got to have these keywords, you've got to have these um, you know, these experiences or whatever. So that way you are popping up in the ATS and in the AI scrubs of the resumes, right? So the keyword is not just for, you know, AI prompting in the right manner, it's for a a ton of other areas for for us as humans, I feel like. But yes.
SPEAKER_02No, it you're you're right, Jessica. So like to be visible, right? So it's really twofold. So our our software is what lives on that client's website or publishing site or working behind the scenes with the DMCs. But what I would recommend for um any hotel businesses, what have you, is those principles don't necessarily go away, right? Of making sure that you have strong keywords and up-to-date content and that sort of thing. So those foundations are still very important in order to be visible. Um, I think things are changing by the month practically, of like what are best practices to have visibility within all the various LLMs, but the fundamentals and the foundations don't necessarily change right now. Um, I also think it's important for business owners uh to use the LLMs as their strategic partner, right? So you can put your hotel website into one of the LLMs, and I would say do it across multiple and say, hey, check out my hotel website. What do I need to do to be visible in the LLMs? What's my good geo and SEO strategy for my company based upon what you know about my company? Wow. So it's a very powerful strategic partner as well. So have it do a search of your site, have it um give you recommendations. And again, the more info that you can give it, the better the output. I would say two, three years ago, it was still pretty hallucinating and a little buggy. Now it's very smart. So I would use it as your strategic partner and ask those questions.
SPEAKER_04Hmm. And how how do you, you know, how do you begin with a client? Like I'm a client and I want to work with Kim. So how do you approach them and how do I find you? And like you know, I'm interested to see how you even get integrated. Like, like our question there. I'm an independent hotel, I have limited resources, I want to fire my concierge position because my owner's on my butt to save 50,000 a year.
SPEAKER_02It's not gonna cost 50,000 a year, I can guarantee you that. So this is affordable software. I mean, we can start as low as you know, $300 a month for let's say a boutique hotel. So it is not um there's various levels, of course. Um, it depends on how customized you get. But I mean, for a hotel to include an AI chat functionality or an AI itinerary, um, it can be very cost effective. I think where the costs can get out of control is LLM usage. So if you have a huge volume of usage, it can start adding up because that's how their pricing models are in the current day.
SPEAKER_04The more use, the more pay.
SPEAKER_02Yes, exactly. So that is where again, if you are a large property that gets a massive amount of volume, that's going to be a little pricier. But I would say for a small independent boutique hotel, it's pretty easy to get started. We're again a white label product that we can roll out very quickly and be able to use that uh hotel's data to populate results. So the the cost of technology from 10 years ago has definitely Gotten a lot more efficient. I think the challenge for a lot of different hotel properties is there's also lots of different software options out there, right?
SPEAKER_05Sure.
SPEAKER_02So, you know, they might be having 20, 30, 40 different software products that they're running every single month. And so I understand that things start adding up. So you have to obviously pick and choose of like, okay, what is it that that fits my needs best? But it's definitely gotten a lot more affordable.
SPEAKER_03Peter, you were an operator of a hotel, right? Put your operator hat on, right? Would it have been something that was worth it? Like, would you have right? Like, what what are your thoughts with the in in in in involving it in in you know whatever word I'm trying to say there, darn it?
SPEAKER_04I know what you mean. And you know, like Kim, does it sit where I'm a guest and I'm on the website and it says curate your visit here or check here for our virtual concierge? That's how it's your platform sits, and then you kind of make it work depending on the client, how you would see it, phrase it, whatever.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. So, and also, you know, sometimes a traveler just wants to understand, are you pet friendly? What's uh I have two little kids under the age of six, what restaurants would be a good fit for my family? Like these are questions that can be quickly asked and answered using this. And so that saves a concierge time from answering the same question again and again, um, where they can create more bespoke experiences as opposed to, you know, once again, uh responding to are you pet friendly, what are kid-friendly restaurants, you know, how far away are you from the airport, all FAQs that can go on and on and on. Yes, you can publish those in a PDF on the website, but a traveler may want to continue to ask questions and have engagement, and they can use this kind of AI chat feature to keep asking questions.
SPEAKER_04I like it. I like it a lot because the people don't read though, either, right?
SPEAKER_03Those all those FAQs just sit at the bottom of every single website. I I think I'm the one that maybe pops into the FAQs to answer my question.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and they're they're outdated as soon as they're up there anyway, and you don't have the staff, everybody's struggling with staff and cutting costs, so you don't have the staff to update your FAQs every seven days, which you probably should be doing at least monthly, if not bi-weekly. And there's no way to integrate live events and things that are coming and an airport closure and a highway closure, like the AI can help with with all of that. So I I like it a lot. Um, what go, you know, just go ahead, pull up one of our questions before we just start.
SPEAKER_03Sure, I I felt like you were going off. Yeah, we're going wrong.
SPEAKER_04So, you know, anyone.
SPEAKER_03I know. I'm hold on, hold on. I'm looking to see. How about this one? Um, what did Amazon teach you about the customer that hotel operators still get wrong, maybe?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I don't know about get wrong, but I do think Amazon is, and I was talking to somebody yesterday about this, uh, is very customer-centric. And somebody was like, What do you mean by that? And if you think about it, when you're shopping on Amazon, it might suggest products that it is like shockingly good at. Um, you know, on my Alexa app, it might say, Hey, it looks like, oh no, she might pop up. Oh person. I can't even say the word, but um, you know, she might pop up and say, Hey, you are out of pet food. Do you want, or you know, it's been 30 days since you had pet food. Do you want me to reorder? Um, you know, it gives you updates on shipping, you know, hey, we see the delivery driver will be there by 8 p.m. tonight. So those are all very good customer-centric um tasks that Amazon does very, very well. And it seems really simple, but we all know that that's an operator's like challenge, right? Sure. So I think I think don't be afraid of testing and trying and talking to customers and using technology to maybe solve some problems that maybe hotel operators might think a human should take care of. Um, you know, I've even heard that I was at a conference that they were talking about robots and robots are coming to hotels. And one thing that one hotel was testing is having robots deliver room service. And funny enough, that females really like that because when a female is standing in a robe at 11 o'clock at night and wants to get her food delivered, she's uncomfortable letting somebody in uh into her hotel room at 11 o'clock at night when she just got out of the shower and is in a robe. But having a robot come in and deliver her food is more comforting. So there's funny things that you wouldn't really think about, but like, oh, technology kind of actually solved for that. Um, so I think don't be afraid to test something, don't be afraid to talk to your customers and see what can technology can do to help solve and create a great guest experience.
SPEAKER_04And you know, your history too at Nordstrom, I mean, Nordstrom separates itself. I mean, even in Boca, where I am, where there's the luxury of the luxury, Nordstrom is still a go-to if you really want quality throughout the experience. I've just always found it that way. So, you know, I'm having a flashback and I can't help myself. It was like the early 2000s, late 90s. I was working with an owner and they were opening a property in Gainesville, Florida, which is College Town, and it was going to be the largest convention hotel in town, and they built it to a Radisson or Marriott standards. They had reviewed them both, but then Best Western gave them the best deal. And at that time, Best Western was really not an upscale full service, they didn't have levels of brands like they do now, and they went with Best Western and our initial opening. I I did the first six months of opening with the management team, uh, was getting the word across that we were going to be the nicest Best Western they had ever seen. And so we positioned it a little differently, and you know, our guests didn't know what they were getting until they came and saw it and felt it. But the Nordstrom, I know what I'm getting. So, like right now, it's it's hard for me to know with the proliferation of all these different brands what I'm getting. And I think your tool could help me feel more comfortable with an independent that I have no idea what I'm getting, you know. Like right now, usually my students that work at Marriott or they work at Hilton, I don't know what a curio is versus an autograph versus an element. I honestly don't, and so I don't know what I'm getting. And one of my um friends in the industry, he manages a Marriott property on South Beach, it's corporate managed, but it's very competitive in the independent space because it looks independent, it feels independent, surrounded by independence. I don't know what I'm getting anymore. So I need your technology to kind of help me know what's going on.
SPEAKER_03Well, and this is great to kind of lead into this next question because I agree with you, Peter. It's we're like so oversaturated with all of these different levels within the individual brands and then the bigger conglomerate band brands buying the smaller brands up, right? And and it's been crazy. So, Ken, this is a great question. Like, do you feel right, are hotels in the content business now, right? Whether they like it or not, right? Like, I think the the main goal for the hotel is heads and bets, right? That's always been what we've wanted to do heads and bets, heads and beds. Yeah, but then there is that process of, oh, we're an event space, right? We need to gear towards more groups and events and businesses and meetings and all of that, right? But at the end of the day, new younger, our younger generation is so content driven, right? Are we is is the hotels a content business now?
SPEAKER_02I mean, I wouldn't say it's their business, but it's important, right? So having storytelling about your property, you know, are you an incredible event space for weddings or corporate events, as opposed to, you know, maybe a boutique property that's you know good for couples, like a hotel that's great for families is not the same necessarily, not always true, but may not be the same for um, you know, couples or what have you, or events, right? Like it might not be a great corporate event space. So I do think having some of that storytelling can help um give an identity and put a little bit of perspective to that traveler so they understand what is it that this is all about, you know. Um, and we all have different needs when we're traveling, right? I'm a very different, I select a hotel very differently from a business travel perspective, as opposed to when I'm, you know, traveling with my husband, um, as opposed to maybe a girls' trip, um, or versus with you know my extended family and young nieces. Like we all have different needs and and are looking for different properties for those needs. And I think the content, um whether it's on social media, um, you know, we know that people are using TikTok and Instagram, and it's not all younger generations. I mean, the Gen Zs and above are using TikTok. So we know that it's important to have some sort of content presence. I don't know if it has to be aggressive and you know, by the hour, but having some sort of content and presence to help identify what um your property is all about is yeah, it's important. So I do think content and social media, they're here to stay.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they are they are here to stay, and they're and they're they're valuable. I mean, as long as you have an authentic story and you're not just gaslighting me with 10 different stories to catch 10 different markets that don't really believe belong there, you know. And I think this is also, I mean, I can't help but always think like an educator, it's also a great skill for us to build in the future generations. They need to know how to develop content that's appropriate for the channel they're on, as well as it matching the cruise ship or the airline experience or the veterinarian, whatever they're building, so that it's authentic. Because when I feel like I'm being fed BS after experiencing it, then I have a sour taste. So it's no different than old school having an honest salesperson or an honest travel advisor or whatever the case is.
SPEAKER_02I mean, yeah, exactly, Peter. The fundamentals don't change, right? You need to have, you got to back up what you're putting out there. So, um, and I also think content can be evergreen. It doesn't always have to be something constantly new and fresh.
SPEAKER_05Right.
SPEAKER_02But, you know, if you have great evergreen content, you can repurpose it in multiple ways and talk about it. We all know what the seasons are and the holidays and that sort of thing. It's okay to repurpose content. I don't think people are following tightly every single thing that you're putting out there. So there's a way to do it that is economical. Um, and you know, because I know content creation, I myself struggle with it too. It's a lot and it's uh a lot of effort to put out there. So I get that.
SPEAKER_04And it's a certain skill set to be good at it too, and to to not sound cheesy and to not sound fake and all of that, you know, because I'm all about tell me the real deal. What are why are you the best place for burgers, or why is this the best mattress that I'm gonna sleep on? Whatever, tell me the real deal. Um, how how did you develop the idea to do what you do? Yeah, you know, without proprietary secrets, like how did you develop this?
SPEAKER_02No, it's a good question. So Atmos Guru originally started as a user-generated content website. So what that looked like, uh gosh, almost five years ago, was storytelling from travelers. So I too love the authentic storytelling. I wanted travelers to be able to share their itineraries and upload, anybody could upload their itineraries on Atlas Guru and tell us all about your trip. Um, think of it as like a long-form trip advisor, if you will. And so that was really the foundation for Atlas Guru was anybody being able to share their trips and travel stories. But then when Chat GPT and all the LLMs really um, you know, generative AI really kind of exploded three, four years ago, I had this pretty robust content website, and now this new technology came about, and I was like, wow, we could use this on Atlas Guru to then somebody could use AI, search Atlas Guru's content, and create an AI-generated itinerary, and then also refer back to those travelers. So what you would see is like a really beautiful AI-generated itinerary, but then it would say this was inspired by Jessica, who went to Paris, and Jennifer, who went to Paris, and Jonathan, who went to Paris, and this is what created that AI-generated itinerary. So that was the original uh AI itinerary almost over three years ago that we had. And then I started talking to travel advisors, and those AI-generated itineraries you could then send to an advisor. So now we had AI to advisor as one of our tools. And so anybody who created an itinerary can then reach out to a travel advisor, and that itinerary would be sent to them. And travel advisors actually approached me and said, This is like really beautiful. I'd love to create these for my clients. If I could create itineraries and send this to my clients, that would be ideal. And so then it started to kind of pivot and shift and change into being more of a B2B software program. So it really kind of happened organically. Um, so it really was taking great content using technology and then having the business side of things come to me and say, I'd like to try to use this and see what we can do with our businesses. So that's really kind of the natural progression. And now we are solely working in the B2B space um for Atlas Gurus products.
SPEAKER_04Wow, that's interesting. Jess, what's next question on your mind?
SPEAKER_03Oh my gosh, I've got so many like random questions.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because I'm thinking I want to see it. I want to do a demo right now, you know. Like that's how I feel. Like, I want to see it. But I I can imagine being a travel advisor. You're you you it's just so such a fascinating time in the world, you know. In the old in the old school, you had the travel advisor, you tell them where you want to go, they have to pull out books or Google, and then we've evolved to AI. Now it's still the travel advisor that you're relying upon, but it's thousands of pieces of data and stories and words and sentences that now you can curate this beautiful thing for Jessica's trip to Maui. And so she'll know what paths to walk. It's just, I think it's a great time in hospitality. I get so upset when everybody thinks, oh my god, AI's taking over the world. And I'm like, so what? It's great. It's just it's an evolution of the way we do things, that's all it is, and the speed at which we do things. The speed kind of concerns me a little bit because it's faster, faster, faster, faster. But the advisors also need speed because they want to get back to their clients fast.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I think it frees up, you know, from what we hear, you know, advisors are also drowning in tasks, right? So, and there's a lot of software programs and tools and integrations, and um advisors want to do what they do best, and that is to truly advise clients on their expertise and what and their knowledge. Um, and if they can speed up using technology, you know, they're they're happy about it. And clients also change their minds a lot. You know, I had one travel advisor who's like, well, I have a client that's not sure about Italy, and then they're thinking maybe Germany, and then they're back to Italy, and then, oh, should they add Switzerland into their trip? And so the travel advisor is like getting a new proposal for every single idea that, you know, and sure they they're starting to charge, you know, planning fees and things like that, but still it's like there's a lot of work to be done. And so if we can work with both the DMCs and travel advisors and get all that information and data, they can now start building itineraries quicker. And this is more top funnel. This is not like down to the penny, what is the cost of that particular hotel? We haven't gotten to that point yet, and that's what's coming for sure. The agents are are going to happen where this is all integrated tighter and quicker and faster, where um, you know, it's it's it is getting better. But right now, clients are still kind of in the discovery phase, they're still thinking about, they're not sure if they want to extend it to Switzerland, maybe they want to extend it to Germany or what have you. So what's really nice is it frees up time for the travel advisor to like do what they do best. And the other piece of this too is it gives a little bit of power if the travel advisor wants to do this. They can say, Hey, you know, check out our itinerary planning tool, play around, let me know what your thoughts are. Why don't you guys start playing around building a trip? Send it to me when you think it's you know somewhat ready to talk about. And that way the traveler, personally, I love this piece because I love planning travel, but it's the last mile that's really hard, right? It's the final elements that an advisor can do really well. They know the right place, the right city, the timing, the pacing. Um, but I still love the dreaming phase of it. So let me play around with the fun part. And then the travel advisor, they are the experts when it's like, here's how I would really finalize this piece for you.
SPEAKER_04Very interesting.
SPEAKER_03Here's my follow-up question, because I feel like we've been talking about this over the last few months of you know, kind of more with less, right? Because we are giving our travel advice in theory, right? I'm not saying we're giving them all of this time back right now, but if we're using the technology, if it's working the way we intend it to work, if a client of ours typically took 60 hours a week or 60 hours total to present the RFP, which is now down to 10, right, then that human is assigned in in essence, right? We're that person's assigned more work, right? So it's like, how do we I I think my question for all of us here to discuss is like how do we maintain our sanity while the demand continues to rise with the technology support that we have. But this work remains the same, in my opinion, right? Like, yes, there's some helpers, there's AI helpers, things to go faster. But like, how do we how do we maintain some normal say? Because we feel I just feel like we're constantly in this marathon run, no matter what we do, right? It's it's the first to the finish line for AI, the first to the finish line to make a million, the first to the finish line to do this, right? Like get the degree, get out there, all these things. Like, how do we how can we continue to maintain, and I don't want to say work-life balance because that's not it either, but it's the fact like the to not get overwhelmed or not to get bogged down with the technology being the supporter, but the work still, you know, remaining the same or or more. And and that's not for us to answer right here either, but just something for us to talk about too and think about, you know. That's what my my human concern is.
SPEAKER_02Peter, what were you gonna start?
SPEAKER_04I'm just thinking the world just continues to move faster and faster. I mean, you want to reply to email instantly, you want students want instant gratification. They want we all want instant everything. I mean, here, you know, I just came from an employer's meeting. Um, they keep saying the new hires want to instantly be leaders, and they're not really prepared. But that's the world we live in. Everything is instant on your phone, on instant. When I use Kim's system, I want instant feedback. I want instant response on what I'm gonna see when I go to see the the pyramids. I want instant curation, you know. So I think that pace is just gonna get faster and faster, Jess.
SPEAKER_03You seem worried about it, but listen, I don't know if I'm I'm um I am worried, I think, because I see people's mental health concerns. To dwindle, right, within the workspaces in corporate, and they're put with so much pressure, and the continu the teams continue to be shrunken, right? As the technology continues to grow and able to take on more tasks or support. But it's like uh if I'm the person leading the charge, and my charge five years ago was 10 tasks, and my charge now, 10 years later, is 50 tasks.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_03But I'm only being supported for an additional 25 tasks. Where am where is the balance coming from? Is like my point, right?
SPEAKER_02I mean, I think I I think I would look at like what is how is this all rolling up to what's what's your strategy, right? So and what is the most profitable project for you, right? And so is it shrinking the number of customers you have, let's say from a travel advisor perspective, but maybe you are working with a more profitable customer base? So maybe you're shifting into more luxury travel advising. Um, you know, so how do you, I mean, that's kind of what I have to do when I'm thinking about my day, right? Like, who are the customers that are going to be the right fit that makes sense, that you know, is not necessarily a square peg and a round hole, but it, you know, where we're, you know, swimming upstream and trying to problem solve. And maybe it's like that's just not the right fit for us or the right customer for us. So I think trying to figure out what does your strategy look like? What are the tools that we can use to help support that strategy? And then where do we cut bait on things that maybe don't make sense?
SPEAKER_04And so I don't know, it's it's something that I because I I'm thinking you help you help you would help me greatly, but to Jess's point, it's like all these things are coming out, and so we're constantly, I'm doing faster this week. This is awesome. Well, then something else comes out. Oh my god, now it's like Claude's integrated or Gemini's integrated to my email. Well, should I spend time learning it? Is it gonna save me time? It's just the way of the world, you know?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04But Kim, like, how do hospitality people find you? Like, you know, it seems like you work with destination management companies, but you could also easily work with a destination marketing organization in the city level. You could also work with a hotel. So, how do people in our world find you?
SPEAKER_02Um, well, you can contact me at atlasguru.com for sure. Um, you know, find me over LinkedIn. I'm always active there. But so really, and word of mouth, of course, um has always been great. But to your point for DMOs, um, absolutely, that's a great unlock of using this technology. Um because again, they have amazing content. Uh, how do we unlock that for travelers to quickly figure out, you know, hey, how do I plan an incredible trip to Maine or to New York or what have you, and use this this technology. So um, yes, there's lots of opportunities that can be there, but anybody can find me uh through all the various channels.
SPEAKER_04And what's your what's your favorite space to work in?
SPEAKER_02Oh, you know, that's that's tough. I love hotels. Um uh I I have a favorite Glenn Eagle's uh hotel in Scotland. I was there very briefly, and it's gorgeous and beautiful, and they have so many different amenities, and all I want to do is immerse myself in that property and using like a software like Atlas Guru, you could easily plan. They're not a client, by the way, but yeah, they could you could easily plan uh different trips and things and using all of their different amenities. So I do love you know, bespoke, beautiful hotels with lots of amenities like that. I think it's super fun to unlock. Um, so that is definitely in my heart, uh, those kinds of destination properties.
SPEAKER_05I love it.
SPEAKER_02But I also I do love publishing too. So, you know, I do think it's fun. The storytelling aspect of, you know, travel writers and you know what they have done. And again, I don't want it to be replaced. It's actually being able to showcase all that incredible content and all that great storytelling and all that experience and being able to re repurpose that um and showing that to readers and travelers. So I don't know, it's hard to pick this one, but I would say maybe uh destination properties and and content is fun to work with.
SPEAKER_04Wow. I recently had the um the opportunity to interview a lot of the DMO leaders for a module we were doing in one of our executive certificates. And uh Cassandra, who leads Visit Orlando, was very excited in our chat because they were just then debuting their their piece on their website for the concierge. So the we the week after I went on, it's kind of your travel planner, so to speak, device. And I went on, I was testing it, I was asking it questions, and I think it's fantastic because it saves the visitor a lot of time trying to do other homework. Like I could ask it, what are your five favorite or what are what are the best five restaurants for me in the Greater Orlando with my teenagers age 14 to 18? And then it'll give it back. Then I can dive down, okay, among these seven that it gave me, or five or three, whatever, which one am I gonna like best, or whatever? But I love it because the technology in the space where you are is um absolutely how my students would search and what our future is. And what I love is when I meet a 20-year-old student who has their grandpa with them, and the grandpa's use an AI at 70, you know, because right now we have all the generations traveling, and one wants this, one wants that. So, you know, today's news like Royal Caribbean bought a part of sandals. I'm just like fascinated by that because Royal Caribbean tries to have something for everybody on their massive ships. So I'm 50, I'm gonna like this restaurant, I'm 20 with kids, I'm gonna do this, and I'm 60, and I want to just play in the casino like me, I'm gonna be there. But now I can ask, all right, I want to do this, I want to do that. So I think I think the travel business it still excites me, but your space is fascinating because having worked in DMOs years ago, we used to print out our calendar and our visitor's guide, and to search through it was cumbersome. Now you can do that in matter of seconds, right?
SPEAKER_03This is hours worth of work. I'm thinking about you know, the RFP proposals that we used to do at Mohegan Sun, it would be weeks. Like we'd have like the USPS coming in that was, you know, bidding out for 2035, for instance. Right. Like we didn't even know what that property what what was that gonna look like in 2035 once they actually got here? Was there potential, you know, there's so much that this is this is such a great, this is a great tool, Kim, honestly. We've got I've got one more question for you, and then we're gonna do like a lightning speed round. We'll ask you some fun questions. Um, but last question for you, and it doesn't have to be obviously GM specific, but one thing an owner or GM should do this quarter, maybe after hearing this conversation today. Sure.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I think play around with it and use AI as a strategic partner. So as I mentioned earlier, ask your LLM of choice, whatever that is, there's several out there, right? Um, and say, here's the challenges I have. What do you recommend? I mean, again, the more details you put in, again, to Peter's like long prompting, it actually helps. So I would say to a GM, upload as much info as you can about your property and then start asking it questions, saying, like, I'm really struggling with this type of vendor, or our food and beverage is, you know, not where I want it to be. What would you recommend? So I would actually start using these tools as kind of a strategic partner. And then also, you know, thinking about your customer and what is it that they like using these tools for? Um, so I would think both the customer, put your customer hat on and what can you do for the customer side, and then also using it as an internal um, you know, co-partner or your chief of staff to help uh problem solve.
SPEAKER_04And do you think that that input and the that the use you think it should come from the owner, general manager, or more from the director of sales? Like who do you usually interact with?
SPEAKER_02Um it really varies. Uh I think the director of sales is good because it's like, well, what are we doing to, you know, how does this actually increase my revenue, right? So then we can think about, okay, this is what can we can do to help grow your revenue side of things. But I also think from the GM perspective, they're looking at it in a much more holistic way. So, you know, a little bit different on both ends, but um, we all we all know at the end of the day we need to build revenue, right? So we have to problem solve with the director of sales of what is this gonna do to actually grow my revenue.
SPEAKER_04I can't help but chuckle because I'm thinking you're I was gonna say you're you're smiling over there inside because I'm thinking of the 500 owners I've dealt with that think they have a five-star luxury property when they really have a three, or think they have a three that's family friendly when it's not. I would love to sit with all of them and say this is who you really are based on one billion data points, you know, and try and make the light bulb go on because you're gonna succeed if you work in the space that you really are. But it's like I just had a chuckle thinking about this because they there's always a perception of from the guest of who you are, and then from the owner of who we are. And I'm sorry, I just went on my own little mind tangent there.
SPEAKER_03No, listen, it's gonna be a I think it's gonna be some nice big pieces of humble pie, right? For some of these folks, once they really get into the nitty-gritty of this, right? And they're like, Oh, maybe we weren't as good as we really thought we were. Maybe our service does suck, maybe our intel does need renovation.
SPEAKER_04Sure, or great learning. I didn't know let's hope for that, right? Yeah, I didn't know we were great in the small meeting space. We've always been trying to get hundred-person groups, maybe we should focus on three 20 person groups, right? So, right, Kim's nodding. I mean, it's it's gotta be learning tool, learning tool on both sides.
SPEAKER_03So all right, Kim, are you ready for lightning rounds? Sure. All right, this is gonna be some fun stuff. Aisle or window? Oh, aisle. I need the space.
SPEAKER_04Wow, no hesitation there. Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_03I love that. Yeah, I need it. Uh best hotel you've ever seen in.
SPEAKER_02Uh the Arl's property in Provence. Um, it's gorgeous. And that in, I have to say Glenn Eagles is up there too.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Well now we'll have to I'll have to use the LLM of choice to look at.
SPEAKER_02And the Bell and the Belmont property in Majorca, La Rudencia uh is up there.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Wow. I'm gonna have to go to all of those, which you just love. Room service or go out? Ooh.
SPEAKER_02I probably prefer going out. Uh I love to go into town and explore uh into town. Awesome.
SPEAKER_03One travel item you never leave home without.
SPEAKER_02Obviously, chargers, adapters, all the technology, right? I mean, technology. Yeah, your passport, your credit card, uh, and then all the the technology, the chargers and the phone. Feature mountains. Ooh, honestly, mount I'm definitely lean more towards mountains. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Most underrated travel destination.
SPEAKER_02Underrated. I mean, it's not really underrated. I mean, Montana's pretty beautiful, I have to say.
SPEAKER_03I need to get to Montana. I have not been to the mid-west area.
SPEAKER_02That kind of that like whole West Mountains, I mean, Colorado, Montana, yeah, Wyoming, all that space.
SPEAKER_04Beautiful.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's just gorgeous.
SPEAKER_03Good to know. All right, next, two more hotel amenity you'd pay extra for without thinking twice.
SPEAKER_02Ooh. I mean, it's not an amenity, but I love a good view. I will take a smaller room for a better view.
SPEAKER_03Peter, you're shaking your head. You feel the same way?
SPEAKER_04I like that too. I love the view. Same on the ship. I want to, you know, I want to see the view of something other than the interior. You know, I want to see the sea, or I want to have an unobstructed view. So definitely I would pay for that.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I'll pay more for a view. I don't need a large room size, I'd rather have a nice view.
SPEAKER_03All right, last one for both of you. Next trip on your calendars. What you got up?
SPEAKER_02Honestly, I just got back from Croatia a week ago. So that was fantastic. And I loved Croatia, but I think my next um leisure kind of vacation, not work trip type stuff. I'm thinking Austria. Oh, very nice. Yeah. So I love mountain. What's funny you asked about mountains? I love the mountains. Um, I like the outdoors. I like combining city and outdoors. So either I'm leaning towards either Scandinavia, so either a Copenhagen, Sweden, Norway, something there, or Austria.
SPEAKER_03Wow. And you and I really need to become friends outside of the little box here today. We're just gonna, you know, I'm in gonna be shoved in your suitcase soon. Yeah, Peter, where are you off to next?
SPEAKER_04Or uh, you know, I hate flying, so the next is Grand Turk. And um, and I can't wait. The most exciting reason for me to feed the wild donkeys and to drive the golf cart all over the island. See, curated, found the best golf cart operator. Yeah, found the best golf cart operator, have my full day to drive around, bring carrots, and feed the wild donkeys. See, we've all got our things. Yeah, well, Kim, you're amazing. I hope um, I hope we can share this far and wide with people we know and get you more integrated. And talking about technology, we learned about your background in business on LinkedIn, and now we're all hospitable friends. I mean, this is our business. So hospitality continues to just keep me happy all these years in this business, and it never stops. Just you too. I yeah, I see the smile.
SPEAKER_03Always. Kim, before we um wish you farewell, where can everyone find you one last time, the people that are listening? Sure.
SPEAKER_02Uh definitely LinkedIn slash Kim Bennett, uh, and then atlasguru.com is also easy way. There's you can contact me through that as well. But either one works great.
SPEAKER_04Well, it's such a great pleasure to meet you. I hope I see you at the hotel show or one of these big conferences at some point in person.
SPEAKER_02Definitely. I would love that. Bye, Kim.
SPEAKER_04Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, everyone.
SPEAKER_04Bye.
SPEAKER_03Oh, sorry, I'm trying to kick myself out of the studio instead of just Kim. I was just gonna shut the whole thing down today. We were just gonna be done.
SPEAKER_04Well, she's awesome.
SPEAKER_03I I I agree with sweet because my brain is.
SPEAKER_04Have a big lunch or dinner and hang out. And I mean, what a great tool! Because I told you after I interviewed Cassandra from Visit uh Orlando, I went on to test it, and it's very useful to take all this data and save some time, but have it curate things that I could not find without a lengthy time using my search engine. It's just so much better with the AI tools. Um, and I I used it to plan our our day in Grand Turk. Um I know exactly what little bar I want to stop at with the golf cart and where to find the lighthouse and how to see where the most donkeys are located. My issue now is trying to get my carrots out of the buffet into a plastic bag to bring to the donkeys without getting without getting slapped on the wrist.
SPEAKER_03Just like I'm bringing them to the donkeys, they're not gonna be mad at you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm not gonna eat them. You know, I'm gonna bring them to the donkeys. Well, Jess, great to see you, Jeremy. We miss you today, but Jess is the my my new favorite co-host.
SPEAKER_03Whoops, yay, same. Jeremy, you're out. Bye, everyone. We'll see you on the on the flip side here.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, join us next month.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to Checking In the Hospitality and Tourism Podcast with your hosts, Dr. Peter Richie and Jeremy Nichols. You can listen anytime on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Watch us on Facebook, YouTube, and I'll be able to get it.
