Driving growth for travel operators and founders.
From high-growth startups to established travel brands, we help leaders drive growth, sharpen positioning, and put AI to work where it actually pays.
Who we've worked with
What we do
We help travel brands outperform their category.
Growth strategy
We identify where the next $10M comes from, and build the plan that gets you there.
Brand and positioning
We sharpen what you stand for, so the right customers choose you over the cheaper option.
Distribution
We open the channels you cannot reach alone, from trade and advisors to OTAs, resellers and AI search and agentic booking.
Marketing performance
We fix the funnel, cut the spend that is not working, and hold the team to the numbers.
Product and launch
We pressure-test new products and take them into new markets without losing a year finding out.
AI strategy and build
We find where AI pays off in your business, then design and ship it with you, from AI travel companions to internal automation.
Founder positioning
We put founders on the stages, podcasts and panels that make buyers and investors take notice.
Exit readiness
We get the story, the numbers and the buyer list ready before you go to market.
Who we help
Tailored to your stage, your size, your challenges.
Operators
Established travel brandsWe help good businesses get ready for what is next. Launching new growth channels, managing a rebrand, improving performance marketing, AI-readiness, or preparing for a sale.
Startups
Pre-product to pre-Series APositioning is fuzzy and the first GTM motions are still being figured out. You need a senior travel voice to sharpen your brand, your GTM strategy and your marketing spend, and a team that has built AI products to pressure-test yours.
Multi-nationals
Global groups and business unitsWe help C-level executives and business units deliver specific projects. We have advised on market entry into new geographies, new product development, AI readiness, and identifying M&A opportunities.
Investors
Funds and portfolio companiesWe help funds with commercial due diligence, identifying M&A opportunities, and managing the post-close roadmap and the execution of that strategy.
Client names confidential
How it runs
We define the problem together, then stay until the plan is delivered.
Project kick-off
2 hoursA working session with your leadership team. We define the objectives, agree the scope of the engagement, and name the outcomes.
The audit and recommendations
Month 1Either a broad assessment across brand, funnel, distribution, technology, AI and team, or a deep dive on the single problem that matters most.
Counsel and delivery
Month 2 onwardMonthly senior 1:1, support between calls, and the support to make sure the strategy is successfully executed.
Build and operate
When you need itWe step in and do the work ourselves: building your product or MVP, standing up a new channel, or running parts of the plan alongside your team.
Review and re-prioritise
QuarterlyRoadmap reset against what moved and what did not, and a call on what we build or run next.
Retainers run on a 6-month minimum. Most clients renew.
Ways of working
Four ways to work with us.
Advisory Partnership
Month 1 audit, then $2,500 per month
- Kick-off session and month 1 audit
- Recommendations deck and tracked project plan
- Monthly advisory calls, with support between them
- Quarterly review against the plan
Counsel only
per month, ongoing senior counsel
- Monthly advisory calls with senior operators
- A direct line to us between calls
- Best for early-stage startups and smaller travel brands
Projects and Sprints
per engagement
- Deep-dive audits and strategy sprints, 4 to 8 weeks
- New market entry and channel build
- Commercial due diligence and exit readiness
AI Audit, Advisory and Build
Our team have built AI travel companions, chatbots and automations for the world's largest sightseeing operator. Now we help travel brands work out where AI pays off, then build it with them, from first audit to live product.
Audit first, then advisory or build priced per project
Talk to us about AIFind where AI fits
We review your product, content, customer journey, data and tech stack, then rank the AI use cases by value and effort.
Set the roadmap
Build, buy or partner calls, vendor selection, readiness for AI search and agentic booking, and the team you will need.
Ship the product
AI trip companions, chatbots, content generation and automations, from prototype to live.
All figures in USD. Retainers run on a 6-month minimum. Not sure which fits? We'll walk you through scope, pricing and fit on a short call.
Case studies
How we help exciting travel companies grow.
From boutique operators to AI-native startups. Open a case study to see the challenge, the work and the results.
WeRoad
$10M to $100M revenue in three years
The challenge
A fast-growing European group-travel brand ready to take its model into the UK and US, where the positioning that worked at home would not automatically travel.
What we did
- Repositioned the brand for UK and US audiences, where the Italian proposition did not translate
- Rebuilt the go-to-market plan for two new markets running in parallel
- Challenged and refined parts of the underlying business model
- Advised on marketing structure and spend as the team scaled into new geographies
- Introductions across distribution partners and the investor network
What happened
On track to become the fastest multi-day travel brand to reach $1B in sales.
Layla
Acquired by Expedia
The challenge
An AI-native trip-planning product building in a category with no established playbook. How to position an AI travel brand, reach travellers while discovery itself was being rewritten, and get in front of the incumbents who would eventually want it.
What we did
- Sharpened positioning for an AI-native product in a crowded consumer category
- Advised on go-to-market and the distribution partnerships that mattered most
- Network access into operators, OTAs and investors across the Travel Trends ecosystem
- Ongoing counsel to the founding team through a fast-moving category
- Founder positioning through the Travel Trends platform and industry events
What happened
One of a wave of AI trip-planning businesses bought by incumbents in 2026.
Overland Ireland
Rebrand and rename to travel beyond one country
The challenge
A well-run operator with bookings climbing but margin quietly slipping, a name that capped the business at one country, and a distribution mix and technology stack built for a smaller version of itself.
What we did
- Discovery and strategic assessment across the whole business
- Led a rebrand, including a name change
- Built the launch plan for new markets beyond Ireland
- Built a US and Canada travel-advisor and trade distribution plan
- Reviewed the channel-manager and reservation-technology stack
- Margin diagnostic that isolated and quantified the two real drivers
What happened
Live engagement. Month 1 and Month 2 delivered, six-month advisory plan in flight.
Impulse Travel
Regional to global brand transformation
The challenge
A respected regional Colombian tour operator with the product to go global, but without the market exposure or partner access to get there quickly.
What we did
- Ongoing strategic counsel to the founder through the transformation
- Repositioned the brand from regional specialist to globally recognised operator
- Opened access to key partners, buyers and source markets
- Introductions into distribution the team could not reach alone
- Amplified the brand through the Travel Trends platform and industry events
What happened
Multi-year relationship, still running.
Blacksford
Affiliate and trade channels opened
The challenge
A premium RV rental brand with a strong product, an underperforming website and a distribution mix too narrow to support the next stage of growth.
What we did
- Full marketing and website review, delivered as a prioritised fix list
- Rebuilt the distribution plan beyond direct booking
- Opened affiliate and trade channels, including travel-advisor distribution
- Built a 2026 travel-agency distribution list and partnership pipeline
- Six-month advisory plan with a tracked recommendation checklist
What happened
Live engagement, with a six-month advisory plan in delivery.
Pernod Ricard
US traveller research shaping visitor strategy
The challenge
A global drinks group running brand-home visitor experiences, wanting to understand and attract the North American traveller.
What we did
- Led a North American travel market research programme end to end
- Built an evidence base on what actually motivates US travellers
- Translated the findings into positioning guidance for the brand homes
- Advised the team on how to reach American visitors at scale
What happened
Guidance now shaping how the group attracts American visitors to its domestic and international brand homes.
Confidential
$1B+ transaction under assessment
The challenge
A major fund evaluating a $1B+ acquisition in travel needed a commercial read that a generalist diligence provider could not give. Was the growth real, would the operating model scale, and could the management team deliver the plan.
What we did
- Commercial due diligence across market size, demand drivers and competitive position
- Operator-led assessment of management quality and operational scalability
- Channel and distribution review of the target's revenue mix
- A 100-day post-close value creation thesis
- Delivered to the fund's investment-committee timetable
What happened
Client and target confidential. References available under NDA.
Why brands choose us
Twenty years of running travel businesses, brought to every engagement.
Industry authority
Dan has been in your seat. C-suite at The Travel Corporation across 40 global brands, senior operating roles at G Adventures and Lonely Planet, two decades managing billions in travel revenue.
Proven impact
Live client relationships across every shape of travel business, from boutique operators to scale-ups to AI travel pioneers. Real engagements with real outcomes.
Global perspective
200+ episodes of the #1 B2B travel podcast, plus a keynote calendar spanning WTM, ITB Berlin, Phocuswright, Arival and Virtuoso. A partner who reads the market in real time, every week.
Tailored support
We do not sell a framework. We sit in your team, listen first, and bring the experience to where you actually need it.
AI we have shipped
Our partners co-founded iWander and built the AI travel companion behind the world's largest sightseeing operator. When we advise on AI, it is from having taken it live.
Senior-only delivery
No 30-person team with a partner on top. No analysts.
About us
The people you sign with are the people doing the work.
Dan Christian
Founder and Managing DirectorDan has spent more than twenty years running travel businesses. As a C-suite executive at The Travel Corporation he led digital transformation across 40 global brands, after senior operating roles at G Adventures and Lonely Planet. Today he hosts the Travel Trends Podcast and leads every TTA engagement.
- C-suite at The Travel Corporation, 40 global brands
- Senior operating roles at G Adventures and Lonely Planet
- Two decades managing billions of dollars in travel revenue
- Host of the Travel Trends Podcast, 200+ episodes
- Keynotes at WTM London, ITB Berlin, Phocuswright, Arival and Virtuoso
Marius Nigond
Co-lead · AI and GrowthMarius builds AI products for travel. He co-founded iWander, the London AI travel-technology company whose AI travel companion powers the app of the world's largest sightseeing operator. At TTA he leads the AI practice, from audit and roadmap through to shipping the product.
- Co-founder of iWander, recognised as Phocuswright's seed-stage company of the year and a UN Tourism Innovation Partner
- Built AI companions, AI chat and backoffice tools for major travel brands
- M&A, consulting and product experience across venture-backed travel businesses
Request An Intro Call
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Prefer email? dan@traveltrendspodcast.com
Frequently asked
Common questions.
What makes you different from a strategy firm like McKinsey or BCG?
We are operators, not consultants. Every engagement is led personally by Dan and Marius, drawing on two decades of running travel businesses at scale. You do not get a 30-person team with a partner on top. You get the senior person from the start, doing the work.
What is the typical engagement length?
Retainers start with a 6-month minimum and most clients renew. Project work is scoped to the question, typically 4 to 8 weeks. Diligence and post-close mandates are scoped separately.
Who is on my team during an engagement?
Dan and Marius lead every engagement personally, with Antoine Nigond joining for AI build work and a small senior team built around the specific work where additional expertise is needed. No analysts, no junior staffers.
Do you just advise on AI, or can you build it?
Both. Our AI practice is led by Marius and Antoine Nigond, who built iWander's AI travel companion and run it for the world's largest sightseeing operator. We start with an audit, and where it makes sense we design and ship the product with you.
What does an AI audit look like?
We review your product, content, customer journey, data and tech stack, then come back with a ranked list of AI use cases by value and effort, the build, buy or partner call for each, and what it would take to deliver the first one.
Do you do strategy, execution, or both?
Both. We are known for strategy that comes with named playbooks and execution paths. Where it helps, we step in and do it ourselves, from building your product or MVP to running parts of the plan alongside your team. For work beyond that, we bring in trusted specialist partners.
What if I am a small or early-stage business?
Some of our most rewarding work is with founder-led ventures and boutique operators. Counsel at $2,500 per month exists for exactly this stage.
Are you available outside North America?
Yes. Dan is based in North America, and Travel Trends works with travel brands globally across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.