Why I Love the Advisory Side of Travel Trends
If you have followed our Travel Trends Podcast for a while, you know the media side of what we do. What you may not know as much about is the other half of my working life: Travel Trends Advisory, where I get to roll up my sleeves and work directly inside travel businesses that are trying to scale.
I want to change that, starting with this post.
A bit of background..
Before our Travel Trends Podcast existed, I spent 20-plus years in corporate leadership roles at The Travel Corporation, G Adventures and Lonely Planet. Those roles gave me a front row seat to what it actually takes to grow a travel brand: building new markets from scratch, launching new products, fixing broken positioning, and making the difficult decisions that determine whether a growth plan survives contact with reality.
Advisory work lets me stay close to that. It is hands-on, it is specific and the results are visible in a way that is hard to replicate anywhere else. Every engagement is different but the pattern is usually the same: a founder or leadership team with real ambition, a market opportunity in front of them, and a need for someone who has actually done this before to help them get there faster. That usually means one of a few things. Sometimes it is a brand that has grown fast but never built the systems or positioning to grow further. Sometimes it is a leadership team entering a new market and trying to avoid the expensive mistakes that come with doing it blind. And sometimes it is simply a founder who needs a sounding board with real operating experience, someone who has sat in the seat and made the calls before. Whether it’s supporting strategy, marketing, technology, distribution or partnerships.
There's something beautiful in the symbiotic relationship between the podcast and the advisory business. The podcast keeps me talking to the smartest operators in the industry. The advisory work keeps me inside the businesses actually doing it. I would not want to give up either side.
The best part is that they are both global which I've always loved about my executive roles. Seeing growth and opportunity from a global perspective.
WHAT OUR
TRAVEL TRENDS ADVISORY
ACTUALLY PROVIDES
Engagements are built around ongoing, hands-on support rather than a one-off strategy deck. Most partners work with us on a monthly retainer basis which keeps me embedded in the business long enough to see decisions through rather than just recommend them. Depending on the partnership that support typically covers:
Marketing strategy and positioning, including how a brand shows up in a new market or against new competition
Technology decisions, from platform selection to the systems needed to support growth
Vendor and partner management, so relationships scale alongside the business
Expansion into new regions, with the market knowledge to avoid the expensive mistakes that come with doing it blind
Launching new brands or products, from initial positioning through go-to-market
Building out teams and internal capability, so the business is not permanently dependent on outside support
A FEW OF HIGHLIGHTS
FROM OUR
ADVISORY PRACTICE
🞧 WeRoad.
WeRoad has been one of the most exciting engagements. This incredible brand grew from $10M USD to $100M USD in revenue in three years, expanded into the UK and US and recently closed a $58M million series C round. WeRoad is on track to become the fastest multi-day travel brand ever to reach 1 billion in sales, and I could not be prouder to have supported that journey.
"Dan has been an incredible advisor to WeRoad as we've expanded into new markets. He pushed us to rethink our positioning, our marketing, and even parts of our model, and it made all the difference in setting us up for success. And honestly, every call with Dan feels like listening to a great podcast. You come away smarter and energized."
—Andrea D'Amico, CEO, WeRoad (Italy)
🞧 Pernod Ricard.
Working with the world's second largest spirits company on their Brand Homes globally has been very rewarding, helping them understand the North American traveler and position their brand experiences accordingly.
"Working with Dan has been a truly rewarding experience for Pernod Ricard Brand Homes. He led a North American travel market project that resulted in a deep understanding of what motivates U.S. travelers. His strategic guidance has already begun shaping how we attract more American visitors to our domestic and international brand homes. What I appreciate most is Dan's collaborative spirit, he's thoughtful, genuine, and a joy to work with."
—Laura Sileo Pavat, Managing Director, Pernod Ricard (France)
🞧 Long-standing partners.
Some of my longest relationships in this practice are with 10Adventures, World Discovery, Impulse Travel and Blacksford Luxury RV’s
"Over the past few years, Dan Christian and the Travel Trends Advisory team have been instrumental in helping us transform from a regional Colombian tour operator into a globally recognized travel brand. Beyond their invaluable advice, they have consistently provided exposure to key partners, markets, and opportunities that accelerated our international growth."
—Rodrigo Atuesta, Founder, Impulse Travel (Colombia)
"What I valued most about working with Dan was how quickly he got to the heart of our challenges. His suggestions were practical, insightful, and made a real difference in how we approached our strategy, brand and marketing. Dan helped us see our business from a new perspective."
—Richard Campbell, CEO, 10Adventures (Canada)
"We came to Dan with big ambitions and a long list of questions, and every session with him has moved us forward. Dan doesn't just give advice, he opens his network. For any travel company serious about growth, working with Dan is one of the highest-leverage decisions you can make."
—Jani Pravdič, CEO, World Discovery (Slovenia)
🞧 Branding and positioning.
Some of my favorite work is the brand and positioning projects: leading the rebrand of Curated Planet into TourOptima (New York, USA) and helping them crack into the multi-day tour market, working with Landsby to launch Northern Soul, a new Canadian travel magazine brand (Toronto, Canada), and repositioning Miru Adventures with a growth plan to match. (Seattle, USA)
🞧 Startups.
We also really enjoy working with early stage brands still finding their footing, including GuestOS (San Francisco), Tourseta (Amsterdam) and Layla (Berlin).
🞧 New Partners I am bullish on.
Overland Ireland and American Classic Tours. Both have real growth ahead of them, whether that is building out trade relationships, entering new markets or expanding activity, and I am looking forward to being part of that.
I am always mindful of discretion given the strategic nature of these engagements, especially with PE/VC activity, and client confidentiality, but wanted to share a few highlights to better understand how we work in this space as we expand.
Plans to Expand & What’s Next
Given the results from our partners and how much we enjoy this work, I have started bringing more of the Travel Trends team into supporting the advisory practice. I recently brought Marius Nigond on board to collaborate, brainstorm and help prepare our partners for success. It is a natural extension of what we already do well as a media team: listening closely to operators and translating that into practical guidance.
We plan to keep growing Travel Trends Advisory with partners we genuinely want to work with, and where we know we can move the needle. You will be seeing more updates from us on this side of the business going forward.
We also recently updated the Advisory section of our website to reflect how differently we approach each type of partner, from startups to established brands, enterprise clients and VC and private equity backed businesses. You can see the full breakdown here: traveltrendspodcast.com/advisory
Feel free to reach out directly dan@traveltrendspodcast.com