Powering Travel

This episode of Powering Travel marks a milestone: our first episode about the vacation rental marketplace! Vacation rentals have become an essential part of the travel and tourism industry, but elicit mixed feelings from travelers and professionals alike. Brandon is joined by guest host Tim Rosolio, Vice President of vacation rental partner success at Expedia Group. Tim is an expert in the business side of vacation rentals, as well as being a travel enthusiast and vacation rental owner himself. They interview Merilee Karr, founder of the luxury home accommodation business Under the Doormat. They discuss how vacation rentals have changed tourism, the data behind the rental industry, and Merilee’s predictions for the future. 

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

Have you ever seen a beautiful location in a movie or TV show and known you had to visit? The intersection between media and travel is a powerful motivator for tourism, and even has a catchy name: set-jetting. In this episode, Brandon is joined by guest host Angelique Miller, who leads the Media Studio at Expedia Group. They interview Dr. Stephen Pratt, a department chair of Tourism Events and Attractions at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management and co-creator of the popular Travel Professors YouTube channel. They discuss the academics behind set-jetting, the impact of films like The Lord of the Rings on local tourism, and what the future holds for media and tourism.  

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

Travel is something that many of us love, but unfortunately, travelers with disabilities face barriers and challenges to travel that are often overlooked. In the first episode of season two, host Brandon Ehrhardt and guest host Toby Willis sit down with Alvaro Silberstein, founder of Wheel the World. After a car accident that left him in a wheelchair when he was 18 years old, Alvaro knew he wanted to continue traveling, but found obstacles in his way that able bodied people didn’t face. Based on his experiences, he founded Wheel the World, a resource that provides information for travelers with disabilities to find accessible travel experiences. Join them as they discuss the current challenges facing travelers with disabilities, recent positive changes in the industry, and how Wheel the World is helping to make travel more accessible. 

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

Have you heard of the term “revenge travel”? How about “flexcation”? Or even a “nothing-cation”? There are so many ways to travel that we’re literally creating words to describe it! Welcome to season two of the Powering Travel podcast, brought to you by Expedia Group. In each episode, host Brandon Ehrhardt, Senior Director of Partner Programs at Expedia, and regular guest co-hosts are joined by a different travel leader who is creating a big impact on the industry. From TV-inspired wanderlust to the current state of vacation rentals, we’re inviting the experts to talk shop and give you actionable advice on how to grow your travel business. Tune in this May wherever you get your podcasts.

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill. Learn more at welcome.expediagroup.com.

In the last episode of season one, Sally and Brandon discuss an area of the travel industry that has been on the rise over the pandemic: rental cars. As many travelers are still looking to travel closer to home, the rental car market has seen a huge surge in popularity. To help inform their discussion, they’re joined by Ricardo Casco, the Vice President of International and Online Travel Sales for Avis Budget Group. In his role, Ricardo oversees the company’s initiative to generate and grow business from a diverse portfolio of over 500 global customers across The Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. The market segments he leads include online travel partners, global brokers and tour operators, as well as internal cross-border partnerships. During their conversation, Ricardo shares his perspective on post-pandemic behavior changes when it comes to car rentals, the shifting customer demographic, what’s next for the industry, and much more.

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

In this episode, hosts Brandon and Sally go behind the scenes of air travel to explore the details around flight paths and route selections for airlines. Air travel is one of the most important aspects of the full trip funnel because it impacts the travel industry at large, including the way hospitality partners adapt to the changing landscape of travel transport. They sit down with the director for Atlantic/Hawaii Network Planning at United Airlines, Darren Scott, who shares his expert perspective on airline route management and what hotels and other travel leaders can do to continue to attract travelers coming to their destinations. Given his experience in determining flight paths, managing the team responsible for evaluating deployment of capacity to Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Hawaii, and coordinating network initiatives with stakeholders, Darren had plenty of insider expertise to share during the episode. Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

In this episode, hosts Brandon and Sally cover a topic that can help take traditional marketing strategies to the next level, but one which is often misunderstood: influencer partnerships. To learn more about the nature of influencer marketing for travel brands, Sally sits down with guest Jade Broadus, the Vice President and Creative Director at Travel Mindset, a niche marketing agency that specializes in influencer marketing for the tourism and lifestyle industry. In addition to her role at Travel Mindset, Jade is an influencer and the creator of Vagabond3, an award-winning travel blog with over 150,000 followers. During the episode, Jade shares her perspective on how brands can benefit from influencer partnerships, key strategies for finding an influencer partnership that fits your brand, and choosing the right channels for sharing your content.Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

When the pandemic hit back in 2020, diehard sports and music fans everywhere lost an important outlet for positive mental health and happiness. With live entertainment on pause, many people felt like they had lost a piece of themselves, so when in-person events finally came back, the industry had the opportunity to capitalize on two years’ worth of pent-up demand. In this episode, Sally and Brandon discuss the return of live entertainment and large-scale events like Coachella and Stagecoach, exploring how the customer experience has evolved over the last two years. They sit down with guest Erin Zinser, vice president of partnership activation for the Global Partnerships division of AEG Worldwide, the world’s leading sports and live entertainment company. Acting as an internal agency for AEG Worldwide, the Global Partnerships division oversees worldwide sponsorship sales and activation for over 130 world-class platforms across five continents including venues, sports franchises, events, tours, festivals and digital content. Erin shares her perspective on how partners can work with AEG Worldwide to attract demand in local markets and create a memorable experience for travelers as we head into the summer season.Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

As the threat of climate change looms, sustainability has become a major priority for travelers. In fact, according to a recent global survey from Expedia Group, nearly two-thirds or 59% of travelers indicated they were willing to spend more to make a trip sustainable, which is on par with results from last summer. In this episode, Brandon and Sally sit down with Peter DeBrine, Destination Advisor and UNESCO sustainable tourism expert, to discuss strategies for hotels and travel providers hoping to make impactful changes to the way they operate and minimize their footprint overall. Peter also shares his outlook on the future of the industry, how UNESCO is making an impact through its Sustainable Travel Pledge, and his take on the next big trends in sustainable travel.

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

In the first episode of Powering Travel, hosts Brandon Ehrhardt and Sally Smith sit down with Dennis Schaal, the founding and executive editor of Skift. As a news publication dedicated to sharing travel industry happenings, Skift is tapped into the latest and greatest tips, trends and updates for hospitality professionals around the world. Dennis has been covering the travel sector and interviewing its leaders for more than 20 years, and in 2016, he wrote The Definitive Oral History of Online Travel. During the episode, Brandon, Sally and Dennis cover a broad range of topics related to the travel industry including staffing issues, sustainability and much more. Dennis also shares his exclusive insights on where he thinks the industry is headed next. 

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.