What happens when AI stops being a tool we use and starts becoming something that knows us?

In this episode, Dylan Lall explores AI, trust, accountability and the future of human connection — including what happens when personal AI assistants understand our preferences, habits, decisions and behaviour better than the people around us.

In this episode:

• Using AI as a thought partner rather than blindly following it
• AI, human mistakes and the question of accuracy
• Trust and accountability in an AI-powered world
• Whether accountability can eventually be transferred to AI
• AI assistants that genuinely know their users
• AI as a form of persistent personal memory
• The future of personal AI assistants
• What a "Jarvis" for everyday life could look like
• AI-powered travel planning and hyper-personalisation
• Whether AI could disrupt the human advantage in hospitality
• Why people still value human interaction
• How quickly humans adapt to new technology
• AI, robotics and the future of service

The Big Question:

Today, we use AI.

But what happens when AI starts to know us?

Imagine a personal assistant that understands where you like to travel, what you eat, how you spend money, what you enjoy and how you make decisions.

For travel, that could completely change personalisation — and potentially redefine the role of the travel agent.

But it also raises bigger questions around trust, privacy, accountability and human connection.

The Future of Travel:

Dylan explores a future where a personal AI could move across different travel platforms, understand a traveller's history and preferences, and search for options on their behalf.

Instead of repeatedly explaining what you want, your AI already knows.

That could make travel planning dramatically more personal and efficient.

But the bigger question remains:

If AI can know us this well, what happens to the human advantage?

Who We Are:
The Travel Disruptor is brought to you by Europe Incoming, a destination management partner for travel professionals selling the UK and Europe.

One DMC. All of Europe! Celebrating 40+ years of tailor-made European Travel.

For more than 40 years, we’ve helped tour operators, travel agents, and organisers build programmes that are easy to sell and even easier to deliver.
From hotel contracting and transport coordination to guides, entrances, dining, and on-the-ground support, we handle the moving parts so your guests feel the difference and your team stays in control.

If you want to feature on the show as a guest or as a sponsor, email [email protected] today to get the conversation started.

What happens to luxury travel when AI can find almost anything, automate huge parts of the planning process and learn a traveller’s preferences?

In this episode of The Travel Disruptor, Europe Incoming COO Dylan Lall speaks with Monica Balli, a luxury travel and concierge specialist with more than 20 years of experience across travel and events.

Together, they unpack what actually makes an experience feel luxurious today. Is it the hotel, the destination or the price tag? Or is real luxury increasingly about access, flexibility, trust and having someone who understands what you need before you have to ask?

Monica shares how strong supplier relationships and a trusted global network can open doors that technology alone can’t. From hard-to-access events to highly personalised arrangements, some experiences still depend on who you know, who you trust and who is willing to pick up the phone.

AI still has an important role to play. The conversation looks at how it could streamline workflows, track new openings and developments, help travel professionals stay ahead of changing preferences and make planning more proactive.

But knowing someone’s preferences isn’t the same as understanding the person.

In this episode
 • What luxury really means today
 • Why access and personalisation matter
 • How relationships create experiences technology can't easily replicate
 • AI's role in luxury travel planning and workflow
 • Using AI to anticipate what's coming next
 • Why luxury itineraries need flexibility
 • The difference between knowing preferences and understanding people
 • The importance of trust and supplier relationships
 • Why great service can come down to simply remembering someone's name
 • Whether human connection becomes more valuable as AI becomes more capable

The Big Idea
AI can make travel more efficient, but efficiency isn’t the same thing as luxury.

For Monica, great luxury travel is built around judgement, relationships and the ability to adapt. A strong itinerary doesn’t have to be rigid. In fact, part of the luxury is knowing that when plans change, there’s someone behind the scenes who can make the next move happen smoothly.

And sometimes the details that people remember most are surprisingly simple.

Knowing a guest’s name. Remembering what they like. Recognising when they need space, help or something different.

Technology can support that level of service, but it doesn’t automatically create it.

About Monica Balli
Monica Balli is an event planner based in Tuscany, Italy, with more than two decades of experience in destination events and over a decade working in luxury travel and concierge services.

Her work centres on creating highly personalised travel and event experiences for international clients, supported by a global network of trusted partners and suppliers.

Links and Resources:
• Monica Balli - Linkedin
• MonicaBalli.com
• Europe Incoming: One Partner For UK and Europe
• Dylan Lall LinkedIn

Subscribe to the show and share it with two other travel lovers. We’re here for the long haul. ✈️ 

YOU need to be here if you travel, sell travel, provide travel services, or just have an interest in the stories, successes, failures, progress, and stagnation of the travel industry.

We are here to shake things up. If you are a Travel Disruptor yourself, and want to be a guest on the show, email [email protected] 

Europe Incoming is your #1 DMC for multi-country programmes, fast quoting, and calm delivery. Built for operators, agents, and planners who need things to run smoothly.

Who We Are:
The Travel Disruptor is brought to you by Europe Incoming, a destination management partner for travel professionals selling the UK and Europe.

One DMC. All of Europe! Celebrating 40+ years of tailor-made European Travel.

For more than 40 years, we’ve helped tour operators, travel agents, and organisers build programmes that are easy to sell and even easier to deliver.
From hotel contracting and transport coordination to guides, entrances, dining, and on-the-ground support, we handle the moving parts so your guests feel the difference and your team stays in control.

If you want to feature on the show as a guest or as a sponsor, email [email protected] today to get the conversation started.

What happens when you turn the microphone around on the host?

In this special episode of The Travel Disruptor, Producer Jeff Streck interviews Host Dylan Lall, revisiting some of the biggest ideas, debates and provocations from the first season of the podcast.

The conversation takes a deep dive into Dylan's thinking around technology, artificial intelligence, human creativity, trust, automation and the future of work while challenging some of the assumptions that have appeared throughout the season.

At the heart of the episode is a bigger question: Are we thinking about AI in the right way?

Rather than simply asking what AI is good at and what humans are good at, Dylan argues that the more interesting question is where AI doesn't reach and where humans will continue to add value.

The conversation moves from calculators and switchboards to AI, robotics, drug discovery and the future of travel, exploring how technological change has repeatedly transformed the way humans work without necessarily eliminating the need for humans altogether.

• Will AI replace jobs or transform where humans work?
• What happens when AI moves from screens into the physical world?
• Could specialised AI eventually outperform humans at complex travel tasks?
• How much judgement should we hand over to machines?
• Are we becoming less capable because technology does more for us?
• Or does technology simply allow us to use our intelligence differently?
• Where does AI actually stop? And what will humans be doing when it gets there?

Links and Resources:

 • Europe Incoming: One Partner For UK and Europe

 • Dylan Lall LinkedIn

Subscribe to the show and share it with two other travel lovers. We’re here for the long haul. ✈️ 

YOU need to be here if you travel, sell travel, provide travel services, or just have an interest in the stories, successes, failures, progress, and stagnation of the travel industry.

We are here to shake things up. If you are a Travel Disruptor yourself, and want to be a guest on the show, email [email protected] 

Europe Incoming is your #1 DMC for multi-country programmes, fast quoting, and calm delivery. Built for operators, agents, and planners who need things to run smoothly.

Who We Are:
The Travel Disruptor is brought to you by Europe Incoming, a destination management partner for travel professionals selling the UK and Europe.

One DMC. All of Europe! Celebrating 40+ years of tailor-made European Travel.

For more than 40 years, we’ve helped tour operators, travel agents, and organisers build programmes that are easy to sell and even easier to deliver.
From hotel contracting and transport coordination to guides, entrances, dining, and on-the-ground support, we handle the moving parts so your guests feel the difference and your team stays in control.

If you want to feature on the show as a guest or as a sponsor, email [email protected] today to get the conversation started.

Europe Incoming CEO Uma Somia and COO Dylan Lall sit down with Puneet Dahiya of Trexova, who brings 26 years of experience across the global travel industry and is now focused on the fast-growing world of wellness travel.

Rather than getting caught up in the big growth figures around wellness tourism, the conversation looks at what’s actually happening behind them: a fragmented market, more informed travellers, the importance of trust, and the challenge of matching people with an experience that genuinely fits what they need.

Puneet explains why wellness travel works differently from a traditional holiday. The starting point often isn’t “Where do I want to go?” but “What do I want to feel, improve or change?” The destination comes afterwards.

That shift makes personalisation even more important, and raises a familiar question for The Travel Disruptor: how much of this can AI realistically handle?

Uma, Dylan and Puneet discuss where technology can help with discovery, research and matching, and where human judgement, understanding and trust still make the difference in such a personal kind of travel.

Links and Resources:

• Europe Incoming: One Partner For UK and Europe
• Dylan Lall LinkedIn
• Uma Somia LinkedIn
• Puneet Dahiya LinkedIn
• Trexova

Subscribe to the show and share it with two other travel lovers. We’re here for the long haul. ✈️ 

YOU need to be here if you travel, sell travel, provide travel services, or just have an interest in the stories, successes, failures, progress, and stagnation of the travel industry.

We are here to shake things up. If you are a Travel Disruptor yourself, and want to be a guest on the show, email [email protected] 

Europe Incoming is your #1 DMC for multi-country programmes, fast quoting, and calm delivery. Built for operators, agents, and planners who need things to run smoothly.

Who We Are:
The Travel Disruptor is brought to you by Europe Incoming, a destination management partner for travel professionals selling the UK and Europe.

One DMC. All of Europe! Celebrating 40+ years of tailor-made European Travel.

For more than 40 years, we’ve helped tour operators, travel agents, and organisers build programmes that are easy to sell and even easier to deliver.
From hotel contracting and transport coordination to guides, entrances, dining, and on-the-ground support, we handle the moving parts so your guests feel the difference and your team stays in control.

If you want to feature on the show as a guest or as a sponsor, email [email protected] today to get the conversation started.

Europe Incoming CEO Uma Somia and COO Dylan Lall sit down with David Boigne, travel industry veteran and founder of 5Continents, to talk about what AI is changing in travel and, perhaps more importantly, what it isn’t.

David’s career has taken him from working as a tour guide in France to building a global travel business, giving him a front-row seat to decades of change in the industry. His view on AI is pragmatic: the future isn’t about technology replacing travel professionals, but about good travel professionals learning how to use it well.

That leads to a bigger question. When travellers can research destinations, compare options and generate entire itineraries online in seconds, what are they actually paying a human expert for?

The conversation moves through AI-generated itineraries, travel agents, luxury travel, customer service and the importance of having someone accountable when things don’t go to plan. Technology can make information easier to find and planning much faster, but David argues that knowledge, judgement, empathy and trust are still what turn a trip on paper into a genuinely great travel experience.

And as AI makes information increasingly easy to access, those human qualities may become more valuable, not less.

Links and Resources:
• Europe Incoming: One Partner For UK and Europe
• Dylan Lall LinkedIn
• Uma Somia LinkedIn
• David Boigne LinkedIn
• 5Continents

Subscribe to the show and share it with two other travel lovers. We’re here for the long haul. ✈️ 

YOU need to be here if you travel, sell travel, provide travel services, or just have an interest in the stories, successes, failures, progress, and stagnation of the travel industry.

We are here to shake things up. If you are a Travel Disruptor yourself, and want to be a guest on the show, email [email protected] 

Europe Incoming is your #1 DMC for multi-country programmes, fast quoting, and calm delivery. Built for operators, agents, and planners who need things to run smoothly.

Who We Are:
The Travel Disruptor is brought to you by Europe Incoming, a destination management partner for travel professionals selling the UK and Europe.

One DMC. All of Europe! Celebrating 40+ years of tailor-made European Travel.

For more than 40 years, we’ve helped tour operators, travel agents, and organisers build programmes that are easy to sell and even easier to deliver.
From hotel contracting and transport coordination to guides, entrances, dining, and on-the-ground support, we handle the moving parts so your guests feel the difference and your team stays in control.

If you want to feature on the show as a guest or as a sponsor, email [email protected] today to get the conversation started.

Europe Incoming COO Dylan Lall looks at a side of travel planning that doesn’t always make it into the glossy itineraries: knowing where not to go, what to watch out for and how good local knowledge can keep travellers out of trouble.

From security advice and safer routing to real-time alerts, Dylan explores how AI could help travel companies spot risks earlier and communicate them faster. Rather than waiting for something to go wrong and then fixing it, could technology help DMCs prevent some of those problems in the first place?

The conversation also turns to what good service actually looks like. Drawing on very different hospitality experiences in Paris and at Belmond Hotel Caruso in Italy, Dylan talks about the small moments that make people feel genuinely looked after, and why great service is about far more than simply delivering what was booked.

AI may become very good at anticipating needs, sharing information and helping teams respond faster. But warmth, attention, empathy and the feeling that somebody is genuinely listening? Dylan isn’t convinced we’ll be automating those quite so easily.

Links and Resources:

 • Europe Incoming: One Partner For UK and Europe

 • Dylan Lall LinkedIn

Subscribe to the show and share it with two other travel lovers. We’re here for the long haul. ✈️ 

YOU need to be here if you travel, sell travel, provide travel services, or just have an interest in the stories, successes, failures, progress, and stagnation of the travel industry.

We are here to shake things up. If you are a Travel Disruptor yourself, and want to be a guest on the show, email [email protected] 

Europe Incoming is your #1 DMC for multi-country programmes, fast quoting, and calm delivery. Built for operators, agents, and planners who need things to run smoothly.

Who We Are:
The Travel Disruptor is brought to you by Europe Incoming, a destination management partner for travel professionals selling the UK and Europe.

One DMC. All of Europe! Celebrating 40+ years of tailor-made European Travel.

For more than 40 years, we’ve helped tour operators, travel agents, and organisers build programmes that are easy to sell and even easier to deliver.
From hotel contracting and transport coordination to guides, entrances, dining, and on-the-ground support, we handle the moving parts so your guests feel the difference and your team stays in control.

If you want to feature on the show as a guest or as a sponsor, email [email protected] today to get the conversation started.

Europe Incoming COO Dylan Lall and CSO Staffan Nilsson take on one of the biggest questions facing travel right now: is AI genuinely going to disrupt the industry, or are we getting carried away by the hype?

Drawing on Staffan’s 30 years across travel and travel tech, they explore where AI can genuinely make a difference and where the fundamentals haven’t changed. Trust, relationships, operational experience and having a real person there when something goes wrong still matter, particularly for complex itineraries, group travel and high-value holidays.

The conversation moves from trusting AI-generated answers and the need to verify what we’re told, to concierge-style service, personalisation, 24/7 support and why empathy matters most when a trip starts to unravel. They also look at how AI could lower barriers to entry, speed up research and sales, and make expertise more accessible, while established travel businesses retain an advantage that’s much harder to manufacture: years of experience actually delivering trips in the real world.

And, naturally, there’s some debate about whether AI is making us smarter, simply making us look smarter, or occasionally just helping us confirm whatever we already wanted to believe.

Links and Resources:

 • Europe Incoming: One Partner For UK and Europe

 • Dylan Lall LinkedIn

 • Staffan Nilsson LinkedIn

Subscribe to the show and share it with two other travel lovers. We’re here for the long haul. ✈️ 

YOU need to be here if you travel, sell travel, provide travel services, or just have an interest in the stories, successes, failures, progress, and stagnation of the travel industry.

We are here to shake things up. If you are a Travel Disruptor yourself, and want to be a guest on the show, email [email protected] 

Who We Are:
The Travel Disruptor is brought to you by Europe Incoming, a destination management partner for travel professionals selling the UK and Europe.

One DMC. All of Europe! Celebrating 40+ years of tailor-made European Travel.

For more than 40 years, we’ve helped tour operators, travel agents, and organisers build programmes that are easy to sell and even easier to deliver.
From hotel contracting and transport coordination to guides, entrances, dining, and on-the-ground support, we handle the moving parts so your guests feel the difference and your team stays in control.

If you want to feature on the show as a guest or as a sponsor, email [email protected] today to get the conversation started.

What the hell is a telex??

Uma Somia is CEO and Dylan Lall is COO at Europe Incoming.

In This Episode:
Uma, a 40-year travel industry veteran, shares how communication and operations evolved from landlines, telex and typewriters to computers, booking programs, email and now AI. Uma explains that early bookings relied heavily on phone calls, personal relationships, carbon-copy records and local knowledge without internet tools like Google. She argues that while technology speeds processing and can handle tedious tasks (e.g., reconfirmations), three essentials remain: trust, destination knowledge/experience, and human reassurance, especially for complex, multi-supplier group travel, student safety, and crisis situations such as COVID cancellations, coach breakdowns, room disputes, flight disruptions, or holding a flight for late groups.

Together, they discuss how online brands can earn trust for simple FIT bookings, but higher-risk problems still drive customers to want familiar human contacts, and Europe Incoming is adopting AI to free staff to focus on customer care and service quality.

Who We Are:
The Travel Disruptor is brought to you by Europe Incoming, a destination management partner for travel professionals selling the UK and Europe.

One DMC. All of Europe! Celebrating 40+ years of tailor-made European Travel.

For more than 40 years, we’ve helped tour operators, travel agents, and organisers build programmes that are easy to sell and even easier to deliver.
From hotel contracting and transport coordination to guides, entrances, dining, and on-the-ground support, we handle the moving parts so your guests feel the difference and your team stays in control.

If you want to feature on the show as a guest or as a sponsor, email [email protected] today to get the conversation started.

This is where it all begins! The Travel Disruptor Podcast is about the big changes happening across travel, business and technology, and what they actually mean for the people living through them. From AI and automation to leadership, customer expectations and human connection, each episode brings together honest conversations, different viewpoints and questions worth arguing about.

Who We Are:
The Travel Disruptor is brought to you by Europe Incoming, a destination management partner for travel professionals selling the UK and Europe.

One DMC. All of Europe! Celebrating 40+ years of tailor-made European Travel.

For more than 40 years, we’ve helped tour operators, travel agents, and organisers build programmes that are easy to sell and even easier to deliver.
From hotel contracting and transport coordination to guides, entrances, dining, and on-the-ground support, we handle the moving parts so your guests feel the difference and your team stays in control.

If you want to feature on the show as a guest or as a sponsor, email [email protected] today to get the conversation started.