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Chicago isn’t just back, it’s surging. In episode six of our 10-part Travelzoo Best Bets Series, Dan and Travelzoo Senior Editor and co-host Gabe Saglie sit down with Lisa Nucci of Choose Chicago to map out the experiences and local insights that turn a short visit into a lasting memory.

We explore the South Side’s moment in the spotlight, from the Obama Presidential Center as a powerful new cultural anchor to Hyde Park’s renewed energy, Pullman’s rail legacy, and the DuSable Black History Museum. Then we move through the city’s 77 neighborhoods like a progressive dinner: Argyle’s Southeast Asian flavors, Pilsen and Little Village for tacos and family-run favorites, and the tavern-cut pizza locals swear by. Music lovers get a guide to Chicago’s house roots, the Chosen Few picnic, legendary late nights at the Green Mill and Kingston Mines, and a theater scene that blends Broadway polish with intimate storytelling. When it’s time to slow down, the architecture river cruise offers a fresh way to understand the skyline.

Chicago’s outdoor side shines too, with 26 miles of lakefront beaches, a beautifully designed Riverwalk, cherry blossoms in Jackson Park, and free cultural wins like Pritzker Pavilion concerts and the Lincoln Park Zoo. Rooftops such as Cindy’s and LondonHouse deliver views year-round, paired with a hotel scene that ranges from stylish value to worthy splurges. Add in big-picture momentum—downtown revitalization, airport upgrades, and major new developments—and it’s clear why Chicago earned its place on the 2026 Best Bets list.

Planning a couples escape, multigenerational getaway, or foodie weekend? Lisa shares her perfect Chicago day, from a Green City Market breakfast to jazz late into the night.

New episodes drop every Tuesday, each featuring local experts who bring these Best Bets to life. Become a member at travelzoo.com to access exclusive offers.

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

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A family basement isn't where you’d expect a global luggage brand to begin, but that’s exactly where the Heys story took flight. In this episode, we sit down with CEO Emran Sheikh to unpack four decades of innovation, bold design choices, and a proudly Canadian identity that now spans 75 countries. From candy-coloured hard shells that broke up a sea of black bags to Bluetooth-enabled smart locks powered by simple AA batteries, Heys has grown by solving real traveler problems rather than chasing trends that can’t survive airport rules.

Emran reflects on the pivotal decisions that kept the brand ahead of the curve: steering clear of lithium batteries long before restrictions hit, investing in a diverse design catalog instead of a single signature look, and building a flat, agile team that can translate customer feedback into product improvements within a single production cycle. He also shares how the pandemic reshaped demand—pushing travelers toward carry-ons and personal items—and how Heys responded with airline-specific sizing, smarter online filtering tools, and a renewed emphasis on durability as overhead bins grew crowded.

Celebrating Heys 40th anniversary, the company is relaunching the iconic X-Case in shimmering polycarbonate, introducing structural innovations that reduce weight without sacrificing strength, and continuing to refine its Smart Access front-opening system, a clever fix for the clamshell struggle in tight hotel rooms. Not every experiment wins (turns out transparent cases require packing cubes), but a culture that welcomes ideas from across the company keeps Heys pushing forward.

If you’re passionate about travel gear that blends fashion, function, and genuine foresight, this conversation is full of insights you’ll want to pack for your next trip.

Learn more at Heys.com. 

Heys Luggage is the famous Canadian travel brand that grew from a small family business just outside Toronto 40 years ago, into an innovative global leader in travel gear that’s now available all over the world. Heys offers one-of-a-kind adults and kids luggage, travel bags and accessories, a proud Canadian brand that defines quality, fresh fashion, fun designs, great customer service, and how to truly think outside the box, or should we say… the luggage. Whether you’re searching for something to take you to the ends of the earth (or just to the end of the block), Heys has you covered. For those who crave a cool, on trend travel item that will stand the test of time, while turning heads and helping you travel stress-free and in style… choose Heys. 

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

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The aviation story is bigger than fares and aircraft, it’s about how global alliances quietly choreograph your entire journey. In the our kickoff episode of our Aviation series, we sit down with Roger Blackburn, VP Commercial & Loyalty at oneworld Alliance, to reveal how 15+ member airlines coordinate routes, lounges, data, and service so travelers can move across continents with fewer frustrations and better perks. If you’ve ever wondered why your status unlocks priority lanes, lounge access, and smoother transfers across multiple carriers, or how alliances choose new members, Roger takes us behind the curtain, minus the jargon.

We explore the business logic that keeps travelers inside a single ecosystem: connecting traffic that completes itineraries, scale that fuels major innovation (including a $150M sustainability investment with Breakthrough Energy Ventures), and shared insights that improve the customer experience. Roger also breaks down what sets oneworld apart, its premium orientation, generous priority benefits, and a practical approach to technology. Instead of forcing a single super-app, the alliance aims for smart integration: letting you keep your preferred airline app while oneworld handles the complex plumbing in the background.

Looking ahead to 2026, we tackle the big industry questions: how to identify real sustainability progress (think modern fleets like A350s and 787s, credible SAF commitments, and operational efficiency), how European network carriers stay competitive against low-cost rivals, and why premium demand remains strong thanks to booming premium leisure and smarter upgrade strategies.

At the heart of it all is a simple goal: bringing back the joy of flight. From elevated alliance lounges to smoother disruptions and clearer benefits, oneworld wants the airport to feel like part of the journey, not an obstacle.

Thanks to Heys for sponsoring this series! 

Enter our Heys Luggage giveaway!

Share your favorite Season 6 highlight in the comments on Instagram, LinkedIn, or TikTok for a chance to win a Heys Astro luggage set (valued at $1,500).* One winner will be selected each week of our Aviation series. 

*Winner must be located in Canada or United States

👉 Listen to How oneworld is Shaping the Future of Global Aviation Now

🔥 Special Thanks to our Season 6 Title Sponsors for their Support: Holafly, Propellic, PayCompass, Kaptio, Civitatis and WeRoad

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

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Savannah never makes you choose between ease and depth; it delivers both the moment you start exploring. In episode five of our 10-part Travelzoo Best Bets Series, Dan and Travelzoo Senior Editor and co-host Gabe Saglie sit down with Supriya Christopher of Visit Savannah to map out how America’s first planned city blends oak-shaded squares, layered history, and a surprisingly modern creative pulse that feels made for 2026. With the 250th anniversary of the United States and one of the nation’s largest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations on deck, this is the year to discover why the best souvenir here is memory, not merchandise.

We break down the intuitive grid that makes Savannah effortless to navigate, then uncover the unexpected: City Market’s interactive museums, First African Baptist Church’s profound legacy, and a festival calendar that transforms historic theaters into intimate cultural stages. Food lovers will find a city far beyond Southern comfort, with James Beard–recognized chefs, Vietnamese and Southern fusion, and a cocktail scene that rewards curiosity. If you still picture Savannah as fried green tomatoes and pralines, this episode will update your palate.

Venturing beyond downtown, the landscape expands. The Moon River District, Wormsloe’s iconic live oak avenue, and the Pin Point Heritage Museum connect coastal ecology with cultural memory, while Tybee Island serves up dolphin-dotted waters and unfussy beach days. Along the riverfront, Plant Riverside and Eastern Wharf showcase a reimagined waterfront where art, music, dining, and ship-spotting coexist. Ghost tours and Bonaventure Cemetery offer atmosphere, but the city’s true pull is its honesty as Savannah holds its complex history with care and invites visitors to explore it thoughtfully.

We close with who Savannah suits best: creatives, multigenerational families, solo wanderers, luxury travelers, and anyone craving immersive travel that feels personal and unhurried. If 2026 is your year to slow down, savor more, and travel with intention, Savannah is where that journey begins.

New episodes drop every Tuesday, each featuring local experts who bring these Best Bets to life. Become a member at travelzoo.com to access exclusive offers.

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

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Experiences - not things - are becoming the world’s most powerful growth market, and investor Michael Zeisser, Managing Partner, FMZ Ventures joins us to explain why. In this Captains of Industry episode, we explore how the shift from goods to meaning is reshaping the entire travel and experiences economy and what it means to play the long game in a world where travelers increasingly seek connection, transformation, and purpose. We look at where travel is headed next as new ecosystems of creators, distribution platforms, and enablement tools emerge. Michael breaks down why companies like GetYourGuide and Fever are pulling ahead, and why true differentiation, not copycat concepts, is what builds category-defining brands.

We go deep into how AI is transforming experiences through three major shifts: hyper-personalization grounded in real-world context, productivity gains that expand margins, and time reallocation that ultimately generates new demand. Michael connects these advances to what travelers are seeking most in 2026: agency, connection, and inspiration. 

The conversation stretches beyond travel, touching on the rise of psychotherapeutic experiences, the early science of experiential medicine, and evolving approaches to legacy and sustainable death. Michael also shares why he is bullish on live events consolidation, what drove his investment in MARI, and how the Middle East is rapidly building cultural and tourism infrastructure at global scale.

If you are creating, investing in, or simply curious about the next era of transformative travel, this episode reveals where value is moving and how to design for the why, not just the where.

👉 Listen to The Mind Behind Investing in the Experience Economy 

🔥 Special Thanks to our Season 6 Title Sponsors for their Support: Holafly, Propellic, PayCompass, Kaptio, Civitatis and WeRoad

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

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Ready to trade crowds for clarity and noise for nature? In episode four of our 10-part Travelzoo Best Bets Series, Dan and Travelzoo Senior Editor (and co-host) Gabe Saglie head to Finland with Visit Finland’s Tarja Koivisto to map out a year-round escape shaped by wellness, design, and wild beauty. Think 188,000 lakes, 3 million saunas, and four regions that make trip-planning effortless: Helsinki for architecture and food, Lakeland for serene, water-lined landscapes, the Coast and Archipelago for island-hopping freedom, and Lapland for snow-soft winters and glowing summer nights.

We start with the practicals: nonstop flights from major U.S. cities, smooth trains, easy roads, and English spoken widely. Then we lean into the good life. Tarja breaks down sauna culture - how it works, what to expect, and why Finns swear by the heat-and-plunge ritual. We explore Everyman’s Right, Finland’s open-access tradition that lets you walk, paddle, and forage respectfully across nature. And of course, the flavors: forest-to-table meals, legendary “coffee breaks,” Karelian pies, and soul-warming salmon soup.

All eyes turn north in 2026 as Oulu becomes a European Capital of Culture, hosting a full year of music, film, visual arts and Indigenous Sámi heritage, an inspiring pairing with a Helsinki city break or a Lapland adventure. For slow-travel days, we spotlight the Archipelago Trail from Turku: ferry-linked islands, small inns, Baltic breezes, easy by car, unforgettable by e-bike. Families, solo travelers, women’s groups, and soft adventurers all find their rhythm here, supported by safe cities, marked trails, and a cultural pace that treats silence as a luxury.

If you’ve done Europe’s greatest hits and are craving something fresh, Finland offers a clean, creative, and deeply restorative next step.

New episodes drop every Tuesday, each featuring local experts who bring these Best Bets to life. Become a member at travelzoo.com to access exclusive offers.

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

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Start the new year with a clear-eyed plan for transformational travel. In the final episode of our Sustainability Series, we sit down with Dr. Susanne Etti, Intrepid’s Global Environmental Impact Manager, to explore how one of the world’s leading adventure brands is moving sustainability from promises to proof-phasing out offsets, investing directly in decarbonization, and expanding carbon measurement to include the full customer lifecycle, even flights they don’t sell.

Dr. Etti breaks down Intrepid’s three-pillar approach. First: rigorous measurement and transparent reporting that capture everything from on-trip transport and lodging to meals, waste, and now customer air travel. Second: deep decarbonization, including EV adoption for ground transfers, renewable energy across global offices, and itinerary redesigns that remove flights where safe and feasible. Third: climate literacy and advocacy, empowering teams worldwide to understand the data, communicate tradeoffs honestly, and guide travelers with carbon labels and clear storytelling.

For travelers, choosing better is about recognizing the signals that matter: B Corp certification, public impact reports, carbon-label transparency, local leadership on trips, and partnerships that support ecosystems and communities. For operators, the roadmap is practical and actionable, measure accurately, engage suppliers, design lower-carbon products, educate teams, and stay transparent about the challenges. Intrepid’s 2030 goal - an 8% reduction across the full customer journey illustrates what accountability at scale truly looks like.

This episode is a grounded, hopeful blueprint for anyone who wants travel to be both meaningful now and sustainable long into the future.

Thanks to Intrepid for sponsoring this series! 

👉 Listen to Climate Leadership in Action: Inside Intrepid’s Decarbonization Now

🔥 Special Thanks to our Season 6 Title Sponsors for their Support: Holafly, Propellic, PayCompass, Kaptio, Civitatis and WeRoad

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

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Imagine a travel company where the business itself fuels impact, not just through donations but through ownership. That is the UnTours story. In this episode, CEO Jonathan Coleman shares how the world’s first certified B Corp tour operator became part of a foundation that invests every dollar into small businesses creating meaningful change in destinations.

Jonathan walks us through Hal and Norma Taussig’s remarkable origin story, beginning with apartment-based, slow travel in the 1970s and evolving into a vow of poverty that redirected profits into a foundation, eventually transferring company ownership. We then explore the Reset Tourism Fund, which transforms corporate philanthropy from partners such as Expedia Group, TUI Care Foundation, Skyscanner, Tourism Cares, Agoda and XO into flexible, low-interest loans for small tourism enterprises. The results are tangible and people-centered, from Invisible Cities training individuals who experienced homelessness to become tour guides, to Greether creating safer experiences for solo women, to inclusive LGBTQ+ travel initiatives in Colombia that combine safety with cultural immersion.

The conversation also moves beyond offsets into the deeper work of sustainability. Jonathan explains why aligning all foundation assets with mission is essential, how consumer expectations are shifting as greenwashing becomes easier to spot, and why measurement must come before management. Listeners will come away with clear guidance on what to look for as travelers, including transparent certifications and local ownership, and what to prioritize as industry leaders, from supplier selection to risk-sharing models that build more equitable and climate-conscious tourism systems.

Tourism represents about 10% of global GDP, jobs, and emissions. Where our industry goes, the world follows. 

Thanks to Intrepid for sponsoring this series! 

👉 Listen to Where Sustainable Travel Meets Impact Investing Now

🔥 Special Thanks to our Season 6 Title Sponsors for their Support: Holafly, Propellic, PayCompass, Kaptio, Civitatis and WeRoad

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

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A century-old highway is about to steal the spotlight again. In episode three of our 10-part Travelzoo Best Bets Series, Dan and Travelzoo Senior Editor (and co-host) Gabe Saglie head to Arizona’s storied stretch of Route 66 with guest Nikki Terlesky, Director of Operations for the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. Together, they explore why the Mother Road still embodies freedom, spontaneity, and Americana—especially as the U.S. approaches its 250th birthday. From neon-lit motor lodges to desert bends that test your steering, this is road-tripping at its most evocative.

You’ll get a practical 2026 game plan: the best times to go, how weather shifts with elevation from Kingman to Flagstaff, and how to layer in icons like the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Meteor Crater. Expect insider picks too including Winslow’s famous corner and La Posada, Flagstaff’s restored vintage motels and centennial exhibits, and the GuideAlong GPS tour that turns the drive into a living museum.

Along the way, we trace the roots of diner and motel culture, the postwar birth of the family road trip, and why international travelers still flock here for classic burgers, milkshakes, and glowing neon. The result isn’t just nostalgia—it’s an authenticity-rich, digital-detox adventure where the road itself becomes the destination.

If 2026 is your year to rediscover the open road, Arizona’s Route 66 delivers history, scenery, and pure fun in one timeless drive.

New episodes drop every Tuesday, each featuring local experts who bring these Best Bets to life. Become a member at travelzoo.com to access exclusive offers.

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/

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The rails are buzzing for a reason: travelers want flexible journeys, city-center convenience, and window-seat scenery without the stress. At the Railbookers Global Summit, we sat down with CEO Frank Marini and three of his senior leaders to explore how a remote-first culture, deep trade partnerships, and an ambitious AI strategy are powering the renaissance of rail travel.

Frank breaks down a record year—27% growth overall and 39% in luxury rail—and why small groups and pre- and post-cruise extensions are surging. VP of Marketing Kaitlyn Birkinshaw reveals how AI-driven content, conversational podcasts, and a global advisor toolbox are making travel advisors rail-fluent. SVP of Product Andrew Channell previews 2026 highlights: Switzerland–Italy combinations, rising demand for Norway, Alaska and the Canadian Rockies, and the new Stars and Stripes Collection celebrating America’s 250th with itineraries inspired by Route 66, Colonial America, and Lewis and Clark. SVP of Strategic Partnerships Jim Marini explains how advisors win with instant quotes, two-year booking windows, and one-to-one support that simplifies even the most complex FIT.

From national rail networks to luxury icons, Railbookers packages trains, hotels, sightseeing, and transfers into seamless global itineraries. Their proprietary Fast Tracks AI, a system that captures “every answer, every time”transforms 4,000 weekly calls and frontline expertise into smarter service, sharper product, and faster marketing.

If you’ve ever dreamed of connecting Basel to Zermatt to St. Moritz to Milan, or pairing a cruise with a scenic sleeper, this conversation shows how rail has become one of the most modern and inspiring ways to travel today.

Learn more at railbookers.com

The #1 B2B Travel Podcast Globally. Over 100 Episodes. Listeners in 125 countries. New Episodes Every Weds.

https://www.traveltrendspodcast.com/