Industry Roundtables

Topic
Intermediaries Redefined
Intermediaries continue to play a significant role in shaping the travel landscape by offering convenience, choice, and flexibility to travelers around the world. Double-digit growth is projected through 2025, as pan-European and international leisure travel, as well as business travel, increase. Discuss and debate the latest challenges and opportunities that guide distribution.

Industry Experts
Siebe Gerbranda
VP of Product, Rail Europe
David Gunnarsson
CEO, Dohop
Lorraine Sileo
Founder, Phocuswright Research and Senior Analyst, Phocuswright

Who should join this table
OTAs, Travel Agencies, Tour Operators, Wholesalers, TMCs, Metasearches, GDS, Booking Engines, Distribution Technology

Sponsored by:

Topic
Powering AI with Customer Data
As customer engagement becomes increasingly fragmented across platforms, channels, and AI-driven experiences, delivering a consistent and seamless journey is more challenging, and more critical, than ever. At the same time, many organizations are looking to unlock the full potential of AI, but are held back by disconnected data and systems. This discussion will focus on how to think more strategically about your data foundation, bringing together content, systems, and insights to create a more unified customer experience. We’ll explore how breaking down silos and aligning your data strategy can not only improve consistency across touchpoints, but also enable more impactful, scalable use of AI to better serve your customers.

Industry Experts
Alex Van der Valk
Solutions Engineering Lead, Directus
Brianna MacNeil
Director, AI Products & Personalization, TravelAI
Dirk Rogl
Research Analyst and Content Specialist, Europe, Phocuswright

Who should join this table
Technology Solution Providers, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Back-Office, Blockchain, GDS, Hardware, Messaging/Chat, Search, Security/Fraud, Virtual Reality (VR), Voice

Sponsored by:

Topic
Trailblazing Innovation in Travel
Join us for an open discussion on the future of travel innovation in an age of personalisation, multimodality, and AI. We'll explore why the shift to greener travel, across both corporate and leisure, demands smarter, more integrated solutions. We''ll dive into the impact of AI on booking experiences and data quality, and how open, API-first ecosystems are powering a new era of modular, connected travel. With fintechs and super apps entering the game, travel is fast becoming a plug-in service—sold by more players than ever before. Let’s unpack the opportunities (and challenges) of this rapidly evolving landscape.

Industry Experts
Rod Cuthbert
Board Member, VELTRA Corp
Morgann Lesné
Partner, Cambon Partners
Jan-Frederik Valentin
Managing Partner, Ennea Capital Partners
Timothy O'Neil-Dunne
Principal T2Impact

Who should join this table
Startups, VCs, OTAs, Marketers, Technology Solution Providers, Tour Operators

Topic
The Arrival Experience and the First Impression Gap
The travel industry has spent decades obsessing over the booking experience, the in-flight experience, the in-room experience. Somewhere along the way, the moment that actually sets the tone for everything that follows got left behind. The transfer from airport to destination has been treated as a commodity handoff, a gap between the trip people planned and the trip they experience. This roundtable brings together distribution players, hoteliers, and the technology partners enabling them to ask what it looks like when the industry finally treats arrival as a competitive advantage rather than a logistics problem.

Industry Experts
Alex Trimis
Co-Founder and CEO, Welcome Pickups
Christiane Sieveking
Sr Director, Strategic Partnerships, SiteMinder
Rino Schmid
Senior Manager Digital Platforms & Ecosystems, Swiss Federal Railways SBB
Dan Christian
Founder & Host, Travel Trends Podcast

Who should join this table
Business Travel, Hotels, Airports, Mobility, Distribution, OTAs

Sponsored by:

Topic
Managing Travel Payments in an Era of Volatility
From uncertain market conditions to supplier default risk, the travel payments landscape has never demanded more strategic resilience. This roundtable brings together industry leaders to explore how travel intermediaries and suppliers can navigate uncertainty, securing stable payment partnerships, unlocking flexibility, and reducing friction across the transaction journey. We'll also examine how emerging technologies, including agentic AI, are reshaping payments infrastructure and creating new opportunities for those bold enough to lean in and level up.

Industry Experts
Carolina Castillo
General Manager, EMEA, WEX
Jorge Tamayo
Payments Director, eDreams ODIGEO
Kasia Pankowska
CEO, Hotel Treats
Mark Frary
Contributing Journalist, PhocusWire

Who should join this table
OTAs, Hoteliers, Finance and Payments Professionals

Sponsored by:

Topic
When Behavior Meets Experience
In-destination experiences are becoming a core reason for travel, shaping how, when, and where people choose to go. But connecting evolving traveler behavior to a fragmented supply landscape remains a significant challenge. Integrating experiences into the booking path is one piece of the puzzle, but what more can companies do to capture travelers' attention, influence decision-making, and keep them engaged throughout the journey? We'll explore shifts in traveler behavior, the rise of in-destination discovery, and how technology, particularly AI, is reshaping the category. We'll also examine the growing role of destination management and dispersal strategies in distributing demand, supporting local economies, and addressing the pressures of concentrated tourism.

Industry Experts
Arantxa Calvera
Director, Catalan Tourist Board
Carlos Cendra Cruz
Chief Marketing Officer, The Data Appeal Company
Enrique Espinel
Chief Operating Officer, Civitatis
Klaudija Janzelj
Europe MD, Tourplan
Christian Watts
CEO, Magpie
Charlotte Lamp Davies
Founder, A Bright Approach

Who should join this table
Tours & Activities Tech Providers, Attractions, OTAs, DMOs, Hospitality

Sponsored by:

Topic
Staying Relevant in the Age of AI Agents
This industry roundtable explores how AI and agent-based technologies are rapidly reshaping the travel ecosystem — transforming not only how trips are discovered and booked, but also how trust, responsibility and customer relationships evolve across the industry.

The discussion will examine how AI agents are changing traveler decision-making and booking journeys, what these shifts mean for OTAs, issuers and travel platforms, and where new opportunities and tensions are emerging. Participants will also explore why trust, scale and collaboration are becoming even more critical as automation accelerates. security.

Industry Experts
Simon Thompson
Global Business Development Director, B2B Travel, Visa Business Solutions, Visa
Alex Lee
Enterprise Strategy Lead, Airwallex
Pete Comeau
Managing Director, Phocuswright

Who should join this table
Hotels, Technology Solution Provides, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Intermediaries

Sponsored by:

Topic
Europe's Hospitality Divide
European hotels are outperforming the global average — RevPAR across European chain-scale hotels rose 2.8% year-on-year in 2025, with Greece, Spain, Italy and France leading gains — but the picture beneath that headline is fractured. Leisure destinations are thriving while business-dependent markets like Germany and Northern Europe struggle with midweek occupancy, and payroll costs rose 4-6% year-on-year, compressing real profitability even where revenue is growing. Add tightening STR regulation across EU markets and deepening OTA dependence and European hoteliers face a set of structural questions that look very different from what's happening in the U.S. What does a sustainable, profitable hospitality business actually look like across such an uneven continent?

Industry Experts
Janneke Messiaen
VP Global Sales, Palladium Hotel Group
Marianna Gelardi
Director of Sales, EMEA, Sirma
Neville Isaac
Director of Revenue Strategy, Petit Palace
Rita J Varga
CEO, Raizup

Who should join this table
Hotels, Hotel Technology, Loyalty Programs, Short-Term Rentals, Bedbanks, Resorts, Serviced Apartments

The Roundtables boast a small, specialized group of travel executives and decision makers. A sponsorship enables your company to gain a high degree of visibility and develop vital relationships with this highly targeted audience.

Get in touch with our team by email or call us at +1 860 350-4084 x505 for more information on sponsorship opportunities for the industry roundtables.