50 Episodes Later: How Travel Tech—and Travel Buddy—Evolved

[00:00:00] Welcome to Travel Buddy, presented by Switchfly. In this podcast, we talk about all things travel, rewards, and loyalty. Let's get to it. 

Brandon Giella: Hello, and welcome back to

Rachel Satow: to

Brandon Giella: I am so excited to talk to you guys. Happy 50 episodes. And you can hear in my voice, when you do 50 episodes, and also have kids in daycare, you get a little raspy. And so I am just excited to, to cap off this season that we've had.

It's been wonderful. Two years, 49 episodes, and I think the overall theme that we wanna talk about today is how the show has matured, how the industry has matured, and how we've become best friends. And so,

Rachel Satow: tired.

Brandon Giella: reflection on the last 50 episodes? What has been important to you?

What have we seen? What have we learned? And where do you [00:01:00] think the industry is going? So we'll start with you, and then I'll kick it over to Ian.

Rachel Satow: I was thinking ... Yeah, so I,~ um,~ I came in at episode 25. Number 25 was actually my very first episode, so I- I've seen it really only in the second half of this, you know, road to 50. And I feel like

Brandon Giella: Yeah,

Rachel Satow: been able to incorporate more internal partners, more external partners, and gotten a little bit more in depth with some of the conversations that we're having from an industry standpoint. And I think honestly that h- has what That is what has made the last 50 so cool to kind of reflect upon, is when you look at the first couple of episodes, it really is, you know, our, our team going through some of the,~ uh,~ higher level conversations. ~Um, ~and really just that, like that introduction to travel as,~ uh, uh, uh, ~as it applies to loyalty programs and, and some of those more, to do this, how to incorporate [00:02:00] that," et cetera. ~Um, ~and now we're really getting into the nitty-gritty because we've learned incorporating some of these industry experts in the conversation is so much more worthwhile, both from a conversation standpoint, but also a partnership standpoint. ~Um, ~and I think Ian is ... It's really good for him to be on this because he was episode one. ~Um, ~so I would love to also hear what he thinks of this because from the outside, having only been h- a part of this for 50, 50% of the 50,~ um,~ I think I have a little bit of a different view of it.

Brandon Giella: Ian, what's your take? You, you've been there since the beginning. Episode one was published, by the way, February 13th, 2024. My daughter turned one that day, so it's a happy day for me. ~Uh, ~and that was our very first episode. Ian, you've been here from the beginning. What's your thoughts?

Ian Andersen: Yeah. It's been a, it's been a ride. We've,~ uh,~ had a lot of great conversations, talked to some, some pretty amazing folks,~ uh,~ over the last couple years, ~um- ~I mean, you know, with, with any endeavor, [00:03:00] the,~ uh,~ the more you do it, the better you get, right? It's just practice. ~Uh, ~I-- we were laughing earlier before the call that first few episodes were James and I just,~ uh,~ lecturing to each other essentially,~ uh,~ not really having a conversation. ~Um, ~and as we kinda got more and more comfortable, especially as we started bringing others in to join us, trying to remember we don't have to stick to an outline or a script,~ uh,~ that some of the weird little tangents we go down end up being our, our best episodes. so it's, it's, it's been fun. You've been,~ uh,~ a wonderful partner along the way.

~Um, ~we definitely could not have had the success we've had with this show,~ uh,~ without you. so very appreciative of that. But,~ uh,~ yeah, it's been, it's been fun. It's, it's also really cool to see, ~uh... ~you know, I, I went back and looked at a few of the early episodes,~ um,~ which are, are virtually [00:04:00] unwatchable, but,~ uh, uh, ~the, the topics we're talking about haven't changed too much, but, definitely the way we talk about them have, the way the industry has grown. the, the both travel and loyalty side of things I think have matured. You know, you think about when we started, it was still kind of the trail edge of the COVID,~ uh,~ and pandemic era, travel disruption. People were still kind of figuring out this new world of travel. Things like AI obviously were, were still very new.

~Um, ~I think that's been one of the more interesting,~ uh,~ topics to, to, to discuss on here,~ um,~ and how that's changed over the, the last few years since we started talking about it. ~Um, ~but yeah, yeah, it's been great. ~Uh, ~it's been a lot of fun. I definitely look forward to the next 50.

Brandon Giella: That's right. Amen. Yeah. [00:05:00] So episode one, we obviously introduced the show and different topics, and then really quickly after that went into the economics of the industry. We talked about AI and automation. We talked about travel tips, which a lot more travel tips came out o-over the season as well. ~Um, ~and then, yeah, talking about customer rewards and loyalty, APIs, machine learning.

We had Rob Neate on the show. We have Noel, the CEO, has been on a few times, and Ashley has been on a few times. So we've had really great success internally, but then externally as well. We've had quite a few,~ uh,~ folks on the show that have been amazing to watch their expertise be shared with, with us and with our audience, with their audience as well.

Which leads me to the,~ uh,~ most watched, most listened to show ever on the show is with Battleface Insurance, because peace of mind when you travel is still a big deal, and people love to insure their trips and make sure things go smoothly, which you guys [00:06:00] are always good about. ~Um, ~you know, customer support and how important that is.

That's one of Noel's talking points, of course. But,~ uh,~ but it's been really cool to see what has resonated with audiences and what's resonated internally with your team as you've been launching new products, talking about Switchfly Go, and then we've just talked about a lot of new things that you guys are working on, new ways of approaching things, and it's been really awesome.

Ian Andersen: I, I wanna give,~ uh,~ Rachel a chance to dive in onto the, the getting partners side of things, 'cause she's been,~ uh,~ she's been the, the driving force behind getting so many of,~ uh,~ of our external

Rachel Satow: My partner is just right outside as long to say about it and I want 100% behind you in the

Ian Andersen: ~uh, ~when

Rachel Satow: against apartheid-

Ian Andersen: at somewhere internally, sometimes it's hard to notice the change day to day, right?

~Um, ~y- you know, the Monday generally looks pretty much the same as Tuesday when, when you're at a job. But,~ uh,~ when you look back over the time, it is pretty,~ uh,~ impressive to see how the platform has grown over the last couple years. ~Uh, ~you [00:07:00] mentioned SwitchFly Go,~ um,~ our, our kind of outreach to, to smaller organizations being able to let their employees,~ uh,~ kinda share in, in travel rewards.

~Um, ~also the way we've-- we were really, early in the crowd as far as incorporating AI into,~ uh,~ the SwitchFly pla- platform. ~Uh, ~Ravneet,~ um,~ who was our previous,~ uh,~ head of data science, was,~ uh,~ kind of a genius about that stuff, so it was always great. I think we brought him in several times to, to just let him cook on what the heck all this new AI stuff was, what it meant, where it's going. ~Um, ~looking back at some of those early episodes that we, we were talking about AI, ~uh- ~It's really fun to see sort of how we had no idea, literally no idea what it was gonna mean. ~Um, ~I'm not saying we even have an idea now, but definitely it's become much more a part of,~ uh,~ daily [00:08:00] lives and, and the SwitchFly plat- platform. You know, we had very specific use cases at the beginning, but those have just grown and grown and grown over the past couple years. ~Um, ~people like Mark Smith are, are one of-- our director of engineering who's joined us, he, he went into to how that's helping the, the platform grow. you know, ~uh, ~I think the, the kind of overall trend, if I can nail it to any one thing, is just,~ uh,~ being able for us to more rapidly integrate the SwitchFly platform with our, our,~ uh,~ customers,~ um,~ and getting them the ability to offer travel as one of their, their core rewards,~ um,~ faster and easier and more widely available,~ uh,~ from a product standpoint as well.

We, we... Our partner,~ um,~ offering side of things, the, the, the products we offer have just grown and grown and grown. You mentioned Battleface,~ um,~ and travel protection, but,~ uh,~ you know, a wider range of [00:09:00] activities, a wider range of, of travel options, you know, all of that stuff we have teams working on internally trying to, to grow, all the time.

So it is, it is really cool to kind of look back see, you know, for every single day you might not think things are moving, but then you take a step back and, and see just how far you've come and,~ uh,~ that's

Brandon Giella: Yeah, amen.

Rachel Satow: to double down on that, I think seeing the evolution of the way we talk about things has so closely paralleled to all of the, the, the updates that we're making to the platform itself. And I know we mentioned, you know, Battleface was the number one,~ uh,~ most listened, most download partner podcast episode that we have, but that came about because Switchfly offered that as a new product offering.

So it was one of those, like we wouldn't have had that if we weren't [00:10:00] constantly innovating on our own platform. And even from the AI perspective, you know, at the very beginning, some of the conversations two years ago were some experimental curiosity. It was, we aren't quite sure how we're going to bring this into the platform yet, but we know we need to, we know we want to. And now we have core features that have been launched specifically because of the evolution and the maturity of AI and how it's become an operational necessity. And I think that is such a cool-- when you reflect on 50 episode, that is such a cool trans- like, like transition in conversation is we are no longer talking about what it might look like.

We have it in our system. It is, it is one of the core, you know, applications to, to the, to the platform. And like we have neighborhood insights, and we have different personalization options where you can like search for destinations based on text input. It's, it is so cool [00:11:00] to look back on 50 episodes and see some of the ideas that were, were talked about and then see how it has come to fruition.

And,~ um,~ I also love that double down on that, like from a partner standpoint, we've had new partners come in that we're able to, you know, say, "Hey, you are the expert here. Do you wanna talk about this?" Because at the end of the day, like as much as Ian and I are, you know, trying to stay up to date on everything in the industry, it's always better to have it straight from, from somebody who truly is an expert. ~Um, ~and I think that has been one of the coolest things about partnering with these individuals, both from a Switchfly operational standpoint and being able to offer new products, but also being able to tap in it, into it from a pro- ~uh, ~podcast standpoint.

Brandon Giella: Yeah, I love having those external guests on the show because as you said, you get like on the grounds expertise from people that are living and breathing it. And you guys are of course, and you've got all kinds of, of [00:12:00] amazing products coming out, but seeing their perspective from a different lens, different part of the industry, it's, it's really fascinating.

~Um, ~but on your point, Ian, about,~ uh,~ we have been evolving and, and it's, it's cool to see the pace at which you guys are developing your platform and, and the company as a whole. Almost two years to the day after we launched our first episode,~ uh,~ Noel and I talked about Switchfly's vision for 2026, and the key word was velocity.

And so the whole,~ uh,~ you know, train that is Switchfly or plane, I, I suppose,~ uh,~ is,~ uh,~ is moving and moving quickly. And you guys are shipping really amazing things, especially around a lot of the AI,~ uh,~ you know, innovation that's going on there. And that's a crazy evolving market. ~Um, ~I just,~ uh,~ shared,~ uh,~ an article with Ian and Rachel this morning about-- It was a travel and leisure article, and,~ uh,~ the writer was using,~ uh,~ a couple of different platforms to build an itinerary for his trip.

And he talked about the ins and outs, the pros and cons of, of doing that. So it's just, it's an evolving thing, of course. [00:13:00] But,~ uh,~ but you guys are always staying on top of it, and it's cool to see what you guys are thinking up next. Yeah,

Ian Andersen: with, with AI, well, long before AI, I think SwitchFly was a,~ uh,~ early advocate of, of travel to rewards platforms, be it, you know, customer or... Excuse me. Thank you. ~Uh, ~gave me a cold, Brandon. ~Uh, ~the either, either,~ uh,~ on the customer or the, the employee side. when I started, gosh,~ um,~ four years ago almost,~ um,~ so much of what we had to do was educate a audience on just the availability of travel being an option for them, right?

~Um, ~I think there, was a pretty big gap in ~um ~in just that even being a possibility for for many ~uh ~rewards offerings whether ~uh ~for small businesses for for [00:14:00] financial services for whatever ~Um ~s and over the years that's sort of transitioned to now I think basically knows right Everybody knows travel is an option They're just not necessarily always sure how it fits in with their program ~um ~what ~uh ~what provider to go to you know how to differentiate between ~um ~provider offerings Um so so much of what Rachel and I have had to do ~uh ~lately has been been that transition of of speaking to a more educated audience about travel and how ~uh ~how they fit into to different reward schemes ~Um, ~and that's that's actually been it's been really gratifying I think we've played a large part in ~uh ~in the industry in uh sort of providing that that education ~Um ~and this podcast has definitely been a a key part of that ~uh ~along with with a lot of our other marketing ~Um ~we're having so much more inbound ~uh ~opportunities come to to [00:15:00] SwitchFly ~uh ~just Looking for travel specifically right We're no longer convincing people they need travel They're coming to us and saying they need travel how how can we give it to them ~Um ~which obviously is is very rewarding as a marketer and and uh uh definitely great for the the industry I think and it's matured enough to where like you mentioned Noel saying that ~uh ~is finally a place where we can really focus on right ~Um ~so much before was about the education piece and and now though we can really kinda crank up the heat and and push push things forward

Brandon Giella: So speaking of velocity, we've had 50 episodes, tens of thousands of listeners and viewers across 50 countries.

Ian Andersen: That's weird I figured like five people would listen ever maybe

Brandon Giella: I think it was actually like [00:16:00] nine total. Yeah. No,

Rachel Satow: It's the

Brandon Giella: no.

Rachel Satow: of us and then my mom.

Brandon Giella: Our moms.

Ian Andersen: go

Brandon Giella: Hey, Happy Mother's Day, you know. Hey. Okay,~ um,~ but so where do we go from here? You know, where-- what does the next two years look like? What are topics that have been on your mind, things you guys are thinking about internally, guests maybe? You know, what, what's on your-- what's on the horizon for where we're going with all this velocity?

Rachel Satow: Yeah, I think,~ um,~ one of, one of the things that is not going away is you're going to be hearing more from this greater Switch5 team. ~Um- ~You know, that has been one of the coolest parts of being able to come in and, and almost activate these internal experts,~ um,~ and showcase that like, you know, that this podcast isn't scary, I promise. ~Um, ~it's, it's been very cool to, to have voices like Carrie Griffin come on. You know, I know, Ian, you mentioned Mark came on. We had a couple of other individuals join us. Jess Steinberg is, is a recurring individual that comes on. She's gonna [00:17:00] be our next episode, spoiler alert. ~Um, ~and you know, it's been very cool to, to transition the conversation from just Ian and I, no matter how much we love talking to each other, to br- bringing this, bringing more of the greater team to, to the podcast.

And I think,~ um,~ outside of that, one of the other things that you won't see change is,~ um,~ bringing on external experts as well. ~Um, ~I know we've talked to Battleface, obviously. We've talked to,~ uh,~ one of our partners, BermudAir. We've had a lot of really great conversations with some of our external,~ uh,~ our external partners, and we would love to incorporate more of that.

~Um, ~and whether they be direct partners or, you know, members of the ITC, et cetera, that's kind of where our focus is moving to of how can we bring more industry experts to the podcast,~ um,~ and expand the, the, the overall, you know, topics that we're talking about of just what Switchfly lives and breathes. ~Um, ~and I [00:18:00] want those conversations to... And I think, Ian, you, you too, we want those conversations to just go really naturally and, and want them to be more,~ um,~ specific. I think that's one of the other things that has really changed over the last 50 episodes is we had a lot of education, to, to Ian's point.

And getting to have an audience that is more educated and knows that travel is table stakes now I think is such a great opportunity for us to dig into conversations that are deeper into, well, how does this actually work? What does this actually look like? Why is this happening? And,~ um,~ one of the things, Ian, as you were talking about how we have this more educated audience and that travel really has become table stakes, I think this is... One of the things I'm hearing now that I think isn't going away is why that became... why that came [00:19:00] to fruition, right? Like, why did travel become so necessary in loyalty programs and HR platforms? And it really is being driven by employee and customer expectations for rewards and wanting to be able to utilize,~ uh,~ the programs that they are a part of for things that they can enjoy every single day.

So I think,~ um,~ that is definitely something that we're going to see over the next 50 episodes th- for the future. I don't think that that's going to go away, and we'll probably dig into more of the emotional loyalty aspects of, of,~ um,~ travel rewards and how they apply to different programs,~ um,~ for the n- for, for quite a while. 

Ian Andersen: Yeah

Rachel Satow: that

Ian Andersen: you know,

trying to to kinda remember back to to James my ~uh ~mind state when we we first started Travel Buddy what we wanted it to be I think we [00:20:00] kinda had the wrong i-idea initially as far as we were thinking th of this in pure marketing terms right This came out those first couple episo at least the first couple o outlines until uh of got bored with each other ~uh ~and our conversations they were essentially infomercials right Like they they were very you know um topic-dependent pushing what made Switchfly stand out in the marketplace w-what uh uh y you know the the benefits of adding travel that um you know would come to to companies if if they partnered with us it it felt a little too salesy and and very boring and probably more to us internally than to anyone who made a might have listened [00:21:00] So I think sort of organically we kind of started to learn ~uh ~we need some other voices and we need to not really care so much about ~um ~pushing Switchfly but naturally talking about the industry talking about ~uh ~everything from traveler preferences to the tech to customer service to you know talking about all parts of you know travel and loyalty industries Um the the pitch if you will the the the how Switchfly stands out would sort of come out naturally right We we wouldn't have to focus on that We wouldn't have to to highlight that ~um ~just merely by as ~uh ~as Developed and and prominent as Switch Fly is it would sort of stand on its own had to do is define the [00:22:00] the space around it ~Um ~those led to just so much more interesting conversations than than we'd ever thought of They they let us ~uh ~dive into ~um ~just kind of all areas ~uh ~of the industry Uh you know Brandon ~um ~you and I are are kinda both lifeli lifelong students right And uh uh are both extremely curious about the most random weird little niche subjects that could 

come up in any particular thing ~Uh ~not because know, speaking for me, not necessarily 'cause I'm so interested in doing or learning about s- ~uh, ~this topic. What I find int- interesting is the people who are experts or, or knowledgeable or interested in that topic,~ uh,~ and getting them to talk about it, getting them to, to bring out why it's important, how it fits into this kinda [00:23:00] giant crazy puzzle. ~Uh, ~that's what's interesting to me and what's been really fun that we've gotten to learn over, over the last two years. ~Um, ~and I just see more and more of that, you know, bringing in more expert voices, a wider range,~ uh,~ weird random topics that may not necessarily seem like they fit,~ uh,~ at first, but hopefully will, will fit right in,~ uh,~ after you hear it. And even if not, you know, so what? I, I wanna have c- fun conversations sometimes, and if every one of these isn't a,~ uh,~ a home run, well, you know, there's always next week, right?

Brandon Giella: Yeah, if you do wanna have an episode on 15th century punctuation, I am all in. Like, I 

Ian Andersen: is still on the list.

Brandon Giella: am there.

Ian Andersen: the back, the, the backup list, right? Yeah.

Brandon Giella: ~Um, ~no, I, I agree. I, I think something that I've learned is... Which is funny because it actually does perform better in a marketing context, is I think what people want is value, and they want to be entertained.

And [00:24:00] so,~ uh,~ I heard once from an iHeartRadio host that what, what radio is, which is podcasts are a form of radio, is companionship. That we wanna have a great conversation among people we like about topics that are interesting and provide value to the listeners. And so I think that's a lesson that we've learned over time, that we hope that this conversation is entertaining and valuable and that,~ uh,~ w- and when you do see the, the performance, quote-unquote, of the show,~ um,~ it's always someone's expertise, sharing stories, and providing value or wisdom even.

You know, some of,~ uh,~ some of Noel's,~ uh,~ the, some of the top clips I was looking at on, on YouTube were,~ uh,~ Noel just sharing some wisdom, you know, about different things, which I thought was really great. So yeah, it's ~um, ~it's a co- it's a combination of many things.

Ian Andersen: my favorite example of that, not to, to cut you off, Brandon, but,~ uh,~ favorite example has been,~ uh,~ a dear friend of mine here at work,~ um, uh, ~Ariella Barshay, who's one of our,~ uh,~ on our, our customer management team. ~Um, ~and she has a [00:25:00] pretty long history in,~ uh,~ in customer service,~ um,~ especially in the hotel industry and catering industry. ~Uh, ~she's, she's an expert on how to deal with customers, how to create an environment of proactive customer service in an organization. ~Uh, ~frankly, I, I love Ariella to death. I thought it was gonna be the most boring conversation ever. ~Um, ~was not at all excited to talk customer service for 40 minutes or whatever. ~Uh, ~and it turned out to be one of my favorite conversations we've had. She is so knowledgeable about it. ~Uh, ~I think what also made it was she was one of those who was so nervous to come on. ~Uh, ~Rachel and I had to cajole her for, for weeks to, to finally get her to, to work up the courage to come on. she ended up having a great time, wants to come back on. [00:26:00] She,~ uh,~ was able to just sit there and cook for half an hour straight without any interruption about all things customer service,~ uh,~ ways it can make organizations, you know, better and more successful. And it turned out to be a fascinating conversation, and,~ uh,~ I was,~ uh,~ I'm happy to say was dead wrong before, beforehand

Brandon Giella: That's great. That's great. Rachel, do you have any kind of unexpected episodes? Anything that's caught your attention?

Rachel Satow: ~Um, ~I mean, I, I did really love Ariella's podcast. It was one of the episodes where I was not able to join because I was, I think I was traveling or there was a reason why I wasn't able to join, and I was really... I, I, I was anticipating listening to the recording on the way

Brandon Giella: Oh.

Rachel Satow: that I knew was going to be a really great episode, and I just, I just needed it to happen, was Kerry Griffin's episode.

And,~ um,~ she... And, and you and I have talked about this, Brandon. She is just such a wealth of knowledge [00:27:00] and,~ um,~ has so much industry expertise, and just fascinating to listen to her, you know, own the thought

Brandon Giella: Yeah,

Rachel Satow: own

Brandon Giella: we

Rachel Satow: space, and,~ um,~ that one I knew going into it was going to be a great episode.

I didn't know how good of an episode it was going to be,

Brandon Giella: her.

Rachel Satow: that I actually listened to

Brandon Giella: I

Rachel Satow: times because I was like, "There are so many good nuggets in here. How do we,

Brandon Giella: think

Rachel Satow: do we keep going with this?" I want her to come back a thousand times.

Brandon Giella: it'll be so fun. Yeah, you guys have such an incredible team. I think just listening to all your different perspectives, the camaraderie, the, the kind of,~ uh,~ the shared vision that you guys have built over the years has been just such a delight, such a joy. Well, I have had such a-- yeah, it's been such a delightful experience,~ uh,~ working with you guys and having these conversations.

And so I'll leave you with this,~ uh,~ final question. ~Uh, ~what are you looking forward to most in the next year of [00:28:00] delivering these conversations to folks?

Rachel Satow: Mm. What am I looking forward to most? One of the things I think I love most about the podcast is that it gives us the opportunity

Brandon Giella: It's

Rachel Satow: that are industry experts. And I look at these conversations as,~ um,~ probably a little bit more relaxed than, than some of our, our colleagues do who are nervous to come on. ~Um, ~I, I mean, I was in the same place when I first started and I had never done a podcast too. I was obsessing over, over the conversation. And I think one of the things that I look forward to the most over the next couple of, of episodes and, and well into the future is just being able to build those relationships because we don't get to have open conversations like this regularly, right?

Like, we're so head down in [00:29:00] completing the next task, making sure the, the next implementation is comp- is done. You know, we don't get to have some of these open conversations, and I think the podcast really gives us that space and that time to what does X, Y, Z person know and, and tell our own stories and really riff on, on, off of each other.

It's, it's,~ um,~ o- one of my favorite things, and I think that camarader- camaraderie that you mentioned is,~ um,~ something

Brandon Giella: so heartwarming.

Rachel Satow: to over the next 50.

Ian Andersen: And I think I just look

Brandon Giella: has

Ian Andersen: getting able to spend more time talking to one of my best friends, Rachel, and seeing just how brilliant she is every day.

Rachel Satow: Heart hands.

Brandon Giella: most heartwarming conversation. ~Uh, ~no, this, this truly has been really, really awesome. Yeah, I appreciate you both very much. Appreciate the Switchlight team, the hard work you guys are,~ uh,~ doing this year, especially with the theme of velocity. It's never easy, but,~ uh,~ but it's always a beautiful thing to watch [00:30:00] people work in the same direction and, and ship things quickly and delight customers.

And so it's been, it's been cool to watch.

Ian Andersen: you, Brandon. You've been instrumental to our success in this, so

Brandon Giella: Thank you.

Rachel Satow: Yes,

Brandon Giella: you. Thank you. Thank you. Grateful to serve. Yeah, thank you very much, guys. All right. Well, we will see you on the next episode with Jess. We'll see you then. Bye, y'all.

Rachel Satow: Bye.