November 20, 2025 • 32 mins
No Show is at the 2025 Phocuswright Conference this week talking to a variety of exhibitors, innovators, and speakers and taking their temperature on the present and future of travel technology. We found out that:
- Levee founder Al Lagunas is done with the 3 pm check-in
- Ron Glickman from Innovation Launch People’s Choice Award Winner Acai Travel is ready for boundaries to be pushed
- Taylor Palmer from SiriusXM Connect is putting safety at your fingertips
- Etraveli Group's Peny Rizou has a prophecy about the future of fraud prevention
- The inimitable Mickey Beyer-Clausen from Timeshifter is thinking about the rhythms of life
- Tourism Tasmania CMO Lindene Cleary loves changing perceptions
- And Mirko Lalli from Data Appeal believes in the dual power of democratization and simplification
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Brown (00:07):
Hi everybody.
No show is at the 2025 FocusRight Conference in San Diego
this week, and we've beentalking to exhibitors and
innovators and speakers who areall part of a rapidly evolving
conversation about technology'srole in travel.
We've collected some of thegreatest hits from the show
floor, so excuse some of theaudio and crowd noise.
(00:28):
I was sort of doing a like aman on the street kind of thing,
like a quick hit interview.
So I was snatching people awayfrom the actual work that they
should be doing.
But there's interesting stuffhappening out there, and it's
being done by some very nice,very committed people, like this
person right here.
I have with me the star of theconference, the man with the
(00:48):
plan and in demand.
Tell us who you are.
Al Lagunas (00:52):
Hi, my name is Al Lagunas.
I'm the founder of Lovey.
So at Lovey, we're building thespatial intelligence layer for
hotels.
What does that mean exactly?
Hotels operate in a physicalspace, not on a computer screen.
So we are bringing intelligenceon what's going on within the
hotel, within the operations tohoteliers, GMs, brands, people
who care about what's you knowgoing on within the walls.
Matt Brown (01:15):
Do you have competitors for what you do?
Al Lagunas (01:18):
Uh no one directly.
We have indirect competitors,but you know, for us, we're,
like I said, we're focused onbuilding that intelligence
layer.
So people who are, you know,think that might be our
competitors, that might view usas competitors, we want to give
them better information so thatway they can run better, operate
better.
We're focused on getting gooddata in, again, from these
(01:39):
physical spaces, and thenpowering apps that you know can
build on our platform or withus.
You know, one of my favoritekind of ways to describe what
we're doing is we are gonna killthe 3 p.m.
check-in.
And what I mean by that is, youknow, right now, hotels have
been operating the same way forhundreds of years, and the way
that hotels deploy labor hasbeen the same since the dawn of
(02:00):
the hotel.
You know, the way you deploylabor is humans, you rely on
humans to go uh clean rooms,inspect rooms, check inventory,
set up inventory.
So for us, you know, the ideaof a hotel running just on these
ancient archaic systems, verydependent on humans to you know
orchestrate these workflows,that's what we want to change is
(02:21):
the idea that when you show up,the room is ready to go, you
know, hotel doesn't need toworry about is the room clean
and ready for you now?
Because the housekeeper whocleaned it can also have the
tools with them to inspect theroom, catch their errors.
Uh inventory-wise, the hotelknows things are out of stock
the moment that it's off theshelf, not you know, a week
later when you ask for aGuinness and they're like, Oh,
(02:43):
it's you know, we we didn't putthe order in this week.
You know, we'll have theintelligence of again what's
going on in that physical spaceto be able to help them run like
it never could before.
Matt Brown (02:51):
What a beautiful dream.
Al Lagunas (02:54):
Yeah, like I said, the the 3 p.m.
check-in is one that getspeople excited.
Usually when I talk to peoplefrom outside the industry, um,
you know, one of the ways that Iexplain to them what our tech
helps them do, I always tellthem is like, have you been to a
hotel before?
They go, Yes.
I was like, Have you ever beentold, hey, you can't check in
until three because your roomisn't ready?
And they'll say, Yes.
And I tell them, I was like,well, that hotel lied to you.
(03:15):
Because 90% of the time, yourroom is ready.
The hotel just has no ideawhat's going on within the
walls.
It's not because they don'twant to get you the room, it's
not because they don't have itready, it's because they don't
know if it's ready, if it's beeninspected, if everything from
an inventory perspective is inplace.
All those things are, you know,those bottlenecks that happen
at again in that physical spacethat they don't have information
(03:35):
or are privy to right now.
Matt Brown (03:38):
You grew up in a hospitality family.
How did that inform thiscompany's creation?
Al Lagunas (03:44):
Yeah, definitely.
So the the biggest thing for usfrom the start was, you know,
if you go look at every AI toolthat's being built right now,
which there's tens of thousands,they're all very much designed
for the desk worker, thewhite-collar worker.
You know, this is these aretools like uh another email
drafting generator or like somesort of automated scheduling
(04:08):
tool.
Uh, the reality is that wedon't need another uh notes app,
we don't need another AI notetaker, corporate jobs,
white-collar work.
We have plenty of AI tools outthere right now.
The labor shortage, the peoplewho are most strained by the
current job market, the thosechallenges that are out there,
are all people in thesefrontline jobs, blue-collar
(04:28):
industries.
So for us, you know, comingfrom blue-collar families, my
mom worked as a housekeeper in ahotel.
These people have been, theindustry's turned their back on
them from a tech perspective foryears.
Now we have these newadvancements in AI that allow
anyone to use a computer at ahigh level.
So it's not about me and Mattbeing able to draft better
emails.
It's about you know the peoplewho are in these physical world,
(04:52):
physical jobs, being able tohave tools to help them do their
work, augment what they can do.
Um and that's where you knowour focus has been is like, how
do we help people whoessentially have been left
behind by technology?
Matt Brown (05:03):
What is your favorite bar and or restaurant
in Chicago?
Al Lagunas (05:08):
My favorite bar in Chicago is a place called Third
Rail Tavern.
And not to dox myself, but thereason it's my favorite bar is
because it's next door to whereI live.
Uh so yeah, I love going downthere to get a quick, quick meal
in when I forget to go groceryshopping.
Uh I always say that you, youknow, my rules for where I live
(05:28):
the rest of my life are I gottabe within within one block, one
city block of a gym, and thenwithin one city block of a bar.
Because having a place thatknows you, the hospitality
factor is like having a placethat knows you, knows what you
like, uh, you know, you can hangout with, that's the best.
So that's my favorite bar.
My favorite restaurant inChicago is a place called La
(05:50):
Scarola.
So it is, I would say probablythe best Italian food in the
city, and by far one of the mostreasonably priced Italian
restaurants in the city.
So it's uh just outside of theloop, maybe like you know, five,
10 minutes.
Um, if you walk in there, it'slike walking into you know a
1950s Italian restaurant.
(06:11):
Uh you can't, they're not onopen table, they're not on resi.
Uh you have to call to make areservation.
Nine times out of ten, whenthey answer the phone, it sounds
like you're bothering thembecause they're always booked.
But even if you show up withouta reservation, very old school
Italian where they go, hey,don't worry about it, we're
gonna figure it out, and they'llfind you a place.
Um, but yeah, those favoritebar, favorite restaurant.
Matt Brown (06:32):
Those are the most Chicago answers I could have
hoped for.
Thank you.
Al Lagunas (06:37):
Of course.
Thanks for thanks for the chat.
Matt Brown (06:40):
Okay, and can you tell me a little bit about who
you are and why you're here?
Ron Glickman (06:44):
My name is Ron Glickman.
I'm head of partnerships forAcai Travel.
And Asai does what?
We're AI agents as a service,but more specifically to travel
operations.
So anything that deals withthat kind of post-booking
customer support element,whether it's an airline, an
online travel agency, or acorporate travel management
(07:07):
company, we're the intelligencelayer that really allows the AI
agents to perform an action asopposed to just regurgitating
stuff that nobody wants to hear.
What makes you special in themarket?
The fact that we can takeaction, that we understand,
okay, wait a minute, this is abooking that came from, let's
say, Amadeus, and it's connectedto another booking that came
(07:29):
from Sabre.
And what the traveler islooking to do is do a name
correction and having the AIagent know, okay, I have to
follow these policies.
I want to take action and helpthis traveler.
Here, I'm gonna go ahead andI'm gonna follow the policy of,
let's say, Quantus, and I'mgonna change the name and gonna
get them on their way instead ofhaving them wait on hold to
talk to an agent.
Matt Brown (07:51):
What is the biggest change coming to travel over the
next three to five years?
Ron Glickman (07:57):
I really think it's whether the kind of generic
AI companies are going to diptheir toe more and more into the
water of travel.
Obviously, everybody loves toloves to say that my industry is
the most complex one andthere's no way you can solve it.
And uh, you know, uh I work inhealthcare and we have all this
(08:18):
compliance and whatever.
At the end of the day, it wouldbe interesting to see other
companies enter into the market,challenge, push the boundaries
a bit more.
I do believe that AI may be theway that they can go and they
can do this.
No longer are we so reliant on,oh, you need to have
connectivity to this GDS, youdon't understand the endpoints,
(08:40):
you don't maybe, maybe theindustry will be pushed into a
into you know the future withall this AI and really focus
more on providing the amazingexperiences that people want.
Matt Brown (08:51):
In your previous life, you uh worked a lot with
airlines.
Here's the mystery question.
If you could snap your fingersand change one thing about the
US airline system and can beanything, what would it be?
Ron Glickman (09:05):
I really wish the U.S.
airlines weren't as beholden totheir investors.
Um, I I kind of miss the daysthat we had Northwest and we had
U.S.
Airways and stuff like that.
I'm very sad about what's goingon with Spirit.
At the end of the day, thepeople who lose out the most are
the consumers.
So we've kind of watched allthese U.S.
airlines get this amazingstrength through loyalty
(09:30):
programs and lobbying and stufflike this.
It's not within our interest asthe traveling public to see
more consolidation of these USairlines.
Now I understand it, they'regetting pushed by the investors
and they need to provide an ROIto their investors.
I hope that that also pushesthe likes of you know Breeze and
(09:50):
Avello and others to fill thisgap.
Because if that doesn't happen,if we become beholden to, you
know, American Delta and United,we will look exactly like our
friends in Australia whocomplain incessantly about the
power that Kwanis has overVirgin Australia and basically
nobody else.
(10:11):
And we are our own worst enemyin this.
We have a very friendlygovernment right now toward
business, but we also need tokeep into you know our own
perspective of we the travelersand what we want, and we want
competition and we want to driveairfares down so we can do more
travel.
Matt Brown (10:28):
That is some truth.
Thank you, Ron.
Ron Glickman (10:30):
Thank you.
Matt Brown (10:31):
Next: Who are you and what do you do?
Mirko Lalli (10:33):
Who are you and what do you do?
Hi, I'm Mirko Lalli.
I'm the CEO and founder of acompany that is called the
Data Appeal Company, and we helpdestination to make sense of
data.
We use AI to extract value fromuh data sources and uh from
destination uh we help them totake better decisions.
And the data appeal company,what makes it special in the
(10:56):
market?
We are very young because westarted as a startup 11 years
ago.
The idea was since thebeginning to help destination
because we saw that destinationsaround the world are very
unstructured.
They don't have skills, theydon't have budget, and uh maybe
the biggest one, they have adata scientist kind of to make
(11:16):
sense of data.
So I think this is veryimportant because the market is
becoming more and more uh uhdata driven and the B2C side is
going on exponential velocity,and the B2B part, the
destination part, it reallystuck on the past.
So, what makes us special isthat we want to automatize
things where we use AI since thebeginning, and uh we want to
(11:40):
make it affordable even for thesmallest destinations.
Matt Brown (11:43):
You personally have worked with massive amounts of
data for your entire career.
How do you convey that data inaccessible ways to non-numbers
colleagues?
Because that's that's anessential part of the business,
right?
Is there a golden rule when youshare data with people?
Mirko Lalli (12:02):
I mean, golden rule it's uh it's a challenging,
it's a challenging definition.
But uh I can talk about twodifferent phases.
Uh the pre-CHAGPT phase.
Uh we started before, ofcourse, and we use uh machine
learning, deep learning toextract value.
And uh the methodology is touse uh a massive amount of data
(12:24):
and uh simplify theunderstanding of the underlying
value.
For example, we have veryhigh-level KPI for measuring uh
sustainability, we have a KPIfor measuring inclusivity.
There are dimensions that arepretty hard to be measured with
uh hard data.
And we are able to do thatbecause we interfer together
(12:45):
hundreds of different datasources.
We want to keep the complexityunder the hood, and we want to
bring the destinations only theinformation that bring that
allow them to take betterdecisions.
And the second phase is thepost-Chat GPT, is what we
present uh uh focus right, forexample, is uh uh kind of
chatting with data.
(13:06):
And it's already online, it'salready uh active on our
platform, is a way in a naturallanguage that you can query
data, it's like ChatGPT, but uhmade on uh real data without
hallucination.
And it's pretty useful,especially for the smallest
destination that are not able tounderstand uh complex uh
analysis.
Matt Brown (13:27):
What do you think the most positive way AI will
affect uh the traveler over thenext three to five years?
What's the benefit of it that'scoming to the consumer?
Mirko Lalli (13:37):
When I talk about AI, I normally use two words
democratization andsimplification.
It's across the whole industry,not all not only travelers.
It's valid also fordestinations, for hotels, for
airlines, because the technologythat seems science fiction
since three years ago, it's hereand it's possible to it's I
(13:58):
mean available to be used byeverybody.
But for the traveler side, Ithink the major advantages will
be personalization.
Personalization because uhusing AI you may have uh uh more
personalized itinerary, uhespecially with some tool.
For Google, for example, is uhmaking more and more integration
(14:20):
inside Gemini.
And uh, of course, Google hasthe ability to give you
personalized suggestion becauseuh he knows your data.
Matt Brown (14:30):
What is the most underrated place of beauty in
Tuscany?
Underrated.
But if you want to go there andreally experience the region
truly and authentically, andmaybe not get as many crowds,
where would that be?
Two advices.
Mirko Lalli (14:48):
First, come in low season, and uh you can visit
even Florence, San Gimignano,Siena, uh in their beauty
without the crow.
And that's I mean, come in lowseason, come in December, come
in January, it's not too cold.
And the second advice come inthe south part of Tuscany.
There is uh a small city thatis actually beautiful, it's
(15:11):
called Arezzo, and thesurrounding of Arezzo, uh, even
the part that there is confiningwith Umbria, there is another
region that's pretty close.
They are wonderful and no socrowded all year round.
Beautiful.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Matt Brown (15:26):
Tell me your story.
Who are you?
What do you do?
Taylor Palmer (15:29):
My name is Taylor Palmer, and I am a senior
marketing manager at Sirius XMConnect.
Um, specializing in salesenablement, content design,
brand awareness, anything go tomarket, I do it.
Matt Brown (15:42):
In the simplest terms, I want you to pretend
that you are sitting down forThanksgiving dinner and you are
explaining what you do to therest of the family.
How would you define Sirius XMConnect?
Taylor Palmer (15:54):
Well, I would tell people the safety features
that you have in your vehicle,the SOS button, um, if you get
in an accident, how you have adiagnostic of what's happened to
the vehicle, being able to beconnected to emergency services.
That is what Sirius XM Connecthas done for the last 30 years.
But now we are pivoting to anew transformation of how we are
(16:17):
bringing safety to travelers.
So they have safety that moveswith them right in the palm of
their hands.
Matt Brown (16:23):
Listen to that crisp, concise answer.
I love it.
What makes it different in themarket?
Taylor Palmer (16:31):
Well, um, if you look at the market, you don't
really see hotels, online travelagencies, or even uh fintech
companies like American Expressor some of these large credit
card companies, they offer theseservices and these perks, but
you don't really see it aroundsafety.
So, and one thing we've noticedis a lot of travelers nowadays,
being millennials and Gen Zs,they want that extra layer of
(16:53):
safety when they're somewherethat's not home.
Because the end goal when wetravel anywhere is to do what,
Matt?
Go home.
We want to go home.
We want to return back fromwhere we came with memories and
good experiences.
And when you have an experiencewhere you feel unsafe or you're
put into danger, you want toknow that the brand that you
trust is there to protect you.
(17:14):
So what we're able to do now isis give brands the opportunity
to deepen that uh loyalty and uhduty of care for their
customers and show that safetyis something that moves with
them at the fingertips.
Matt Brown (17:28):
You'd better get Sirius XM for free as an
employee of this company.
Taylor Palmer (17:32):
I do, I do.
I get Sirius XM and uh Pandora.
So there's a lot of great perksfor working for Sirius XM for
sure.
Matt Brown (17:39):
You were also a North Texas girl, full on.
Is that correct?
Taylor Palmer (17:44):
That is correct.
I am from the good old state ofTexas.
And uh yeah, Dallas is whereI've resided the last 33 years
of my life.
Matt Brown (17:53):
Double question here.
Do you ever call it theMetroplex?
And what is your favoriterestaurant in the DFW area?
Taylor Palmer (18:00):
Ooh, that's tricky because when you say DFW,
that's a Dallas, Fort Worth,and all surrounding areas.
And I don't think peoplerealize how big that is and how
it spans.
So I'm gonna give you two.
I'm gonna give you my favoriteDallas restaurant, and then I'm
gonna give you my favorite FortWorth restaurant.
Um, so in Dallas, um, myfavorite restaurant is called
True Lux.
(18:20):
It's a steakhouse right outsideBishop Arts.
Um, it's so great.
They have a yellow submarine init.
It's so fun.
And if you have kids, it's agreat place to take them as far
as like the ambiance and theenvironment.
And then in Fort Worth, thereis an old saloon steakhouse
right in the stockyards that hasbeen there since like the
1700s.
(18:41):
If you're a big fan of um 1923,1883, those those fun western
shows.
They did a lot of filming inthere.
So it's kind of a funexperience to go and get a good
old Texas steak and um hangaround the stockyards and might
see a cattle run by or two.
Matt Brown (18:58):
Taylor, thank you.
Taylor Palmer (18:59):
Thank you so much, Matt.
It was a pleasure.
Matt Brown (19:01):
We're talking to someone now whose mantra is
great, can be greater.
Who are you and what do you do?
Peny Rizou (19:10):
So, my name is Peny Rizou, and uh these days I'm
coming with uh many hats.
Uh I am the chief fintechofficer of uh e Travel I Group,
and I'm at the same time I'malso heading for the new FinTech
arm of the group, which iscalled EG FinTech Solutions,
marketing precision as uh ourfirst product.
Matt Brown (19:31):
And what is Precision?
Peny Rizou (19:33):
So Precision is uh the first fraud solution, uh
fraud prevention solution bornfrom travel for travel.
We see fraud prevention as uhas a business strategy rather
than a fraudless problem, andthis means that our decisions
target profit maximization in anindustry where most travel
(19:55):
companies operate in in reallythin uh margins.
To deliver on this, we need tobe highly punctual for every
decision we take.
And guess what?
We are.
So we have more than 20 yearsof experience within uh travel
payments and uh fraud, and uh weincorporate this experience in
(20:18):
every component of ourtechnology.
This is not about just havingtravel data or some travel
customers, but true expertisethat translates into fraud
strategies and practices that wehave already proven uh by us uh
expanding globallysuccessfully.
(20:39):
And at its core, precision isleveraging purpose-built
technology that uh adaptsdynamically and can be
customized to address differentcustomer needs.
Matt Brown (20:52):
There's an old saying that Greeks don't make
predictions, they utterprophecies.
What do you think is thebiggest travel change coming in
the next five years?
Peny Rizou (21:05):
Agent DKI and uh conversational booking flows are
going to reshape both thesupply and the demand side on uh
the travel.
We will see new digitalcurrencies uh emerging, uh
fraudsters will be moving therereally fast, and payments that
look safe today they will beexposed.
(21:25):
Uh AI becomes part of everydayuh booking and servicing, and we
will see more errors that looklike fraud.
Now, separating real fraud fromAI-driven mistakes will become
much harder and much moreimportant.
So, for fraud preventionsolutions like ours, this means
(21:47):
that we have more complexenvironment to work with.
Matt Brown (21:51):
And finally, you've been gifted a dream vacation to
go anywhere in the world overthe next two, three months.
Where are you going to go?
Peny Rizou (21:59):
First of all, I live in Greece by the sea.
And uh what else could I askfor, right?
So uh 365 days uh dreamvacations.
But uh joke aside, I wouldexchange it with a stay-home
ticket, uh spending some qualitytime with family, as the rest
of the time I am travelingnon-stop.
Matt Brown (22:22):
Beautiful, safe travels.
Speaker (22:24):
Thank you very much.
Matt Brown (22:25):
Okay, tell me your story.
Lindene Cleary (22:27):
I'm Lindene Cleary.
I'm the chief marketing officerat Tourism Tasmania, and so my
job is to make people fall inlove with Tasmania and want to
travel there.
Um, and ideally the the kind ofpeople who will come and
respect what we offer and valuewhat we offer there.
Matt Brown (22:43):
You were in a destination marketing session
yesterday.
How did it go?
Did you did you share anythingof interest?
Lindene Cleary (22:50):
It was great.
It was fascinating.
Actually, we talked a lot aboutseasonality as a challenge for
a lot of destinations.
Um, it is a challenge for us inTasmania, which we've been
working on addressing for aboutfive years now, uh, with a
program called the Off Season,which is about changing
perceptions of what a winterholiday can be.
And I'm proud to say it's it'sworking for us.
Matt Brown (23:11):
I think Tasmania is in a really interesting position
marketing-wise, because 20years ago the mainland sort of
dominated, at least in theUnited States, as a tourist
destination.
And I feel like since yourtenure, you probably have a lot
to do with this.
Over the last five years or so,Tasmania has really risen as a
a destination.
I I know that probably didn'tcome easy, but is that an
(23:31):
accurate perception of howTasmania is kind of viewed
globally as a as a touristdestination and maybe even
within Australia?
Lindene Cleary (23:39):
Yeah, definitely.
It's it the perceptions ofTasmania have changed a lot,
probably in the last, I'd say,10 to 15 years.
Um, and that's just around theplace itself hasn't changed too
much.
All of the things that arewonderful about it have always
been there.
It's just that the worldstarted to pay more attention.
And then because of thatattention, we're now getting
(23:59):
more and more tourismexperiences, more and more
wonderful restaurants,producers, sort of having more
confidence to just try thingsand um bring their offering to
the world.
So it's a much morewell-rounded destination now
than it used to be.
You can come for the nature andand wilderness and hiking and
things like that, but you canalso come now purely for arts
(24:21):
and culture or for food andbeverages, or you can come for
the whole package.
It's fantastic.
Matt Brown (24:26):
Give me your favorite underrated spot to
visit in Tasmania.
It can't be one of the big, itcan't be the big museum.
Give me something that's alittle bit off the beaten path
that you love visiting.
Lindene Cleary (24:39):
Oh, that's a hard one.
Um, given my job is torepresent the entire state.
I can't pick favourites, but umunderrated or unknown, that I
would say there's quite a lotthat's still unknown,
particularly outside ofAustralia.
Um and for the US visitor inparticular, um, having been here
in the US for about 10 daysnow, everyone I meet says, Oh,
(25:02):
all I know about Tasmania is theTassie Devil.
So that we don't need any moreawareness for the Tassie Devil,
but if that's what gets youpaying attention, that's great.
Matt Brown (25:12):
You have some of the most beautiful national parks
in the world.
Is there is there one of thosethat's a particular favorite?
Lindene Cleary (25:18):
Um there, yeah, again, there's so many national
parks.
Um, but Fraysenay National Parkon the east coast is absolutely
stunning.
It's probably a little morewell known.
And then you've got CradleMountain Lake St.
Clair National Park, which ismore towards the sort of central
west area of Tasmania.
Um, that is absolutelystunning, particularly as a
(25:38):
winter destination, because youget this beautiful, you know,
snowy winter wonderland.
You've got wombats waddlingaround covered in snow.
Um, and then you can go insideand cozy up by the beautiful big
log fire in the lodge there andum enjoy a world-class whiskey,
Tasmanian whiskey or a PinotNoir.
It's absolutely beautiful.
Matt Brown (25:57):
Thank you so much and safe travels.
Speaker (25:59):
Thank you, Matt.
Great to be here.
Matt Brown (26:02):
You are one of the few people we've interviewed who
has your own Wikipedia page.
It's excellent.
But for the benefit of thosewho have not seen it, who are
you and what do you do?
Mickey Beyer-Clausen (26:14):
Well, my name is Mickey Bea-Clauson, and
uh I am, I guess you could referto me as an entrepreneur.
Have been uh part of andco-founded a few technology
companies, and the latest one isTime Shifter, the one we're
going to talk about today, thatis um that is uh empowering
people with circadian controland timing.
Matt Brown (26:35):
It's a it's a jet lag solution, but it's more,
right?
Like what is what is itexactly?
Mickey Beyer-Clausen (26:40):
One of our products is a jet lag app, but
our company is focusing onsolving multiple challenges uh
that are relating to circadian.
So jet lag is one area, anotherarea is uh shift work
disruption for people that workaround you know 24-7, night
shifts, etc.
And then we also work withathletes that in addition to
(27:02):
dealing with jet lag are alsodealing with optimization or
preparation for game time.
So that's another dimensionwhere they would like to their
bodies to be at their at itspeak when they when they
compete.
And um and then it goes all theway into healthcare where
medications and treatments uhactually could benefit
(27:22):
tremendously from in in a to alarge extent uh from circadian
timing.
And when I say circadiantiming, uh what I really mean is
instead of looking at what timeit is on our watches, we wanna
we wanna time things accordingto your body's time, which can
be very different from the timeon our watches.
Matt Brown (27:43):
What was the aha moment when you realized that
you wanted to build this companyand make these products?
Mickey Beyer-Clausen (27:50):
So the it it sort of almost it fell in my
lap.
Um uh I was so lucky that umDr.
Stephen Lockley, a Harvardprofessor, uh that now have uh
done circadian research onhumans for about 30 years, uh,
and another person working overat NASA, Dr.
(28:11):
Smith Johnston, he was NASA'sum head of performance fatigue
and longevity programs uh youknow some years ago for a long
time.
Um those two guys had workedtogether on applying circadian
science to help astronauts witha jet lag when they traveled to
Russia, Germany, and Japan fortraining.
And and when they arrivedthere, they train the day after
(28:31):
they arrive in the morning, andsafety is a concern.
If you're fatigued, don't havejet lag, it it's not uh a good
thing.
So obviously NASA wanted totake care of them and ensure
that uh they were as safe as aspossible when they uh when when
they traveled and trained.
Um they also worked on you knowpreparing astronauts for rocket
launches and spacewalks and umand uh mission controllers that
(28:56):
worked the night shift as well,where you see uh uh uh increase
in accident scenarios at nightbecause it's just not normal to
have those changing workschedules.
So they had applied that um uhcircadian science at NASA for
many years, and at some point uhwanted to bring it out to the
masses and let them benefit fromall the clinical research and
(29:17):
this and the algorithms anddifferent uh protocols that they
put together for NASA.
And so uh Time Shifter wasborn.
I met them and and we uh webuilt uh built uh or started a
company together with the intentto solve many problems, like I
mentioned before, including jetlag, which is probably a smaller
problem in the big scheme ofthings in terms of the number of
(29:38):
people affected by it comparedto how many people we are in the
world.
But it's a fun one, and it'sone that really is helpful for
travelers, uh whether theytravel business or whether they
need to be at their best forbusiness meetings, or or if they
um travel for vacation wherethey've saved up money and are
going away, and then the insteadof uh having the first and
(29:58):
second day be missed.
They're out enjoying it and uhsightseeing and kneading out and
all of it because they don'thave jet lag.
So so I uh I think jet lag isthe one that resonates most to
me because that's the problem Iused to have.
Uh but uh but we're alsoexcited about the other uh sort
of applications or verticals.
Matt Brown (30:20):
You get the closing word.
What's a travel adventure you'drecommend to anyone?
Mickey Beyer-Clausen (30:27):
Africa uh is uh is uh I would say is a is
a very good like going uh uhsafar in Africa is one of the
best things I've ever heardabout uh from a travel
standpoint.
Um, you know, to go back to thebeginning where you asked me
sort of who I was, and I've youknow been fortunate and and and
also kind of just can't helpmyself uh as it relates to uh
(30:50):
starting or being part ofstarting uh businesses.
Um when I was 17, I started abusiness.
I lived in Denmark and uh Iwanted to bring tailored clothes
to Denmark from Thailand.
So I went to Thailand as 17years old and uh alone and found
tailors and people I could workwith out there driving around
(31:12):
to different places, and it wasa little bit wild.
It was a little bit wild.
Now, with my own kids being 14and 16, one of the things I
really uh love about them isthat they have comfort in
traveling and uh and and sort ofknow how to handle themselves.
And it's wonderful if if youngpeople could have the
opportunity to travel and seethe world and get exposed to
(31:33):
different cultures and and andbe, you know, sort of go beyond
their their uh their normal uhcomfort zone uh to push
themselves a little bit.
That's uh if if I could get itmy way, I'd say, you know, every
teenager at at some point whenthey're maybe a little bit
older, should be traveling for ayear uh around the world and
(31:55):
just experience it and and bechallenged and then come back.
I think the world would be adifferent place if if if that
happened.
Well said, thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Thank you so much.
Hi everybody.
No show is at the 2025 FocusRight Conference in San Diego
this week, and we've beentalking to exhibitors and
innovators and speakers who areall part of a rapidly evolving
conversation about technology'srole in travel.
We've collected some of thegreatest hits from the show
floor, so excuse some of theaudio and crowd noise.
(00:28):
I was sort of doing a like aman on the street kind of thing,
like a quick hit interview.
So I was snatching people awayfrom the actual work that they
should be doing.
But there's interesting stuffhappening out there, and it's
being done by some very nice,very committed people, like this
person right here.
I have with me the star of theconference, the man with the
(00:48):
plan and in demand.
Tell us who you are.
Al Lagunas (00:52):
Hi, my name is Al Lagunas.
I'm the founder of Lovey.
So at Lovey, we're building thespatial intelligence layer for
hotels.
What does that mean exactly?
Hotels operate in a physicalspace, not on a computer screen.
So we are bringing intelligenceon what's going on within the
hotel, within the operations tohoteliers, GMs, brands, people
who care about what's you knowgoing on within the walls.
Matt Brown (01:15):
Do you have competitors for what you do?
Al Lagunas (01:18):
Uh no one directly.
We have indirect competitors,but you know, for us, we're,
like I said, we're focused onbuilding that intelligence
layer.
So people who are, you know,think that might be our
competitors, that might view usas competitors, we want to give
them better information so thatway they can run better, operate
better.
We're focused on getting gooddata in, again, from these
(01:39):
physical spaces, and thenpowering apps that you know can
build on our platform or withus.
You know, one of my favoritekind of ways to describe what
we're doing is we are gonna killthe 3 p.m.
check-in.
And what I mean by that is, youknow, right now, hotels have
been operating the same way forhundreds of years, and the way
that hotels deploy labor hasbeen the same since the dawn of
(02:00):
the hotel.
You know, the way you deploylabor is humans, you rely on
humans to go uh clean rooms,inspect rooms, check inventory,
set up inventory.
So for us, you know, the ideaof a hotel running just on these
ancient archaic systems, verydependent on humans to you know
orchestrate these workflows,that's what we want to change is
(02:21):
the idea that when you show up,the room is ready to go, you
know, hotel doesn't need toworry about is the room clean
and ready for you now?
Because the housekeeper whocleaned it can also have the
tools with them to inspect theroom, catch their errors.
Uh inventory-wise, the hotelknows things are out of stock
the moment that it's off theshelf, not you know, a week
later when you ask for aGuinness and they're like, Oh,
(02:43):
it's you know, we we didn't putthe order in this week.
You know, we'll have theintelligence of again what's
going on in that physical spaceto be able to help them run like
it never could before.
Matt Brown (02:51):
What a beautiful dream.
Al Lagunas (02:54):
Yeah, like I said, the the 3 p.m.
check-in is one that getspeople excited.
Usually when I talk to peoplefrom outside the industry, um,
you know, one of the ways that Iexplain to them what our tech
helps them do, I always tellthem is like, have you been to a
hotel before?
They go, Yes.
I was like, Have you ever beentold, hey, you can't check in
until three because your roomisn't ready?
And they'll say, Yes.
And I tell them, I was like,well, that hotel lied to you.
(03:15):
Because 90% of the time, yourroom is ready.
The hotel just has no ideawhat's going on within the
walls.
It's not because they don'twant to get you the room, it's
not because they don't have itready, it's because they don't
know if it's ready, if it's beeninspected, if everything from
an inventory perspective is inplace.
All those things are, you know,those bottlenecks that happen
at again in that physical spacethat they don't have information
(03:35):
or are privy to right now.
Matt Brown (03:38):
You grew up in a hospitality family.
How did that inform thiscompany's creation?
Al Lagunas (03:44):
Yeah, definitely.
So the the biggest thing for usfrom the start was, you know,
if you go look at every AI toolthat's being built right now,
which there's tens of thousands,they're all very much designed
for the desk worker, thewhite-collar worker.
You know, this is these aretools like uh another email
drafting generator or like somesort of automated scheduling
(04:08):
tool.
Uh, the reality is that wedon't need another uh notes app,
we don't need another AI notetaker, corporate jobs,
white-collar work.
We have plenty of AI tools outthere right now.
The labor shortage, the peoplewho are most strained by the
current job market, the thosechallenges that are out there,
are all people in thesefrontline jobs, blue-collar
(04:28):
industries.
So for us, you know, comingfrom blue-collar families, my
mom worked as a housekeeper in ahotel.
These people have been, theindustry's turned their back on
them from a tech perspective foryears.
Now we have these newadvancements in AI that allow
anyone to use a computer at ahigh level.
So it's not about me and Mattbeing able to draft better
emails.
It's about you know the peoplewho are in these physical world,
(04:52):
physical jobs, being able tohave tools to help them do their
work, augment what they can do.
Um and that's where you knowour focus has been is like, how
do we help people whoessentially have been left
behind by technology?
Matt Brown (05:03):
What is your favorite bar and or restaurant
in Chicago?
Al Lagunas (05:08):
My favorite bar in Chicago is a place called Third
Rail Tavern.
And not to dox myself, but thereason it's my favorite bar is
because it's next door to whereI live.
Uh so yeah, I love going downthere to get a quick, quick meal
in when I forget to go groceryshopping.
Uh I always say that you, youknow, my rules for where I live
(05:28):
the rest of my life are I gottabe within within one block, one
city block of a gym, and thenwithin one city block of a bar.
Because having a place thatknows you, the hospitality
factor is like having a placethat knows you, knows what you
like, uh, you know, you can hangout with, that's the best.
So that's my favorite bar.
My favorite restaurant inChicago is a place called La
(05:50):
Scarola.
So it is, I would say probablythe best Italian food in the
city, and by far one of the mostreasonably priced Italian
restaurants in the city.
So it's uh just outside of theloop, maybe like you know, five,
10 minutes.
Um, if you walk in there, it'slike walking into you know a
1950s Italian restaurant.
(06:11):
Uh you can't, they're not onopen table, they're not on resi.
Uh you have to call to make areservation.
Nine times out of ten, whenthey answer the phone, it sounds
like you're bothering thembecause they're always booked.
But even if you show up withouta reservation, very old school
Italian where they go, hey,don't worry about it, we're
gonna figure it out, and they'llfind you a place.
Um, but yeah, those favoritebar, favorite restaurant.
Matt Brown (06:32):
Those are the most Chicago answers I could have
hoped for.
Thank you.
Al Lagunas (06:37):
Of course.
Thanks for thanks for the chat.
Matt Brown (06:40):
Okay, and can you tell me a little bit about who
you are and why you're here?
Ron Glickman (06:44):
My name is Ron Glickman.
I'm head of partnerships forAcai Travel.
And Asai does what?
We're AI agents as a service,but more specifically to travel
operations.
So anything that deals withthat kind of post-booking
customer support element,whether it's an airline, an
online travel agency, or acorporate travel management
(07:07):
company, we're the intelligencelayer that really allows the AI
agents to perform an action asopposed to just regurgitating
stuff that nobody wants to hear.
What makes you special in themarket?
The fact that we can takeaction, that we understand,
okay, wait a minute, this is abooking that came from, let's
say, Amadeus, and it's connectedto another booking that came
(07:29):
from Sabre.
And what the traveler islooking to do is do a name
correction and having the AIagent know, okay, I have to
follow these policies.
I want to take action and helpthis traveler.
Here, I'm gonna go ahead andI'm gonna follow the policy of,
let's say, Quantus, and I'mgonna change the name and gonna
get them on their way instead ofhaving them wait on hold to
talk to an agent.
Matt Brown (07:51):
What is the biggest change coming to travel over the
next three to five years?
Ron Glickman (07:57):
I really think it's whether the kind of generic
AI companies are going to diptheir toe more and more into the
water of travel.
Obviously, everybody loves toloves to say that my industry is
the most complex one andthere's no way you can solve it.
And uh, you know, uh I work inhealthcare and we have all this
(08:18):
compliance and whatever.
At the end of the day, it wouldbe interesting to see other
companies enter into the market,challenge, push the boundaries
a bit more.
I do believe that AI may be theway that they can go and they
can do this.
No longer are we so reliant on,oh, you need to have
connectivity to this GDS, youdon't understand the endpoints,
(08:40):
you don't maybe, maybe theindustry will be pushed into a
into you know the future withall this AI and really focus
more on providing the amazingexperiences that people want.
Matt Brown (08:51):
In your previous life, you uh worked a lot with
airlines.
Here's the mystery question.
If you could snap your fingersand change one thing about the
US airline system and can beanything, what would it be?
Ron Glickman (09:05):
I really wish the U.S.
airlines weren't as beholden totheir investors.
Um, I I kind of miss the daysthat we had Northwest and we had
U.S.
Airways and stuff like that.
I'm very sad about what's goingon with Spirit.
At the end of the day, thepeople who lose out the most are
the consumers.
So we've kind of watched allthese U.S.
airlines get this amazingstrength through loyalty
(09:30):
programs and lobbying and stufflike this.
It's not within our interest asthe traveling public to see
more consolidation of these USairlines.
Now I understand it, they'regetting pushed by the investors
and they need to provide an ROIto their investors.
I hope that that also pushesthe likes of you know Breeze and
(09:50):
Avello and others to fill thisgap.
Because if that doesn't happen,if we become beholden to, you
know, American Delta and United,we will look exactly like our
friends in Australia whocomplain incessantly about the
power that Kwanis has overVirgin Australia and basically
nobody else.
(10:11):
And we are our own worst enemyin this.
We have a very friendlygovernment right now toward
business, but we also need tokeep into you know our own
perspective of we the travelersand what we want, and we want
competition and we want to driveairfares down so we can do more
travel.
Matt Brown (10:28):
That is some truth.
Thank you, Ron.
Ron Glickman (10:30):
Thank you.
Matt Brown (10:31):
Next: Who are you and what do you do?
Mirko Lalli (10:33):
Who are you and what do you do?
Hi, I'm Mirko Lalli.
I'm the CEO and founder of acompany that is called the
Data Appeal Company, and we helpdestination to make sense of
data.
We use AI to extract value fromuh data sources and uh from
destination uh we help them totake better decisions.
And the data appeal company,what makes it special in the
(10:56):
market?
We are very young because westarted as a startup 11 years
ago.
The idea was since thebeginning to help destination
because we saw that destinationsaround the world are very
unstructured.
They don't have skills, theydon't have budget, and uh maybe
the biggest one, they have adata scientist kind of to make
(11:16):
sense of data.
So I think this is veryimportant because the market is
becoming more and more uh uhdata driven and the B2C side is
going on exponential velocity,and the B2B part, the
destination part, it reallystuck on the past.
So, what makes us special isthat we want to automatize
things where we use AI since thebeginning, and uh we want to
(11:40):
make it affordable even for thesmallest destinations.
Matt Brown (11:43):
You personally have worked with massive amounts of
data for your entire career.
How do you convey that data inaccessible ways to non-numbers
colleagues?
Because that's that's anessential part of the business,
right?
Is there a golden rule when youshare data with people?
Mirko Lalli (12:02):
I mean, golden rule it's uh it's a challenging,
it's a challenging definition.
But uh I can talk about twodifferent phases.
Uh the pre-CHAGPT phase.
Uh we started before, ofcourse, and we use uh machine
learning, deep learning toextract value.
And uh the methodology is touse uh a massive amount of data
(12:24):
and uh simplify theunderstanding of the underlying
value.
For example, we have veryhigh-level KPI for measuring uh
sustainability, we have a KPIfor measuring inclusivity.
There are dimensions that arepretty hard to be measured with
uh hard data.
And we are able to do thatbecause we interfer together
(12:45):
hundreds of different datasources.
We want to keep the complexityunder the hood, and we want to
bring the destinations only theinformation that bring that
allow them to take betterdecisions.
And the second phase is thepost-Chat GPT, is what we
present uh uh focus right, forexample, is uh uh kind of
chatting with data.
(13:06):
And it's already online, it'salready uh active on our
platform, is a way in a naturallanguage that you can query
data, it's like ChatGPT, but uhmade on uh real data without
hallucination.
And it's pretty useful,especially for the smallest
destination that are not able tounderstand uh complex uh
analysis.
Matt Brown (13:27):
What do you think the most positive way AI will
affect uh the traveler over thenext three to five years?
What's the benefit of it that'scoming to the consumer?
Mirko Lalli (13:37):
When I talk about AI, I normally use two words
democratization andsimplification.
It's across the whole industry,not all not only travelers.
It's valid also fordestinations, for hotels, for
airlines, because the technologythat seems science fiction
since three years ago, it's hereand it's possible to it's I
(13:58):
mean available to be used byeverybody.
But for the traveler side, Ithink the major advantages will
be personalization.
Personalization because uhusing AI you may have uh uh more
personalized itinerary, uhespecially with some tool.
For Google, for example, is uhmaking more and more integration
(14:20):
inside Gemini.
And uh, of course, Google hasthe ability to give you
personalized suggestion becauseuh he knows your data.
Matt Brown (14:30):
What is the most underrated place of beauty in
Tuscany?
Underrated.
But if you want to go there andreally experience the region
truly and authentically, andmaybe not get as many crowds,
where would that be?
Two advices.
Mirko Lalli (14:48):
First, come in low season, and uh you can visit
even Florence, San Gimignano,Siena, uh in their beauty
without the crow.
And that's I mean, come in lowseason, come in December, come
in January, it's not too cold.
And the second advice come inthe south part of Tuscany.
There is uh a small city thatis actually beautiful, it's
(15:11):
called Arezzo, and thesurrounding of Arezzo, uh, even
the part that there is confiningwith Umbria, there is another
region that's pretty close.
They are wonderful and no socrowded all year round.
Beautiful.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Matt Brown (15:26):
Tell me your story.
Who are you?
What do you do?
Taylor Palmer (15:29):
My name is Taylor Palmer, and I am a senior
marketing manager at Sirius XMConnect.
Um, specializing in salesenablement, content design,
brand awareness, anything go tomarket, I do it.
Matt Brown (15:42):
In the simplest terms, I want you to pretend
that you are sitting down forThanksgiving dinner and you are
explaining what you do to therest of the family.
How would you define Sirius XMConnect?
Taylor Palmer (15:54):
Well, I would tell people the safety features
that you have in your vehicle,the SOS button, um, if you get
in an accident, how you have adiagnostic of what's happened to
the vehicle, being able to beconnected to emergency services.
That is what Sirius XM Connecthas done for the last 30 years.
But now we are pivoting to anew transformation of how we are
(16:17):
bringing safety to travelers.
So they have safety that moveswith them right in the palm of
their hands.
Matt Brown (16:23):
Listen to that crisp, concise answer.
I love it.
What makes it different in themarket?
Taylor Palmer (16:31):
Well, um, if you look at the market, you don't
really see hotels, online travelagencies, or even uh fintech
companies like American Expressor some of these large credit
card companies, they offer theseservices and these perks, but
you don't really see it aroundsafety.
So, and one thing we've noticedis a lot of travelers nowadays,
being millennials and Gen Zs,they want that extra layer of
(16:53):
safety when they're somewherethat's not home.
Because the end goal when wetravel anywhere is to do what,
Matt?
Go home.
We want to go home.
We want to return back fromwhere we came with memories and
good experiences.
And when you have an experiencewhere you feel unsafe or you're
put into danger, you want toknow that the brand that you
trust is there to protect you.
(17:14):
So what we're able to do now isis give brands the opportunity
to deepen that uh loyalty and uhduty of care for their
customers and show that safetyis something that moves with
them at the fingertips.
Matt Brown (17:28):
You'd better get Sirius XM for free as an
employee of this company.
Taylor Palmer (17:32):
I do, I do.
I get Sirius XM and uh Pandora.
So there's a lot of great perksfor working for Sirius XM for
sure.
Matt Brown (17:39):
You were also a North Texas girl, full on.
Is that correct?
Taylor Palmer (17:44):
That is correct.
I am from the good old state ofTexas.
And uh yeah, Dallas is whereI've resided the last 33 years
of my life.
Matt Brown (17:53):
Double question here.
Do you ever call it theMetroplex?
And what is your favoriterestaurant in the DFW area?
Taylor Palmer (18:00):
Ooh, that's tricky because when you say DFW,
that's a Dallas, Fort Worth,and all surrounding areas.
And I don't think peoplerealize how big that is and how
it spans.
So I'm gonna give you two.
I'm gonna give you my favoriteDallas restaurant, and then I'm
gonna give you my favorite FortWorth restaurant.
Um, so in Dallas, um, myfavorite restaurant is called
True Lux.
(18:20):
It's a steakhouse right outsideBishop Arts.
Um, it's so great.
They have a yellow submarine init.
It's so fun.
And if you have kids, it's agreat place to take them as far
as like the ambiance and theenvironment.
And then in Fort Worth, thereis an old saloon steakhouse
right in the stockyards that hasbeen there since like the
1700s.
(18:41):
If you're a big fan of um 1923,1883, those those fun western
shows.
They did a lot of filming inthere.
So it's kind of a funexperience to go and get a good
old Texas steak and um hangaround the stockyards and might
see a cattle run by or two.
Matt Brown (18:58):
Taylor, thank you.
Taylor Palmer (18:59):
Thank you so much, Matt.
It was a pleasure.
Matt Brown (19:01):
We're talking to someone now whose mantra is
great, can be greater.
Who are you and what do you do?
Peny Rizou (19:10):
So, my name is Peny Rizou, and uh these days I'm
coming with uh many hats.
Uh I am the chief fintechofficer of uh e Travel I Group,
and I'm at the same time I'malso heading for the new FinTech
arm of the group, which iscalled EG FinTech Solutions,
marketing precision as uh ourfirst product.
Matt Brown (19:31):
And what is Precision?
Peny Rizou (19:33):
So Precision is uh the first fraud solution, uh
fraud prevention solution bornfrom travel for travel.
We see fraud prevention as uhas a business strategy rather
than a fraudless problem, andthis means that our decisions
target profit maximization in anindustry where most travel
(19:55):
companies operate in in reallythin uh margins.
To deliver on this, we need tobe highly punctual for every
decision we take.
And guess what?
We are.
So we have more than 20 yearsof experience within uh travel
payments and uh fraud, and uh weincorporate this experience in
(20:18):
every component of ourtechnology.
This is not about just havingtravel data or some travel
customers, but true expertisethat translates into fraud
strategies and practices that wehave already proven uh by us uh
expanding globallysuccessfully.
(20:39):
And at its core, precision isleveraging purpose-built
technology that uh adaptsdynamically and can be
customized to address differentcustomer needs.
Matt Brown (20:52):
There's an old saying that Greeks don't make
predictions, they utterprophecies.
What do you think is thebiggest travel change coming in
the next five years?
Peny Rizou (21:05):
Agent DKI and uh conversational booking flows are
going to reshape both thesupply and the demand side on uh
the travel.
We will see new digitalcurrencies uh emerging, uh
fraudsters will be moving therereally fast, and payments that
look safe today they will beexposed.
(21:25):
Uh AI becomes part of everydayuh booking and servicing, and we
will see more errors that looklike fraud.
Now, separating real fraud fromAI-driven mistakes will become
much harder and much moreimportant.
So, for fraud preventionsolutions like ours, this means
(21:47):
that we have more complexenvironment to work with.
Matt Brown (21:51):
And finally, you've been gifted a dream vacation to
go anywhere in the world overthe next two, three months.
Where are you going to go?
Peny Rizou (21:59):
First of all, I live in Greece by the sea.
And uh what else could I askfor, right?
So uh 365 days uh dreamvacations.
But uh joke aside, I wouldexchange it with a stay-home
ticket, uh spending some qualitytime with family, as the rest
of the time I am travelingnon-stop.
Matt Brown (22:22):
Beautiful, safe travels.
Speaker (22:24):
Thank you very much.
Matt Brown (22:25):
Okay, tell me your story.
Lindene Cleary (22:27):
I'm Lindene Cleary.
I'm the chief marketing officerat Tourism Tasmania, and so my
job is to make people fall inlove with Tasmania and want to
travel there.
Um, and ideally the the kind ofpeople who will come and
respect what we offer and valuewhat we offer there.
Matt Brown (22:43):
You were in a destination marketing session
yesterday.
How did it go?
Did you did you share anythingof interest?
Lindene Cleary (22:50):
It was great.
It was fascinating.
Actually, we talked a lot aboutseasonality as a challenge for
a lot of destinations.
Um, it is a challenge for us inTasmania, which we've been
working on addressing for aboutfive years now, uh, with a
program called the Off Season,which is about changing
perceptions of what a winterholiday can be.
And I'm proud to say it's it'sworking for us.
Matt Brown (23:11):
I think Tasmania is in a really interesting position
marketing-wise, because 20years ago the mainland sort of
dominated, at least in theUnited States, as a tourist
destination.
And I feel like since yourtenure, you probably have a lot
to do with this.
Over the last five years or so,Tasmania has really risen as a
a destination.
I I know that probably didn'tcome easy, but is that an
(23:31):
accurate perception of howTasmania is kind of viewed
globally as a as a touristdestination and maybe even
within Australia?
Lindene Cleary (23:39):
Yeah, definitely.
It's it the perceptions ofTasmania have changed a lot,
probably in the last, I'd say,10 to 15 years.
Um, and that's just around theplace itself hasn't changed too
much.
All of the things that arewonderful about it have always
been there.
It's just that the worldstarted to pay more attention.
And then because of thatattention, we're now getting
(23:59):
more and more tourismexperiences, more and more
wonderful restaurants,producers, sort of having more
confidence to just try thingsand um bring their offering to
the world.
So it's a much morewell-rounded destination now
than it used to be.
You can come for the nature andand wilderness and hiking and
things like that, but you canalso come now purely for arts
(24:21):
and culture or for food andbeverages, or you can come for
the whole package.
It's fantastic.
Matt Brown (24:26):
Give me your favorite underrated spot to
visit in Tasmania.
It can't be one of the big, itcan't be the big museum.
Give me something that's alittle bit off the beaten path
that you love visiting.
Lindene Cleary (24:39):
Oh, that's a hard one.
Um, given my job is torepresent the entire state.
I can't pick favourites, but umunderrated or unknown, that I
would say there's quite a lotthat's still unknown,
particularly outside ofAustralia.
Um and for the US visitor inparticular, um, having been here
in the US for about 10 daysnow, everyone I meet says, Oh,
(25:02):
all I know about Tasmania is theTassie Devil.
So that we don't need any moreawareness for the Tassie Devil,
but if that's what gets youpaying attention, that's great.
Matt Brown (25:12):
You have some of the most beautiful national parks
in the world.
Is there is there one of thosethat's a particular favorite?
Lindene Cleary (25:18):
Um there, yeah, again, there's so many national
parks.
Um, but Fraysenay National Parkon the east coast is absolutely
stunning.
It's probably a little morewell known.
And then you've got CradleMountain Lake St.
Clair National Park, which ismore towards the sort of central
west area of Tasmania.
Um, that is absolutelystunning, particularly as a
(25:38):
winter destination, because youget this beautiful, you know,
snowy winter wonderland.
You've got wombats waddlingaround covered in snow.
Um, and then you can go insideand cozy up by the beautiful big
log fire in the lodge there andum enjoy a world-class whiskey,
Tasmanian whiskey or a PinotNoir.
It's absolutely beautiful.
Matt Brown (25:57):
Thank you so much and safe travels.
Speaker (25:59):
Thank you, Matt.
Great to be here.
Matt Brown (26:02):
You are one of the few people we've interviewed who
has your own Wikipedia page.
It's excellent.
But for the benefit of thosewho have not seen it, who are
you and what do you do?
Mickey Beyer-Clausen (26:14):
Well, my name is Mickey Bea-Clauson, and
uh I am, I guess you could referto me as an entrepreneur.
Have been uh part of andco-founded a few technology
companies, and the latest one isTime Shifter, the one we're
going to talk about today, thatis um that is uh empowering
people with circadian controland timing.
Matt Brown (26:35):
It's a it's a jet lag solution, but it's more,
right?
Like what is what is itexactly?
Mickey Beyer-Clausen (26:40):
One of our products is a jet lag app, but
our company is focusing onsolving multiple challenges uh
that are relating to circadian.
So jet lag is one area, anotherarea is uh shift work
disruption for people that workaround you know 24-7, night
shifts, etc.
And then we also work withathletes that in addition to
(27:02):
dealing with jet lag are alsodealing with optimization or
preparation for game time.
So that's another dimensionwhere they would like to their
bodies to be at their at itspeak when they when they
compete.
And um and then it goes all theway into healthcare where
medications and treatments uhactually could benefit
(27:22):
tremendously from in in a to alarge extent uh from circadian
timing.
And when I say circadiantiming, uh what I really mean is
instead of looking at what timeit is on our watches, we wanna
we wanna time things accordingto your body's time, which can
be very different from the timeon our watches.
Matt Brown (27:43):
What was the aha moment when you realized that
you wanted to build this companyand make these products?
Mickey Beyer-Clausen (27:50):
So the it it sort of almost it fell in my
lap.
Um uh I was so lucky that umDr.
Stephen Lockley, a Harvardprofessor, uh that now have uh
done circadian research onhumans for about 30 years, uh,
and another person working overat NASA, Dr.
(28:11):
Smith Johnston, he was NASA'sum head of performance fatigue
and longevity programs uh youknow some years ago for a long
time.
Um those two guys had workedtogether on applying circadian
science to help astronauts witha jet lag when they traveled to
Russia, Germany, and Japan fortraining.
And and when they arrivedthere, they train the day after
(28:31):
they arrive in the morning, andsafety is a concern.
If you're fatigued, don't havejet lag, it it's not uh a good
thing.
So obviously NASA wanted totake care of them and ensure
that uh they were as safe as aspossible when they uh when when
they traveled and trained.
Um they also worked on you knowpreparing astronauts for rocket
launches and spacewalks and umand uh mission controllers that
(28:56):
worked the night shift as well,where you see uh uh uh increase
in accident scenarios at nightbecause it's just not normal to
have those changing workschedules.
So they had applied that um uhcircadian science at NASA for
many years, and at some point uhwanted to bring it out to the
masses and let them benefit fromall the clinical research and
(29:17):
this and the algorithms anddifferent uh protocols that they
put together for NASA.
And so uh Time Shifter wasborn.
I met them and and we uh webuilt uh built uh or started a
company together with the intentto solve many problems, like I
mentioned before, including jetlag, which is probably a smaller
problem in the big scheme ofthings in terms of the number of
(29:38):
people affected by it comparedto how many people we are in the
world.
But it's a fun one, and it'sone that really is helpful for
travelers, uh whether theytravel business or whether they
need to be at their best forbusiness meetings, or or if they
um travel for vacation wherethey've saved up money and are
going away, and then the insteadof uh having the first and
(29:58):
second day be missed.
They're out enjoying it and uhsightseeing and kneading out and
all of it because they don'thave jet lag.
So so I uh I think jet lag isthe one that resonates most to
me because that's the problem Iused to have.
Uh but uh but we're alsoexcited about the other uh sort
of applications or verticals.
Matt Brown (30:20):
You get the closing word.
What's a travel adventure you'drecommend to anyone?
Mickey Beyer-Clausen (30:27):
Africa uh is uh is uh I would say is a is
a very good like going uh uhsafar in Africa is one of the
best things I've ever heardabout uh from a travel
standpoint.
Um, you know, to go back to thebeginning where you asked me
sort of who I was, and I've youknow been fortunate and and and
also kind of just can't helpmyself uh as it relates to uh
(30:50):
starting or being part ofstarting uh businesses.
Um when I was 17, I started abusiness.
I lived in Denmark and uh Iwanted to bring tailored clothes
to Denmark from Thailand.
So I went to Thailand as 17years old and uh alone and found
tailors and people I could workwith out there driving around
(31:12):
to different places, and it wasa little bit wild.
It was a little bit wild.
Now, with my own kids being 14and 16, one of the things I
really uh love about them isthat they have comfort in
traveling and uh and and sort ofknow how to handle themselves.
And it's wonderful if if youngpeople could have the
opportunity to travel and seethe world and get exposed to
(31:33):
different cultures and and andbe, you know, sort of go beyond
their their uh their normal uhcomfort zone uh to push
themselves a little bit.
That's uh if if I could get itmy way, I'd say, you know, every
teenager at at some point whenthey're maybe a little bit
older, should be traveling for ayear uh around the world and
(31:55):
just experience it and and bechallenged and then come back.
I think the world would be adifferent place if if if that
happened.
Well said, thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Thank you so much.
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