July 16, 2025 • 24 mins
They just turned down a takeover bid from private equity—so what's next for Webjet?
We’re joined by Katrina Barry, CEO, to discuss ambitions to double the online travel agency’s value in the next five years against an evolving travel market and increased competition.
Hear how Webjet is expanding into hotels, tours, and packages to capture more of your travel spend—on top of launching a loyalty program and pursuing corporate travel for smaller businesses.
How are generational differences and platforms like TikTok shaping customer behaviour? How does business travel remain "extremely resilient" in the age of distributed working? And how is it that even in a tough economy, discretionary travel spend is at an all-time high?
For more or to watch on YouTube—check out http://linktr.ee/sharedlunch
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Shared Lunch, brought to you by chairs Eas
at Chareza's are on a mission to create financial empowerment
for everyone. I'm Sonya Williams, Coco and co founder at
chairs EA's, and today we are diving into the business
of travel. Talking to CEO of Webjet Group, Katrina Barry.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Travel as a percentage of discretionary spend is that its
highest ever percentage of all time.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
To talk about the future of Webjet and the future.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Of travel, Generation Y, Generation Z they will plan and
tire trips off TikTok. I think we use AI very well.
As you say, do you build it, buy it or
borrow it? Now it's built it by borrow.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Or bot it.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Webjet has also been in the spotlight lately following its
recent takeover. Bit Before we get started, there's important information
you should always consider.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Investing involves the risk you might lose the money you
start with. We recommend talking to a licensed financial advisor.
We also recommend reading product disclosure documents before deciding to invest.
Everything you're about to see and hear is current at
the time of recording.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
We'd like to acknowledge the gadagaul people of the or
nation where we're recording from today and pay respects to
elders past and present. Welcome Katrina, Hello son, You're lovely
to be here, Lovely to have you back.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, I know, it's been a while.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I know, And so we spoke last September and was
just going through the d merger. What's been happening since then?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Oh, well, I haven't been bored, let me tell you that.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So on the first of October we got the final
sign through of the merger and I guess what we've
been up to as a team since then is we
decided to take a big, hard, honest, clear.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Eyed look at ourselves.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So we did a big strategy piece working through I
guess where is everything going and travel with everything going
in tech agentic AI, where is it all leading us to?
So that included a lot of numerical stuff but also
really exciting brand research and coming off the back of that,
we've laid out our plan now. So now we have
a very clear and robust strategy to double our ttv
(02:02):
SO from one point six to three point two billion
over the next five years.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And last time we talked about I mean, you're from
an amazing retail background. We talked about the brand maybe
getting a bit of a glow up. How's that eventuated?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So look is going really well. So we did the
brand research.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
We spoke about three and a half thousand Strands and
Kiwis and you know, wanted to get their take on
the entire travel landscape from not just our brand, but
all of our competitive brands. And we looked into and
you know, really went deep on the data and their
preferences in their thinking on each of those three and
a half thousand customers their last three transaction. So that's
(02:41):
a big body of data and understanding of the industry.
So we took that the keiso what's from us?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
For us?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
From that was seventy three percent of strands and Keywi's
no and love and trust Webjet. So I think that
was our hypothesis, but it's great to have that confirmed.
And they said to us, you know, key insights such
as you know what I know you guys for flights.
I didn't realize you did other stuff, but it'd be
great if I could do all of my travel planning
(03:10):
with you. So that's led to a corporal of our
strategy in terms of us really starting to re emphasize
our solutions around hotels, around stays, around tours and packages,
et cetera that we're now sort of leaning into. So
it was really a deep piece of work. Off the
back of that, it's also informed the aesthetic, so the
(03:32):
look and the feel and how that translates into user experience.
So the glow ups coming along very nicely and we're
really looking forward to launching that to the Aussie and
Keywi public and the second half of this year.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Any kind of hints at what that might be taking
shape into or the Zene the secrets.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
The thing that came back to us really strongly was
this is the brand that Astraans and New Zealanders resonate
with and they trust it. And what we don't want
to change that, don't want to revolutionize it.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
It's about evolution.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So I think the key thing is just spanking it
really fresh, contemporary and irrelevant and that's what you'll see.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, and you've also had some interesting stuff happen that
has been in the headlines with BGH Capital recently trying
to make a takeover bid. What can you tell us
about this?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Sure, Well, there's not much I can I can share
with you, To be honest, you know, with subject to
Act disclosures on this, but what I can tell you is,
you know.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I think this is not unexpected in my view.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I think people are waking up to what ourselves at
Webjet and our board have known for a long time,
which is this this stock w j L is training
at a significant discount to its potential and to the
fact that it prints off a very very strong IBIDA
every year. We just closed out our annual results and.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
We delivered.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
EBITDA for the whole group of thirty nine point four
million dollars with no debt and a very strong balance
shed one hundred and eighteen million dollars. So I think
people are looking at that. They see a consistent business
that you know, princes of Ebida every year, that is
the leader in online travel space. And I think they're
going to see what we think, which is a significant
(05:21):
potential in this business and we're only just getting started.
The point of the merger was to allow the former
Webjet Limited business to split into a B to B
division and a B two C division, and the objective
of that was to allow both businesses to focus on
their unique customers and challenges. And this is a business
(05:43):
that you only have to believe in two things if
you think it's it's got the right to win. The
first one is do you think people are going to
continue to travel? I think there's an obvious answer to that.
For Austraands in New Zealanders, we are intrepid folk and
we're always going to go and see the world. And
the next piece you need to believe is do you
(06:05):
believe that every retail category is going to continue to
go online and that tech and AI is going to
enable that. You know, for me, I'm being focused most
of my career on e commerce, so I believe that's
a strong yes to that. We're significantly underpenetrated for the
sale of travel online in Australia New Zealand than we
(06:27):
are overseas, so there's a nice little tail in there.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
That we've got in built growth to go.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
So I think what the market is doing is realizing
business with significant potential. The fundamentals are there in terms
of this is a well known brand, strong awareness, strong trust.
This category, like most retail categories, is going to continue
to grow online. So it's got a very nice set
(06:53):
of sundamentals and I think that's why we're getting a
bit of attention.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And speaking of that attention, Hello World, which aren't they
competed of yours have bought a steak and Webjet group.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
You know, the travel industry is famous for understanding travel
and value amongst its peer group, and Hello World is
you know one of our competitors. There are bricks and
mortar or a storefront form of distributing travel. We're an
online one, so I'm sure they see us as a competitor,
(07:24):
but I also think, like most businesses, we may be
an interesting investment.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So you're competing with travel agents. Why would someone choose
webjet over a travel agent?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, webjet is a travel agent. We're just an online
travel agent. And I think where people are going to
is why would I drive for twelve kilometers and then
find a park, and then wander through the moor to
find that store, and then the queue whilst there's no
one available, and then wait for a twenty two year
(07:55):
old to give my life savings for for this big
trip that I want to do.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
I don't see.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Why anyone should be doing that, Like we should all
be able to do this beautifully online in our track
your decks, sitting on our couch and curate that and
all be delivered to you automatically within five minutes rather
than sitting there waiting.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
For two hours for it to be curated.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So the way that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Technology is going, in the way that AI is being
used within that, it's just going to be the most
easiest thing to do it with your thumbs sitting on
your couch.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
So let's chat about travel. It was one of the
beliefs that people are going to continue to travel. How
are you saying that at the moment. What are the
trends happening in travel?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So it's proven to be very resilient even in this
environment where there's such a strong cost of living crisis
that's continuing amongst you know, both Australia and New Zealand
in terms of their domestic economies, and the macroeconomy certainly
isn't helping. I think the entire market is seeing a
bit of softening around retail and travels. You know, we're
(08:55):
not immune, and I think that's really starting to come
through since January this year.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
But what I like, what.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I can you know, what amazes me and when I
think about is when you look at the ABS stats
in terms of another people returning from outbound if you will,
or international trips. You know, that figure is still really
really strong. It might be softening a bit, but travel
as a percentage of discretionary spend is that its highest
(09:25):
ever percentage of all time. So you know, that's a
fascinating thing if you think about it, given we're in
a cost of living crisis. That says to me, culturally,
it's one of those shifts that's come out of COVID.
You know the old saying, you know, if it you
always want some what you can't have. I think that's
how people are thinking about travel now. These are experiences,
(09:46):
This is joy and they got taken away from you
and so people want to really really hold on too that,
you know, same as I think working from home is.
You know, it's an end built change. Now it's a
cultural change that was seeing come out of COVID. I
think prioriti travel and travel experiences is a similar long
term change.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
How do you see I guess social tourism, how does
that impact with jet and travel and how do you
how do you leverage that or do you leverage that?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I think different generations get their inspiration, you know what
I call content from different sort of places and Generation
Y and Generation Z you know who. They will plan
entire trips off TikTok. They will they will plan their weather,
going their hotels and obviously the food most important. Uh
you know, they'll plan all of that off TikTok. So
(10:37):
I think, you know, social commerce, if.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
You will, is here to stay.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
You know, it's really quite interesting our customers go across
all the generations. When I imaginally originally moved into the
role about a year ago, I was like, Oh, surely
it's more mature. We're quite even across all the age demographics.
But like every business, you need to be continuing to
grow that that those younger generations. So I see our
role as connecting with content providers social media and different
(11:06):
ways to you know, to interact with our customers across
social media, and that's our role, be there when they're
ready to execute.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Do you use influences as part of your strategy?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
No, we haven't really, and it's again it's another area
that I think we will be investigating more and more
in the future. We've been highly transactional and I think
we need to move to be more relational, and that's
what our brand research told us. People know and they
love and they trust web jets. So whilst we're an
online business and everything we do is transacting online, we
(11:38):
have twenty four seven servicing, We have that that that
voice or you know, email chat, whatever you want to
do at the end of at the end of the
line when you get into trouble. And that's so much
better than something that's faceless and.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
That you don't know or you know, somebody who's booked
it for you that you can't.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Get hold of because they've got weekends, you know, online
we don't have weekends.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
We're always online.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
How about competition, So globally you've got Booking dot Com, Expedia.
How does WE'BJE stand out from the global competition.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Sure, So with the global competition, most of the big behemoths,
so Booking dot Com and Expedia et cetera, they will
start out at hotel sites and they're doing very much
for our sturategy is too, which is selling across the
cell you know, the whole travel funnel now, so and
that is very much what we're we're trying to do
as well. The only difference is I don't have over
(12:37):
five billion dollars marketing budget and Tina fey, although I
would like to consider myself hilarious and maybe I'll step
into our own ad, but I don't think the marketing
partner is going to let that happen. But we're not
trying to be Booking dot Com or Expedia. We're not
trying to be a big global business. We are homegrown,
twenty seven nearly years young, and we are preferred for
(13:01):
a large section Australian as Ylanders who want to be
able to transact their travel all in one spot and
know that they've got Osie your Ki business at the
backup of that, you know, with servicing in our time
zone twenty four to seven. So I think that's you
know where we want to play. That said, though allegedly
(13:21):
there is a Tina Faith who lives in Adelaide. If
you're listening, please contact me because we can't afford the
other one, but we might be able to afford you.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Last time, I think we talked about revenge travel, which
is you know what you were talking about before, when
you're told you can't do something and then you want
to go and do it. So we thought we'd better
come with a new term, pleasure. Have you heard of pleasure? Pleasure.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
You know what I've heard about pleasure. I wish I'd
spent more of my life focusing on pleasure.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I was that nerdy did the business trips and just
went there and back, you know, to dedicated, and I
really think there needs to be more pleasure in life. Yeah,
I mean it's a very I think definitely post COVID,
a real opportunity and I think with more flexible working
mindsets that employeers have, we're seeing a lot of people,
(14:09):
you know, book for their work trip and then take
a few days either side, or you know, at least
a week either side to have a holiday experience. So
definitely on the rise. I think, definitely more on the
rise coming out of COVID, and a note to self
that as an overly dedicated professional women, we should probably
(14:31):
put more pleasure in our lives.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I don't mind a bit of pleasure, which is when
you merge business and leisure. Have you seen it dropping
off with more people returning to the office.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Or we haven't really noticed that as a change.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I mean, business travel is extremely resilient and despite you know,
escalating airline pricing around Australia and New Zealand, domestically, business
travel is softer, but it's just all very, very resilient.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So what's next for the travel industry. I think you
touched on AI before. I know, last time we caught up,
you were talking about how, you know, the multi destination
stops it was being you know, you were using some
AI to harness optimization there. Do you want to talk
about those kinds of trends and what's been going on
at Webjet?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah? Sure, So.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I think our belief system is that AI is no
longer a future trend.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
It is here and it is real.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And you know, I task my team with Okay, I
want you to just think critically of every single thing
in this business that we do and see where AI
can't help on an operational basis, and I think we
use AI very well on that level. A great example
is QA or quality assurance. So with all course into agents,
you'd have someone you know, logging in and listening to
(15:53):
your cause and going, oh, sonya, that was really great.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
How when you spoke with that customer you said, X,
Y and Z next time. I think you can really
help them out a little bit more by doing ABC
so as a coaching formula. So now we just have
AI listen to it processes and summarize it up and
send that to the agent.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
So operationally we use it really well.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Where we're doing lots of thinking right now is how
do we take it to that next level? You know,
I always used to say do you build it, buy
it or borrow it? Now it's built it by borrow
or bot it, So you know, really thinking about how
we use it within our strategy. And I think how
people curate any aspect of their life and any purchasing
(16:39):
decision is going to be fully informed by AI in
the future. And what AI does need though is brands.
So if we can put the bot and the brand together,
I think that is really a secure future for businesses
that could be dismediated by any amount of sort of
AI technology that's being developed right now.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
How are you finding that kind of transition or change
as you lead the company?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Look, I think any transformation is really difficult. Change is difficult.
As humans, we don't actually like it. We're naturally creatures
of repeat, So change in transformation is really difficult. And
I think we're walking along a strong line of transformation
and Webjet. You know, we're twenty seven years young, and
as part of the broader group, it was a consistent
(17:29):
performer that didn't have a heap of investment. Now where
we've pulled that out, we've got of its own dedicated board,
its own dedicated balance sheet, and you know, some stronger
I guess additions coming into the business in terms of transformation,
and we're asking a lot of the business and that's
(17:51):
to you know, really go on a process of evolution.
But you know, please to say my business is you know,
really starting to evolve and adapt really really well.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
When you think for the next five years, you know,
any other challenges or opportunities impacting your industry.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I think, you know, one key challenge will be level
of competition domestically for airlines. I'll be really interested to
see where that evolves to given we've lost Tiger, bondser
and Rex in the last you know, a couple of years.
So I think that'll be interesting to see how that evolves.
And I think AI and how it evolves in terms
(18:29):
of how it helps people curate plan book is the
sort of key trend that we're really watching. But for us,
specifically for Webjit for the next five years, we've outlaid
our plan now It's a very clear and robust strategy
and now we are one hundred percent focused on executing it.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
There's a lot of other noise, but the most.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Important thing I have seen in my time in terms
of delivering value for your shareholders, whoever they are, is
about really focusing on your strategy and just delivering that.
So what is what's coming next, Well, there's the relaunch
of the brand that'll be some time later in this year.
(19:13):
At the same time, we'll relaunch our packages and tours offering.
So we're partnering with some great organizations such as Intrepid
and a travel corporation to add flights, package and tours
together to create a unique content, unique package, so we'll
be delivering that. We are looking at developing our own
(19:33):
loyalty program to create that real stickiness with our customers,
keep them coming back and reward them for doing so.
So we're currently very early stages but developing out our
loyalty strategy. And I guess the last piece is business travel.
We talked about a little bit leisure, business and leisure.
We talked a little bit about that before, but we
are we learned in our big strategy search last year
(19:56):
that we're actually by default a corporate travel advisor. People
love webjit for really transparency around fees and transparency around
that I'm getting the best price on that flight. And
the third thing, they love our mix and match matrix
where you can fly up with one airline and fly
back with another, getting that on one ticket, and most
(20:18):
airlines won't offer that, they won't offer their competition to you,
and we put that together for people. So it turns
out and smaller than medium sized businesses, they really appreciate
that transparency and the ability to deliver great you know,
ticket pricing and great travel expenses through.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
To their CFO.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
So we want to We've spoken to a lot of
those customers understand what are their two other three three
things that they really need to you know, sort of
us to become their preferred corporate travel provider or for
us to retract other customers in the small to medium
sized enterprise area. So we've developed out that strategy and
(20:58):
we look forward to sort of launching that as well.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Well.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And so is there anything you know You've obviously got
shareholders through the shares these platform, what's one thing you'd
like your shareholders to know?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
I think I said it at a on stage in
an ASEX conference very recently. I think we're the best
stock on the AX right now.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Do you believe in travel? Yes? Do you believe everything's
going to go online? Yes?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
And I think we're training at a significant discount to
our potential. So that's one thing, And the second thing
I'd say is thank you for those who are investing
in us. We believe this is you know, this incredible
value in this business, and myself and the team look
forward to delivering it for you.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Is there anything we haven't talked about today that you
wanted to cover?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
We came out and we announced our dividend policy last week,
so really pleased that will be delivering dividends from f
I twenty six, will do a special at the half,
so that's a pretty exciting. People have been after that
for a while. And we'll continue to update in terms
of the strategy is going and how we're moving forward
and our ambitions to be to capture more of the
(22:05):
travel wallet and to move into new customer basis like
the business one. So we look forward to updating our
shareholders on that journey.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Do you have a favorite quote or piece of business
advice that keeps you going as a leader, or that
you really like.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, I think one of them that I've always have
in the back of my mind is like, don't take
it personally. And where that comes from is a book
that a mentor gave me really early on. Now I'm
going to get the author's name right, but I think
it's Don Miguel Ruiz or something. To look it up, everybody,
And it's called the Four Agreements. It's like a bite sized,
tiny book and it's just like rules for how to live.
(22:43):
And the first one is don't take it personally. So
so often you everyone thinks that things are all about
them and it's not. The next one is don't make assumptions.
So so often people fall into the trap of making
assumptions or they assume negative or you know, just don't
do those assumptions.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Be impeccable with your word. How good is that for
a rule than life?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
You know, so often today in a world of fake
news and mere puffery and say whatever you can, there's
no facts anymore. Being impeccable with your word, I think
is you know, an old fashioned pillar that I love
to subscribe to. And the last one is just do
your best. Sounds like your mum's saying something to you.
But I think you know, all we can hope for
is do your best. So that's a book I give
(23:26):
my team. So at the moment, I, you know, always
like to have you draw on those four agreements if
you will, four agreement with yourself whenever I whenever I need.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
It's like a little pocket full of wisdom.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Thanks Heep for joining us today, Katrina. You are so welcome,
so good to chat a year on or almost a
year on indeed, and no shortage of things happening during
that year. No, it's all excitement and thanks everyone for
tuning in. You can what Shared Lunch on YouTube or
any of your favorite podcast apps. Leave a comment about
what you'd like to hear about next Catch you next time.
(24:00):
A sustrans stands
Welcome to Shared Lunch, brought to you by chairs Eas
at Chareza's are on a mission to create financial empowerment
for everyone. I'm Sonya Williams, Coco and co founder at
chairs EA's, and today we are diving into the business
of travel. Talking to CEO of Webjet Group, Katrina Barry.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Travel as a percentage of discretionary spend is that its
highest ever percentage of all time.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
To talk about the future of Webjet and the future.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Of travel, Generation Y, Generation Z they will plan and
tire trips off TikTok. I think we use AI very well.
As you say, do you build it, buy it or
borrow it? Now it's built it by borrow.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Or bot it.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Webjet has also been in the spotlight lately following its
recent takeover. Bit Before we get started, there's important information
you should always consider.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Investing involves the risk you might lose the money you
start with. We recommend talking to a licensed financial advisor.
We also recommend reading product disclosure documents before deciding to invest.
Everything you're about to see and hear is current at
the time of recording.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
We'd like to acknowledge the gadagaul people of the or
nation where we're recording from today and pay respects to
elders past and present. Welcome Katrina, Hello son, You're lovely
to be here, Lovely to have you back.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, I know, it's been a while.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I know, And so we spoke last September and was
just going through the d merger. What's been happening since then?
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Oh, well, I haven't been bored, let me tell you that.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
So on the first of October we got the final
sign through of the merger and I guess what we've
been up to as a team since then is we
decided to take a big, hard, honest, clear.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Eyed look at ourselves.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
So we did a big strategy piece working through I
guess where is everything going and travel with everything going
in tech agentic AI, where is it all leading us to?
So that included a lot of numerical stuff but also
really exciting brand research and coming off the back of that,
we've laid out our plan now. So now we have
a very clear and robust strategy to double our ttv
(02:02):
SO from one point six to three point two billion
over the next five years.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
And last time we talked about I mean, you're from
an amazing retail background. We talked about the brand maybe
getting a bit of a glow up. How's that eventuated?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
So look is going really well. So we did the
brand research.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
We spoke about three and a half thousand Strands and
Kiwis and you know, wanted to get their take on
the entire travel landscape from not just our brand, but
all of our competitive brands. And we looked into and
you know, really went deep on the data and their
preferences in their thinking on each of those three and
a half thousand customers their last three transaction. So that's
(02:41):
a big body of data and understanding of the industry.
So we took that the keiso what's from us?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
For us?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
From that was seventy three percent of strands and Keywi's
no and love and trust Webjet. So I think that
was our hypothesis, but it's great to have that confirmed.
And they said to us, you know, key insights such
as you know what I know you guys for flights.
I didn't realize you did other stuff, but it'd be
great if I could do all of my travel planning
(03:10):
with you. So that's led to a corporal of our
strategy in terms of us really starting to re emphasize
our solutions around hotels, around stays, around tours and packages,
et cetera that we're now sort of leaning into. So
it was really a deep piece of work. Off the
back of that, it's also informed the aesthetic, so the
(03:32):
look and the feel and how that translates into user experience.
So the glow ups coming along very nicely and we're
really looking forward to launching that to the Aussie and
Keywi public and the second half of this year.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Any kind of hints at what that might be taking
shape into or the Zene the secrets.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
The thing that came back to us really strongly was
this is the brand that Astraans and New Zealanders resonate
with and they trust it. And what we don't want
to change that, don't want to revolutionize it.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
It's about evolution.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
So I think the key thing is just spanking it
really fresh, contemporary and irrelevant and that's what you'll see.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Yeah, and you've also had some interesting stuff happen that
has been in the headlines with BGH Capital recently trying
to make a takeover bid. What can you tell us
about this?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Sure, Well, there's not much I can I can share
with you, To be honest, you know, with subject to
Act disclosures on this, but what I can tell you is,
you know.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I think this is not unexpected in my view.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
I think people are waking up to what ourselves at
Webjet and our board have known for a long time,
which is this this stock w j L is training
at a significant discount to its potential and to the
fact that it prints off a very very strong IBIDA
every year. We just closed out our annual results and.
Speaker 3 (04:57):
We delivered.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
EBITDA for the whole group of thirty nine point four
million dollars with no debt and a very strong balance
shed one hundred and eighteen million dollars. So I think
people are looking at that. They see a consistent business
that you know, princes of Ebida every year, that is
the leader in online travel space. And I think they're
going to see what we think, which is a significant
(05:21):
potential in this business and we're only just getting started.
The point of the merger was to allow the former
Webjet Limited business to split into a B to B
division and a B two C division, and the objective
of that was to allow both businesses to focus on
their unique customers and challenges. And this is a business
(05:43):
that you only have to believe in two things if
you think it's it's got the right to win. The
first one is do you think people are going to
continue to travel? I think there's an obvious answer to that.
For Austraands in New Zealanders, we are intrepid folk and
we're always going to go and see the world. And
the next piece you need to believe is do you
(06:05):
believe that every retail category is going to continue to
go online and that tech and AI is going to
enable that. You know, for me, I'm being focused most
of my career on e commerce, so I believe that's
a strong yes to that. We're significantly underpenetrated for the
sale of travel online in Australia New Zealand than we
(06:27):
are overseas, so there's a nice little tail in there.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
That we've got in built growth to go.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
So I think what the market is doing is realizing
business with significant potential. The fundamentals are there in terms
of this is a well known brand, strong awareness, strong trust.
This category, like most retail categories, is going to continue
to grow online. So it's got a very nice set
(06:53):
of sundamentals and I think that's why we're getting a
bit of attention.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
And speaking of that attention, Hello World, which aren't they
competed of yours have bought a steak and Webjet group.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
You know, the travel industry is famous for understanding travel
and value amongst its peer group, and Hello World is
you know one of our competitors. There are bricks and
mortar or a storefront form of distributing travel. We're an
online one, so I'm sure they see us as a competitor,
(07:24):
but I also think, like most businesses, we may be
an interesting investment.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So you're competing with travel agents. Why would someone choose
webjet over a travel agent?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, webjet is a travel agent. We're just an online
travel agent. And I think where people are going to
is why would I drive for twelve kilometers and then
find a park, and then wander through the moor to
find that store, and then the queue whilst there's no
one available, and then wait for a twenty two year
(07:55):
old to give my life savings for for this big
trip that I want to do.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
I don't see.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Why anyone should be doing that, Like we should all
be able to do this beautifully online in our track
your decks, sitting on our couch and curate that and
all be delivered to you automatically within five minutes rather
than sitting there waiting.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
For two hours for it to be curated.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So the way that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Technology is going, in the way that AI is being
used within that, it's just going to be the most
easiest thing to do it with your thumbs sitting on
your couch.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
So let's chat about travel. It was one of the
beliefs that people are going to continue to travel. How
are you saying that at the moment. What are the
trends happening in travel?
Speaker 2 (08:34):
So it's proven to be very resilient even in this
environment where there's such a strong cost of living crisis
that's continuing amongst you know, both Australia and New Zealand
in terms of their domestic economies, and the macroeconomy certainly
isn't helping. I think the entire market is seeing a
bit of softening around retail and travels. You know, we're
(08:55):
not immune, and I think that's really starting to come
through since January this year.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
But what I like, what.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
I can you know, what amazes me and when I
think about is when you look at the ABS stats
in terms of another people returning from outbound if you will,
or international trips. You know, that figure is still really
really strong. It might be softening a bit, but travel
as a percentage of discretionary spend is that its highest
(09:25):
ever percentage of all time. So you know, that's a
fascinating thing if you think about it, given we're in
a cost of living crisis. That says to me, culturally,
it's one of those shifts that's come out of COVID.
You know the old saying, you know, if it you
always want some what you can't have. I think that's
how people are thinking about travel now. These are experiences,
(09:46):
This is joy and they got taken away from you
and so people want to really really hold on too that,
you know, same as I think working from home is.
You know, it's an end built change. Now it's a
cultural change that was seeing come out of COVID. I
think prioriti travel and travel experiences is a similar long
term change.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
How do you see I guess social tourism, how does
that impact with jet and travel and how do you
how do you leverage that or do you leverage that?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I think different generations get their inspiration, you know what
I call content from different sort of places and Generation
Y and Generation Z you know who. They will plan
entire trips off TikTok. They will they will plan their weather,
going their hotels and obviously the food most important. Uh
you know, they'll plan all of that off TikTok. So
(10:37):
I think, you know, social commerce, if.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
You will, is here to stay.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
You know, it's really quite interesting our customers go across
all the generations. When I imaginally originally moved into the
role about a year ago, I was like, Oh, surely
it's more mature. We're quite even across all the age demographics.
But like every business, you need to be continuing to
grow that that those younger generations. So I see our
role as connecting with content providers social media and different
(11:06):
ways to you know, to interact with our customers across
social media, and that's our role, be there when they're
ready to execute.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Do you use influences as part of your strategy?
Speaker 2 (11:17):
No, we haven't really, and it's again it's another area
that I think we will be investigating more and more
in the future. We've been highly transactional and I think
we need to move to be more relational, and that's
what our brand research told us. People know and they
love and they trust web jets. So whilst we're an
online business and everything we do is transacting online, we
(11:38):
have twenty four seven servicing, We have that that that
voice or you know, email chat, whatever you want to
do at the end of at the end of the
line when you get into trouble. And that's so much
better than something that's faceless and.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
That you don't know or you know, somebody who's booked
it for you that you can't.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Get hold of because they've got weekends, you know, online
we don't have weekends.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
We're always online.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
How about competition, So globally you've got Booking dot Com, Expedia.
How does WE'BJE stand out from the global competition.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Sure, So with the global competition, most of the big behemoths,
so Booking dot Com and Expedia et cetera, they will
start out at hotel sites and they're doing very much
for our sturategy is too, which is selling across the
cell you know, the whole travel funnel now, so and
that is very much what we're we're trying to do
as well. The only difference is I don't have over
(12:37):
five billion dollars marketing budget and Tina fey, although I
would like to consider myself hilarious and maybe I'll step
into our own ad, but I don't think the marketing
partner is going to let that happen. But we're not
trying to be Booking dot Com or Expedia. We're not
trying to be a big global business. We are homegrown,
twenty seven nearly years young, and we are preferred for
(13:01):
a large section Australian as Ylanders who want to be
able to transact their travel all in one spot and
know that they've got Osie your Ki business at the
backup of that, you know, with servicing in our time
zone twenty four to seven. So I think that's you
know where we want to play. That said, though allegedly
(13:21):
there is a Tina Faith who lives in Adelaide. If
you're listening, please contact me because we can't afford the
other one, but we might be able to afford you.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Last time, I think we talked about revenge travel, which
is you know what you were talking about before, when
you're told you can't do something and then you want
to go and do it. So we thought we'd better
come with a new term, pleasure. Have you heard of pleasure? Pleasure.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
You know what I've heard about pleasure. I wish I'd
spent more of my life focusing on pleasure.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I was that nerdy did the business trips and just
went there and back, you know, to dedicated, and I
really think there needs to be more pleasure in life. Yeah,
I mean it's a very I think definitely post COVID,
a real opportunity and I think with more flexible working
mindsets that employeers have, we're seeing a lot of people,
(14:09):
you know, book for their work trip and then take
a few days either side, or you know, at least
a week either side to have a holiday experience. So
definitely on the rise. I think, definitely more on the
rise coming out of COVID, and a note to self
that as an overly dedicated professional women, we should probably
(14:31):
put more pleasure in our lives.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I don't mind a bit of pleasure, which is when
you merge business and leisure. Have you seen it dropping
off with more people returning to the office.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
Or we haven't really noticed that as a change.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
I mean, business travel is extremely resilient and despite you know,
escalating airline pricing around Australia and New Zealand, domestically, business
travel is softer, but it's just all very, very resilient.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
So what's next for the travel industry. I think you
touched on AI before. I know, last time we caught up,
you were talking about how, you know, the multi destination
stops it was being you know, you were using some
AI to harness optimization there. Do you want to talk
about those kinds of trends and what's been going on
at Webjet?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah? Sure, So.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
I think our belief system is that AI is no
longer a future trend.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
It is here and it is real.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And you know, I task my team with Okay, I
want you to just think critically of every single thing
in this business that we do and see where AI
can't help on an operational basis, and I think we
use AI very well on that level. A great example
is QA or quality assurance. So with all course into agents,
you'd have someone you know, logging in and listening to
(15:53):
your cause and going, oh, sonya, that was really great.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
How when you spoke with that customer you said, X,
Y and Z next time. I think you can really
help them out a little bit more by doing ABC
so as a coaching formula. So now we just have
AI listen to it processes and summarize it up and
send that to the agent.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
So operationally we use it really well.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Where we're doing lots of thinking right now is how
do we take it to that next level? You know,
I always used to say do you build it, buy
it or borrow it? Now it's built it by borrow
or bot it, So you know, really thinking about how
we use it within our strategy. And I think how
people curate any aspect of their life and any purchasing
(16:39):
decision is going to be fully informed by AI in
the future. And what AI does need though is brands.
So if we can put the bot and the brand together,
I think that is really a secure future for businesses
that could be dismediated by any amount of sort of
AI technology that's being developed right now.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
How are you finding that kind of transition or change
as you lead the company?
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Look, I think any transformation is really difficult. Change is difficult.
As humans, we don't actually like it. We're naturally creatures
of repeat, So change in transformation is really difficult. And
I think we're walking along a strong line of transformation
and Webjet. You know, we're twenty seven years young, and
as part of the broader group, it was a consistent
(17:29):
performer that didn't have a heap of investment. Now where
we've pulled that out, we've got of its own dedicated board,
its own dedicated balance sheet, and you know, some stronger
I guess additions coming into the business in terms of transformation,
and we're asking a lot of the business and that's
(17:51):
to you know, really go on a process of evolution.
But you know, please to say my business is you know,
really starting to evolve and adapt really really well.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
When you think for the next five years, you know,
any other challenges or opportunities impacting your industry.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
I think, you know, one key challenge will be level
of competition domestically for airlines. I'll be really interested to
see where that evolves to given we've lost Tiger, bondser
and Rex in the last you know, a couple of years.
So I think that'll be interesting to see how that evolves.
And I think AI and how it evolves in terms
(18:29):
of how it helps people curate plan book is the
sort of key trend that we're really watching. But for us,
specifically for Webjit for the next five years, we've outlaid
our plan now It's a very clear and robust strategy
and now we are one hundred percent focused on executing it.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
There's a lot of other noise, but the most.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Important thing I have seen in my time in terms
of delivering value for your shareholders, whoever they are, is
about really focusing on your strategy and just delivering that.
So what is what's coming next, Well, there's the relaunch
of the brand that'll be some time later in this year.
(19:13):
At the same time, we'll relaunch our packages and tours offering.
So we're partnering with some great organizations such as Intrepid
and a travel corporation to add flights, package and tours
together to create a unique content, unique package, so we'll
be delivering that. We are looking at developing our own
(19:33):
loyalty program to create that real stickiness with our customers,
keep them coming back and reward them for doing so.
So we're currently very early stages but developing out our
loyalty strategy. And I guess the last piece is business travel.
We talked about a little bit leisure, business and leisure.
We talked a little bit about that before, but we
are we learned in our big strategy search last year
(19:56):
that we're actually by default a corporate travel advisor. People
love webjit for really transparency around fees and transparency around
that I'm getting the best price on that flight. And
the third thing, they love our mix and match matrix
where you can fly up with one airline and fly
back with another, getting that on one ticket, and most
(20:18):
airlines won't offer that, they won't offer their competition to you,
and we put that together for people. So it turns
out and smaller than medium sized businesses, they really appreciate
that transparency and the ability to deliver great you know,
ticket pricing and great travel expenses through.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
To their CFO.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
So we want to We've spoken to a lot of
those customers understand what are their two other three three
things that they really need to you know, sort of
us to become their preferred corporate travel provider or for
us to retract other customers in the small to medium
sized enterprise area. So we've developed out that strategy and
(20:58):
we look forward to sort of launching that as well.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Well.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
And so is there anything you know You've obviously got
shareholders through the shares these platform, what's one thing you'd
like your shareholders to know?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
I think I said it at a on stage in
an ASEX conference very recently. I think we're the best
stock on the AX right now.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
Do you believe in travel? Yes? Do you believe everything's
going to go online? Yes?
Speaker 2 (21:22):
And I think we're training at a significant discount to
our potential. So that's one thing, And the second thing
I'd say is thank you for those who are investing
in us. We believe this is you know, this incredible
value in this business, and myself and the team look
forward to delivering it for you.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Is there anything we haven't talked about today that you
wanted to cover?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
We came out and we announced our dividend policy last week,
so really pleased that will be delivering dividends from f
I twenty six, will do a special at the half,
so that's a pretty exciting. People have been after that
for a while. And we'll continue to update in terms
of the strategy is going and how we're moving forward
and our ambitions to be to capture more of the
(22:05):
travel wallet and to move into new customer basis like
the business one. So we look forward to updating our
shareholders on that journey.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Do you have a favorite quote or piece of business
advice that keeps you going as a leader, or that
you really like.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, I think one of them that I've always have
in the back of my mind is like, don't take
it personally. And where that comes from is a book
that a mentor gave me really early on. Now I'm
going to get the author's name right, but I think
it's Don Miguel Ruiz or something. To look it up, everybody,
And it's called the Four Agreements. It's like a bite sized,
tiny book and it's just like rules for how to live.
(22:43):
And the first one is don't take it personally. So
so often you everyone thinks that things are all about
them and it's not. The next one is don't make assumptions.
So so often people fall into the trap of making
assumptions or they assume negative or you know, just don't
do those assumptions.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Be impeccable with your word. How good is that for
a rule than life?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
You know, so often today in a world of fake
news and mere puffery and say whatever you can, there's
no facts anymore. Being impeccable with your word, I think
is you know, an old fashioned pillar that I love
to subscribe to. And the last one is just do
your best. Sounds like your mum's saying something to you.
But I think you know, all we can hope for
is do your best. So that's a book I give
(23:26):
my team. So at the moment, I, you know, always
like to have you draw on those four agreements if
you will, four agreement with yourself whenever I whenever I need.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
It's like a little pocket full of wisdom.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Thanks Heep for joining us today, Katrina. You are so welcome,
so good to chat a year on or almost a
year on indeed, and no shortage of things happening during
that year. No, it's all excitement and thanks everyone for
tuning in. You can what Shared Lunch on YouTube or
any of your favorite podcast apps. Leave a comment about
what you'd like to hear about next Catch you next time.
(24:00):
A sustrans stands
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