Turning Travelers Stories Into Assets with Pinerary

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The travel industry creates an incredible amount of content, yet some of its most valuable stories are never shared. In this Company Spotlight, Dan sits down with Annie Pezza, Founder and CEO of Pinerary, to explore why travel doesn't have a content problem, it has a capture problem, and what brands are missing when travelers' experiences disappear into camera rolls and social feeds.

The conversation goes beyond where people stayed or what they did to uncover what really makes travel memorable: the moments that surprise us, change our perspective, and inspire us to return. Annie explains how Pinerary helps travelers preserve those experiences through shareable itineraries while giving travel brands access to authentic stories that build trust, inspire future bookings, and continue delivering value long after a trip has ended.

We also explore the evolving role of user-generated content, why authentic traveler stories have become one of the most powerful forms of marketing, and how AI can help organize and surface those stories without replacing the human experiences behind them.

Whether you're a destination, hotel, tour operator, or technology provider, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on how capturing and sharing real traveler experiences can strengthen trust, influence future bookings, and create value long after the trip is over.

Learn more pinerary.com.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Travel
Trends Podcast, the number oneB2B podcast globally, where we
bring you the leaders,innovators, and ideas shaping
the future of our industry.
And as always, I'm your host,Dan Christian.
And today we have a very specialspotlight episode for you.
My guest today is Annie Peza.
She is the founder and CEO ofPinnerary, a travel community

(00:26):
platform where real travelersshare their lived itineraries,
preserve their memories, andinspire each other's next trips.
But what makes Pinneryespecially interesting for
everyone listening is what itunlocks for travel brands, a way
to capture the authentic storiesthat travelers are already
creating, building genuinecommunity around those
experiences and turning fleetingmoments into evergreen content

(00:47):
that keeps driving bookings longafter the trip ends.
Now, I met Annie at Focus Righta couple of years ago.
She was on an event spotlightepisode, and I was so impressed
with what she and her team havebeen building that we have
continued to cross paths.
Pinneruri is actually part ofour summit in October.
And it was awesome to havePinnerari on the New York Times

(01:10):
Billboard.
The New York it was awesome tohave Pinnerari featured with us
on the Times Square billboard.
And I'm so excited to have thisconversation with her today to
discuss what they have beenbuilding.
So, Annie, on that note, welcometo the Travel Trends Podcast.
Great to have you with us.

SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
Dan, thank you so much for having me today.
And yes, that was a veryexciting moment to see you up on
that billboard and also to seeus with some other incredible
companies as well up there inTimes Square.
That was that was a prettyincredible moment.
So we loved it.

SPEAKER_00 (01:42):
I loved your comment too, because I when I shared it,
I had highlighted I wasemotional and you replied back
to say, I'm emotional too.

SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Yes, I was.
I was.
I mean, seriously, you work hardto build something.
And then, you know, to see, youknow, yourself up there in front
of so many people, it's it'spretty special.
And like, you know, what you'vebuilt, you know, you understand
that feeling.

SPEAKER_00 (02:02):
So that's very kind of you.
And likewise, yeah.
I mean, it's wonderful to seeour brands up in lights in New
York City and specifically tohave Pinnery as part of that,
because obviously what we wantto do with those are podcasts
and our event is to be able tobring together the most
innovative and interesting uhbusinesses in our industry that
everyone should know about.
And I you know, when I met you,it what really stood out to me

(02:24):
was you were building somethingreally unique, really
compelling.
And I've since become active onPinnery.
I've got a lot of other friends.
I've seen you go from strengthto strength over the last couple
of years at um with variouspartnerships and at other
conferences.
So uh I really wanted to bringthis spotlight episode together
for all of our listeners tobetter understand Pinnerary and
what you've built, but also as asegue to being part of our

(02:45):
summit in October so that peoplewill learn about you now, see
you at the event.
Um, but for those of ourlisteners who are not familiar
with Pinnerary, tell us a littlebit about the company you've
built and the problem that youset out to solve for travel
brands.

SPEAKER_01 (02:57):
Sure.
Um, so we are a community wheretravelers preserve, organize,
and share their trusted traveljourneys.
We transform those experiencesinto structured, shareable
stories that help futuretravelers make better decisions.
And for travel brands, thosesame stories become something

(03:18):
incredibly valuable.
And that's authentic guestexperiences that build trust,
inspire discovery, and continueto influence bookings long after
checkout.
So I like to say that traveldoesn't have a content problem,
it has a capture problem.
And there are experiences,incredible experiences happening
every day all around the world,every single minute.

(03:39):
And we're just trying to makesure that those don't disappear.

SPEAKER_00 (03:42):
That's great.
And for those of you listeningto this that are multitasking,
it's Pinnorary.com, soP-I-N-E-R-A-R-Y.com.
And it's free to join theirtravel community.
So you can, as you are, forthose of you who are not driving
or currently folding laundry orwhatever you're doing while
you're listening to thispodcast, um, if you're on your
computer, which many of ourlisteners are, obviously you can

(04:02):
jump on and uh check outPinnerary.com and also create a
profile, and that's where itreally comes to life.
But tell us a little bit aboutthe origin story of this, Annie.
Clearly, you are an avidtraveler and you, you know,
you're based in Chicago.
Um, tell us a little bit moreabout your background and what
inspired you to start Pinnery inthe first place.

SPEAKER_01 (04:21):
Sure.
Um, you know, I am a travelerfirst, and I think some of the
most exciting businesses arewhere someone was genuinely in
the thick of things.
They were in the trenches, andthey were sort of a little bit
outside of the industry, andthey could really have clarity
and see, see a problem.
Um, and that's that's, you know,I think the gift of of Pinnery.

(04:45):
But I I travel because Igenuinely love understanding a
place.
I'm obsessed with culture.
I love noticing the differencesin priorities of different
cultures.
My goal always with travel is tocome back enlightened.
I love, I love taking thoselearnings and applying it to my
life.
I think that travel has so muchpower to make the world better.

(05:08):
Um, I also love travel becauseof connection.
I it's the best way that I canconnect with my family, my
friends, and also myself.
So, first of all, that's that'swhere I start.
Um, but this is why a handful ofyears ago, I was so excited when
my husband was taking an MBAcourse in Lisbon.
And um we had five days up untilhis his class to spend as a

(05:32):
family in Lisbon, Portugal.
We pulled the kids out of schoolbecause again, I I'd heard so
much about this culture um thatthat there's just Portugal is
special.
It's it's an ordinary,beautiful, rich European
country, and I wanted my kids toexperience this.
Um so I needed to be really onpoint with with planning the

(05:52):
travel, right?
Um, and and what had bothered meabout the whole thing was what
had been bothering me for a longtime.
It wasn't that there was a lackof information.
It was just that there was toomuch information.
It was fragmented.
You know, I was I was pullinginformation from so many
different sources, and the bestinformation that I was finding
was from real people.

(06:14):
And then I just rememberthinking, why is the most
valuable travel informationstill trapped inside of people's
heads?
We have incredible technology,you know, AI can answer almost,
you know, any question.
We can book thingsinstantaneously, but the richest
travel knowledge, theexperiences people have actually

(06:34):
lived, um, are not beingrecorded.
They're not being preserved.
They largely disappear.
So, you know, that reallyfrustrated me.
Um, so I I originally launchedPennery as a solution to this
problem for travelers.
That's the problem that I wantedto solve.
But I've also always been drawnto boutique, small luxury,

(06:55):
independent experiential stays.
I naturally seek out these kindsof um places to stay because
they're so rooted in adestination.
They have personality and theycreate those experiences that
that people talk about foryears.
And in the early days ofPennery, you know, a lot of our
stories happen to feature thosekinds of destinations.
And it's funny, people startedcoming to us and saying, you

(07:18):
know, I want to stay in thatexact room with that perfect
view of the Duomo in Milan.
You know, I'm I want to takethat same tuk-tuc tour in Paris.
Um, and I want my tour guide tobe Bryce, the friendly Parisian.
So, you know, and and but butwhat's really true is that these
type of boutique, experiential,you know, properties, small

(07:39):
luxury hotels, they struggle tostand out in in their marketing
against these huge budgets thatthese bigger hotel chains have.
And they work so hard to createthe create these, you know,
unforgettable guest experiences.
And what's really sad is thatwhen the guests check out, the
stories largely disappear.
So that's that's when the biggerpicture really clicked for me.

(08:00):
And it's we weren't just solvinga traveler problem, we were
solving a travel industryproblem.
Um, you know, we realized wecould help properties like
boutique hotels tell their storythrough the people that tell it
the best, and that's the guest.
So again, content is beingcreated every single day.
We we just want to give it ahum.

SPEAKER_00 (08:20):
Well, and I want to get into this missing layer of
travel content that I think iswhat is really unique about
pinnery and uh how you serveyour community and your
partners.
And I think this is where mostof our listeners are certainly
familiar with storytelling andcommunity when it comes to
travel, because that's obviouslythe intersection uh where uh
pinnery exists.
And I mean, for most of us thathave been traveling

(08:41):
pre-internet, um, we knew whatthe experience was like when
someone took photos and got themdeveloped and came home and
shared photos.
I still remember when I wasworking at Lonely Planet, there
were digital cameras at thetime, but um uh Tony Wheeler had
come back from his trip to visitthe Axis of Evil.
He'd gone visit um during um thethat particularly challenging
geopolitical time.
He had gone to Iraq and Iran andto North Korea, and he brought

(09:03):
back photos and shared them inthe uh the lunchroom with
everyone in the boardroom, andwe all went there at lunch to
see his photos.
And that same concept obviouslyexists for um what inspires
people to travel.
Someone comes back and they tellstories and they connect with
their community.
But one of the things I think isreally interesting about what
you're building is the idea ofum a lasting community where

(09:24):
that content remains relevantbecause I can certainly also
attest to the fact that in mytime at Lonely Planet, so many
people were using the ThorntreeForum, which was a very simple
bulletin board forum.
The name Thorntree,interestingly, for those people
who want to do a trivia, camefrom a hostel in Africa, and
they loved the, they was a veryactive hostel board.
Um, and they ended up calling itThorntree for the exact same

(09:45):
reason is that travelers theywant to share tips, they want to
connect with each other, andthey're like, and so it was one
of the most active travelcommunities, even though it was
just a very basic bulletinboard, that people loved the
Thorntree Forum.
And all of my years at these,you know, G Adventures, the
travel corporation, working onwebsites and trying to build the
community layer within that, itwould always amaze me how many

(10:05):
people are using those tools tofind out who's gonna be on their
trip and I'm more about them.
Like people, there's a there's acontinued need for community.
But let's let's specificallylook at the problem that you
then solve, which is, and youjust said it, which is when the
experience is over, the tripends.
You know, someone now has gonefrom you know taking those
pictures, bringing them home anddeveloping them, they now are

(10:26):
posting them in real time, as weall know, and that's what
inspiring people.
But once that moment ofinspiration has come and gone,
they're back from their trip,they've already posted
everything.
Tell everyone about what it isthat you're doing differently
when it comes to you know,travel companies spending an
enormous amount of time creatingthese experiences, travelers are
capturing them, but then it'skind of over.
How do you make sure that withPinnery that conversation

(10:48):
continues?

SPEAKER_01 (10:48):
Absolutely.
So, I mean, you really hit onsomething you mentioned,
storytelling, and it it is such,you know, a natural human
behavior.
Um, and and also you talkedabout community, and I think
people want to share, peoplewant to be generous, especially
in travel.
People want to help othertravelers.
So it's it is really incrediblyimportant.

(11:10):
You know, people um don't pullout an itinerary and read hotel
reviews to their friends.
They share these incredibly richstories.
Um, and and that's really how wenaturally share travel.
We don't remember our vacationsas a series of transactions.
We remember those moments that,you know, surprised us, that
moved us, that made us laugh,that, you know, made us, you

(11:33):
know, see a place differently.
Um and and those are the storiesthat inspire someone else to go.
And and that's where becomecommunity becomes very
important.
You know, I've I've heard peoplesay travel communities don't
work.
I think that um travelcommunities struggle when
they're trying to become anothersocial network.

(11:53):
Uh, you know, we're not askingsomeone to create a new
behavior.
We're just we're just giving ahome um to one that already
exists.
People want to share, peoplewant to be a part of a
community.

SPEAKER_00 (12:06):
Give us an example of some of the stories that are
getting lost.
And I think that's alsosomething that's interesting
that I find that Pinterest, youknow, we we both have uh kids
when we travel.
We obviously love traveling withour families and our kids.
And like, so obviously wecherish some of those memories
and they come up on our phoneand you're like, oh my God, I
need another trip, or likeyou're like, oh my God, the kids
have gone so much older.

(12:26):
Um you're like, we need we needto do another holiday before
they grow up.
No.

unknown (12:31):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (12:32):
So tell us what what kind of stories are you seeing
when you're working with brandsto help them capture these
stories?
Um, what are some of the thingsyou see that are getting lost
today that are some of the moreeffective content that you can
help kind of resurface orreposition so that it is, it is,
it maintains its value.

SPEAKER_01 (12:49):
Absolutely.
And that's such a good questionbecause you know, there are the
important parts of the storythat are getting lost.
Um it's it's a you know, thereally the information that um
we want as travelers.
It's I'm not talking about wheresomeone stayed either.
It's and we know what restaurantthey visited.
And of course, those those aresuper important.

(13:09):
Um, but what what we really wantto know is why that experience
mattered.
Um, it's it's why did theyextend their stay by two days?
And and why are they alreadyplanning to go back?
It's it's the why.
I think that the hospitalityindustry has become really,
really good at understandingguests before they arrive,
their, you know, preferenceprofiles, you know, pre-arrival

(13:32):
emails, CRM systems, predictivetechnology.
That's really valuable.
But but the richest insight, itcomes after the experience.
It's it's the guests saying, youknow, here's what surprised me,
here's what made this placespecial.
You know, the the conciergereally understood our family and
and knew my daughter lovedprincesses and so, you know,

(13:55):
directed us to, you know, thisestate where, you know, such and
such princess, you know, lived.
And um, so, you know, these arethe the moments and and the
things that make our our trip somemorable.
And that's what needs to becaptured.
You know, that's informationthat that no survey can capture.

(14:15):
Um and, you know, no star ratingcan really explain.
And those stories are sovaluable because they serve
everyone.
They help future travelers makebetter decisions, they help
brands understand what they'retruly delivering, um, but they
preserve the memories thatdeserve to last.
And it's really the why behind ajourney.

(14:36):
Um, that's the informationthat's most powerful.
It's more than the what.

SPEAKER_00 (14:40):
Well, and based on your experience building pinnary
over the last couple of years,you've obviously gained quite a
bit of uh knowledge andexperience from seeing how
people are utilizing theplatform, which is why I was
encouraging people, you know,not only to register, but also
to set up your profile andactually engage with the pinnary
community.
Because I do believe, you know,when I look at communities like
Travel Massive, and I, you know,I'm a huge fan of what Ian

(15:00):
Cumming has built with TravelMassive, and it is a very active
global community.
And I think that community in uhmore recent times has kind of
been lost.
Because I think you'reabsolutely right that most
people see community as socialnetworking, but actually it's
you know, there's a there, ifanything, we're moving into more
niche communities where we justwant to be surrounded with other
people that have like-mindedinterests.
So if you can hive around acommunity of like-minded people,

(15:22):
that's ultimately why we travelin groups too, right?
So I mean a lot of this, as yousay, is is human behavior.
So tell us what you've learned,speaking of human behavior,
about the user-generatedcontent.
Since many brands over the last10 years, let's say, have really
started to invest more ingetting their travelers to share
on their social channels, usehashtags, and cultivate UGC as

(15:42):
it's referred to, user-generatedcontent, so that they can put it
on their websites.
And I'm certainly, you know, wasa big advocate of this with
building all the travel websitesacross the travel corporation,
was making sure that we built upour social army and that we got
people active in the right wayon behalf of the brand and then
showcase that.
So when someone's trying to makea decision of whether they want
to book with a Trafalgar or anInsider Kentiki or a Uniworld,

(16:02):
then they see people having thetime of their lives.
And it's not brochure image,it's real images of recent
travelers and also diversity,all these things that all of a
sudden user-generated contentcan enable us to do well to
showcase their stories.
So tell us what you've learnedand what that would be
interesting to some of thetravel brands listening to this
so they can think differentlyabout UGC and customer

(16:24):
storytelling.

SPEAKER_01 (16:24):
Definitely.
So, I mean, I think that we havebeen undervaluing user-generated
content, and I applaud brandsfor recognizing the importance
of user-generated content.
I think that, you know, we'veused it and treated it as a
marketing tactic.
You know, it's a nice to reposton Instagram, you know, when a
guest tags your hotel.

(16:45):
But I think it's much moreimportant than that.
It's one of the most authenticexpressions of your brand that
you will ever have.
You know, a marketing team cantell me why a hotel is
wonderful.
A creator can show me beautifulimagery.
And creator content mattersabsolutely.
It has reach, it has productionvalue, and it serves a real

(17:05):
purpose.
But, you know, travelers put itin a particular bucket.
They know it's sponsored, theyappreciate it, but it's over
here.
And neither of those carry thesame weight as a guest saying,
we booked three nights and endedup saying five because we didn't
want to leave.
We could not imagine leaving.
And those aren't marketingmessages, those are proof.
And and in today's world, proofis becoming far more valuable

(17:29):
than than promotion.
And I think it's the best traveltravel marketing.
Um, it doesn't come from themarketing department, trust me.
The best marketing comes fromthe guest by far.

SPEAKER_00 (17:39):
And one of the things that you're also focused
on is making this contentevergreen.
That's something I wanted toexplore as well.
And just a bit of context, too,for our listeners.
When you think aboutuser-generated content and
social media uh activity, italmost feels like we've hit a
point of exhaustion where a lotof brands are, you know, trying
to be social for social sake.
There's various levels of umsuccess that brands have had

(18:01):
with social activity in terms ofthe strategy and uh who's
managing their channels.
But the reality is a lot of timeand effort goes into it, and
some companies struggle with it.
Then there's uh many companiesthat have been incredibly
successful.
And I feel as if there's a bitof an exhaustion uh at a time
when it actually couldn't bemore important.
I'll just share this too that Ithink will be interesting and
certainly for your business andhopefully for our listeners as

(18:23):
well, which is that I was at theTrav Media Conference earlier
this year in New York City, andthis amazing keynote speaker,
Doug Shapiro, who highlightedthe importance of user-generated
content to an audience of travelcreators and editors and
journalists.
And the example he gave is thatcurrently the revenue for
studios compared to creators is90-10.
90% goes to studios, 10% goes tocreators.

(18:45):
The reality is that 70% of thecontent we consume is studio and
30% is creator, and it'sactually going to move more to
50-50 in the next couple ofyears.
And if you look at a companylike State 22 is a good example
of a startup out of Montrealthat raised$120 million for a
minority stake in their company,that tracks with the fact that
investors are recognizing thatthis is actually only going to

(19:08):
scale in the next few years.
So that's why I'm, you know, oneof the reasons I wanted to do
the spotlight episode togetherwas to raise the awareness for
Pinnary and what you and theteam have been building, because
for anyone listening to this,thinking, oh, I've heard about
trip planning before, I've heardabout communities, how is this
different?
That's why I wanted to startwith some of the things that
I've seen that are different andis meaningful.
And one of the other things wasthe idea of evergreen content.

(19:30):
So tell us a little bit abouthow Pinnery is making
experiences evergreen and whatand what that actually means to
you.

SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
Yeah.
So um yeah, I um I think ofevergreen content as turning
fleeting moments intocompounding assets.
You know, most of this contentthat you're talking about, it
has a very short lifespan.
You know, a beautiful Instagrampost gets attention for a day or
two, and a real might performwell for a week.

(19:57):
And even the the best creatorcampaign will eventually
disappear beneath the next waveof content.
So, you know, their experiencecould have been extraordinary
and it's incredible content, butit just wasn't built to last.
A traveler story is different.
In instead of capturing a singlemoment, you preserve that entire
journey.
You know, it's the places, thepeople, the discoveries, the

(20:18):
emotions, and the context thatmade the trip meaningful.
And because it's structured andpermanent, it continues to
create value long, long afterthe trip ends.
You know, a traveler candiscover it six months from now.
Another traveler might um findit while planning next year's
vacation.
The hotel shares it withprospective guests.

(20:39):
You know, AI learns from therich context that it contains.
You know, we we've we've spentyears renting attention.
And I think the next decadebelongs to brands that that own
a growing library of authenticguest experiences.
And I like to say, you know, ifyou're working with a creator,
that's incredible.
But pair it with a pinnerary,you know, make that experience

(21:01):
evergreen so it lives.

SPEAKER_00 (21:04):
Yeah.
And I one of the things thatalso stands out that I haven't
mentioned yet is the idea ofcreating itineraries, which
obviously have lasting value.
Many tour operators that createitineraries, a lot of travelers
just go out and copy them tocreate their own personal trips.
And one of the things that I'veseen the last couple of years,
I'm sure you have as well, ispeople creating with using
Google Maps and Google Docs ofjust saying, you know, you're in

(21:24):
Chicago, I'm in Toronto.
Um, we often get always getasked about suggestions for what
to do in your, you know, yourhometown.
People are traveling here.
And rather than creating itmultiple times, you just create
one document and you just shareit with people and say, here are
the top things to do.
So people are already doingthings very similar to this with
some of the tools they haveaccess to.
Um, but tell us a little bitabout the itinerary side of the
um of Pinnery.

(21:46):
Because that that's to me, a lotof people do want to be able to
share.
This is the trip that I did afive day trip, a long weekend
trip.
Um, tell us a little bit moreabout the itineraries, how
important they are to thecommunity building and the
content you're creating.

SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
They're incredibly important.
And you know, one of the one ofthe things we used to say when
when we first launched Penarywas we're an itinerary platform,
itinerary sharing platform.
Well, no one really gets excitedand walks around saying, Oh,
I've got all of theseitineraries in my brain.
Um, but what it what they dohave is travel stories.
So, you know, simply what we'redoing is we are becoming a home

(22:23):
and a welcome place to shareyour stories and to come back to
find those trusted um, you know,stories and be inspired.
And what happens when you cometo Pinnerary and you share your
travel story?
Um, we have incredible tech thattakes your story and shares it
into this beautiful structuredtravel itinerary.

(22:45):
In in, you know, it's our ownthing.
It's a pinnery.
Um, it's it's beautiful, it'sfull of um so many details.
Again, it's not just what youdid, it's not listical, it's why
you did it.
Um, what's been really fun tosee is the evolution of the
pinneries that are being shared.
Um, you know, we are modelingSubstack in a lot of ways.

(23:09):
There are a lot of people thatcome to Pennery to really share
their travel expertise.
We have so many creators thatcome and it's it's a great way
for them to um organize and andshare with their um followers
their structured, you know,trips in a structured way.
Um, but it's also such anincredible way to feature your

(23:31):
travel style.
Um so that's really what's kindof become special about
Pinnerary.

SPEAKER_00 (23:36):
Well, the one thing I know, especially the brand
Pinnery um and Pinterest,obviously, you know, uh but in
terms of the the concept ofbeing able to pin things, uh one
of the things that stood out tome with Pinterest that was an
unrealized opportunity for a lotof brands, it was there was two
aspects to it.
One was the fact that you knowyou could essentially pin these
images, which also include greattravel images or even

(23:58):
itineraries, and that it wasvery uh female-led.
And a lot of uh, as we both knowin the travel industry, um the
females uh in the relationshiptend to make most of the the
travel decisions.
And so 80%.
There you go, exactly.
So this is not this is um I'mnot trying to make a generic
statement about men and womenhere.
I'm like this is overwhelmingevidence that women are the ones

(24:20):
that are taking the lead withtravel planning.
Um but the um the one thing Iwas gonna say is that most
travel brands struggle to figureout their kind of Pinterest
strategy.
But what's interesting beyondthe branding is the fact that
you're creating something on aplatform like with Pinterest,
but also with Pinnery, that'sdifferent than something that
has a fleeting moment like onInstagram or Facebook, because
you're creating that and it'slasting.

(24:41):
So people can then um you youcreate that once, create that
itinerary, and then people, youknow, thousands of people will
view it over time.
Um so tell us like with thatexample of you know building up
community, having people uhcontributing, creating their
pinneries.
How have you seen that influenceyou know, customer acquisition?
I know you have a number ofbrands that you've already

(25:02):
started to work with that youknow that people can directly
link through from your website.
But in terms of driving bookingactivity, that's one thing I'm
keen for you to share becauseyou know, when you sometimes
have these conversations betweensearch and social, people will
say search is intent-based andsocial is still inspirational
and doesn't always lead directlyto a booking, and it's a little
harder to track.
But I would think with whatyou've built with Pinerary, it

(25:24):
is more trackable, it is moremeasurable.
So would you mind sharing someof the things you've seen so far
from partners that have been uhengaging with you?

SPEAKER_01 (25:32):
Absolutely.
Well, I think that the thepartners realize that they're
extending um the relationshipwhen they when they um ask their
guests to share travel stories.
So, you know, today when theguest checks out, maybe they
leave a review, the relationshipslowly fades until the next
promotional email lands in theirinbox.

(25:53):
And that's even if they open it.
But when someone someone sharestheir travel experience,
something different happens.
You know, that brand becomespart of a memory that they're
proud to preserve and share.
And that's a fundamentallydifferent relationship than you
know, collecting loyalty points.
And from there, everything elsefollows naturally.
You know, future travelersdiscover these authentic

(26:14):
experiences from people thatthey trust, which helps with
customer acquisition.
The traveler stays connected tothe brand because their story
continues to just live on andinspire others, and that
strengthens loyalty.
And then when it's time to plananother trip, they're far more
likely to return to a brand thatalready feels like part of their
travel story.
Um, it's fun to work with brandsthat have numerous properties in

(26:38):
a collection because, you know,as we are still somewhat early
stage, you know, travelers arecoming to Pennery and seeing um
travel stories from thisparticular brand, and they
really stand out right now.
So um it's really kind of agolden time, you know, with
Pennery to be become involved asa brand.
Um, but again, every sharedexperience helps the brand, you

(26:59):
know, stand out.
And it helps also it helps themunderstand, you know, who their
guests really are.

SPEAKER_00 (27:05):
Well, let's talk a little bit about the community
that is forming around Pinnery.
Obviously, partners are one keypart of that, but you're only
going to have partners if you'vegot a thriving active community
that will end up booking withthem, and that's obviously where
you started.
You have travel pros, andthere's a directory of travel
pros, and there's a few people Ithat are still not on here that
I um that absolutely should be.
Let's get them on.

(27:26):
Yeah.
So uh like impulse travel fromColumbia.
Like I was on a board meetingcall this morning and they were
talking about like and it waslike when I look I was at a
conference just a couple weeksago at Market Hub in Punta Cana
talking about the rise of LatinAmerican travel and South
American travel and um andthere's a real trend towards
regional travel.
Um, because travel for the yearis still up despite some of

(27:47):
these geopolitical issues.
It was expected to be up eight,it's about one percent.
But travel is still up for 2026,despite some of the things
you've been hearing.
Um so then this is where I'm,you know, as you know too, being
an avid traveler, travel isremarkably resilient.
People continue to travel andthey're looking for other people
to give suggestions becausethey're we and we've also seen a
big rise in last-minute travelthis year for the same reason
that there's geopoliticalissues.

(28:08):
People have not booked inadvance, they've been holding
and waiting, and then they'relike, you know what, flight
prices are still reasonable.
It doesn't look like the world'sgonna run out of air jet fuel.
So I'm gonna get out, I'm gonnago on a I'm gonna go on a
holiday.
So they're booking last minuteall of a sudden.
But so tell us about thecommunity.
Who is currently active onPinorary?
What are the types of roles inthe community?
Um, and where are you seeingmost of the success and

(28:29):
activity?

SPEAKER_01 (28:29):
You know, we we welcome all travelers.
And I actually like to say thatevery traveler is a creator.
Um, I saw a really interestingstatistic, by the way, recently
that 56% of Gen Z um wants to bea creator, like like has a dream
of being a creator.
So people are in the the creatormindset.

(28:51):
It's and we have people that aremaking their living from it,
which is fantastic.
But I think that travelers arealso um really in a mode of of
sharing their own travel.
So it's a good time to be atravel community.
Um, so again, we've got we arepredominantly women.
And again, it's because um, youknow, women are really generous

(29:13):
in sharing and they make thetravel decisions um when they're
in a relationship.
So it it just happens to be thatway.
Um but yeah, and community hasbecome like one of those words
everyone uses, and sometimes weconfuse it um with an audience.
An audience consumes and acommunity contributes, and I
think that's a really importantdistinction to make.

(29:36):
And what's so fantastic aboutour community is that once
people share, they come back andthey share again.
And it's it's it's beenincredible to see.

SPEAKER_00 (29:46):
That's fantastic.
And tell us a little bit aboutthe, you know, when we think
about ways that you can uh workwith partners.
I just want to highlight thatnow, since obviously our
podcast, you know, is B2B andglobal, and you are based in the
US, and I know you're continuingto expand, you know, it's a
global community.
Um, tell us a little bit abouthow partners can work with you.
So obviously, joining the TravelPro Network is something that I

(30:09):
would strongly encourage,especially DMCs, tour operators,
to get involved.
And by the time this airs,though you'll find the Impulse
travel team representingColumbia.
And this is where like there'san untapped opportunity for
travel marketers here, bloggersum to get involved, a lot of
travel advisors as well.
So um tell us while we're onthis topic, Annie, about the
types of partners that you workwith and who should reach out to

(30:31):
create a profile or tocollaborate you to develop a
commercial relationship, becauseI can certainly see that I know
you are moving more and more inthat direction uh as you prepare
to monetize the platform.
Um so tell us now, if youwouldn't mind, how how best for
our listeners to do that?

SPEAKER_01 (30:46):
Um yeah, so so partnerships are very important.
Um when I think about who is theright partner for us, I start
with a simple question, and andthat is will this partnership
make travel better for ourtraveler?
Um, if the answer is yes, thenit's worth exploring.
But I always start there withthe traveler.

(31:06):
Um you know, every partnershiphas to serve her first, and at
the same time, it has to createmeaningful value for our
partner.
So and I feel so strongly aboutthis, the best partnerships are
not transactional, they'readditive.
The best partnerships createvalue for everyone involved.
So the traveler and the brands.

(31:26):
But um, you know, every travelcompany contributes something,
you know, meaningful to thejourney.
And it's not just the travelexperiences, it's that whole
story.
And that's what excites me aboutpartnerships.
So whether it's anexperience-driven stay, a rail
journey, a destination, a traveladvisor, or another brand that
touches the travel experience,each one creates a chapter.

(31:49):
And and Pennory really helpspreserve that whole story.
Um, when I'm evaluating apartnership, I ask three
questions and I just say, youknow, does this partner create
experiences worth preserving?
Do they genuinely care abouttheir guests?
And, you know, can we createmore value together than either
either of us could alone?
And if that answer is yes, youknow, that's the beginning of a

(32:10):
great partnership.
And, you know, we'reintentionally beginning with
boutique independent andexperience-driven states again,
because those experiences are sorich.
And it's not because they're theonly fit.
I I just believe that they arethe the right first fit.
And these brands just theycreate experiences that we
remember long after we comehome.
And that's why we're startingthere.

(32:32):
And so, you know, whether it's aboutique luxury, you know,
safari lodge or a rail journeyor a wellness retreat or a
glamping experience, you know,that stay is is much more than a
place to sleep.
It's it's part of the story.
And they're gonna look for aconnection and a sense of place
and local culture.
So, you know, that goes wellwith our traveler and our brand.

(32:54):
So again, you know, right nowwe're in our pilot phase.
We are continuing to refine ourtechnology and our approach.
Um, but one thing thoseconversations have reinforced is
that brands, you know, creatingextraordinary experiences
understand the value of theseauthentic guest stories.
And they're looking for betterways to preserve those
experiences and inspire futuretravelers.

(33:16):
Um that's that's where we'restarting, and I think it's the
best place to start.
But beyond that, the opportunityis it's enormous.

SPEAKER_00 (33:24):
Well, and I know you're choosing your partners
carefully around sustainabilityconnection, which is obviously
incredibly important to yourentire brand proposition, but
also authenticity, as youmentioned.
I mean, these are when travelersare looking to connect with
other people.
I mean, it's literally, youknow, what's been written on our
DNA and enabled us to get tothis point in human history is
that the one beautiful thingthat uh uh travelers give to

(33:44):
each other is shortcuts.
Like, you know, you can you cantrust going in this direction um
um if you have someone elsethat's going to give you
credible information that youcan see has a legitimate profile
and it is well ranked from thecommunity.
And that's some of the beauty oftechnology today, which is
something I'm also keen to askyou about, is that now being
powered humans being powered bytechnology is what enables us to
take uh Ubers or to stay atAirbnbs, and it's that

(34:07):
combination of the frictionlesstechnology with the human
element and the trust signals.
And um, so let's actually let'slet's jump into that a bit now,
because I'm keep very keen toknow from a technology point of
view.
And you started this companyfive years ago now, and you
know, even when you started it,generative AI was in its
earliest um you know, we're nowkind of three years into
generative AI, we're now movinginto agentic AI.

(34:29):
A lot of people listening tothis would say, Oh, what about
AI now and AI trip planning?
And I know you've seen this aswell, that you know, the usage
of people uh using uh AI toolsfor trip planning you know went
from like 30 to 40 to 56 percentin three quarters based on focus
rates research.
And so people are overwhelminglyembracing their tools.
But what is also clear isthey're not booking, as they're

(34:50):
not directly booking using anyof the agentic platforms yet.
Yes, the dam might break, and Ido have some thoughts on that.
But ultimately, you know,there's a trust issue with
agentic AI and AI in general,and what we're seeing now more
than ever is a world floodedwith AI-generated content.
And we're actually starting tosee real pushback.
We had an AI, um an agentic AIsession in Toronto, an event,

(35:12):
and uh one of the guests puttheir hands up just to say, you
know, AI ranks amongst the umsome of the most challenged
brands in terms of like thepeople's trust level of wanting
to utilize AI for their actualtravel experiences.
So where I actually thinkanother way that Pinerary will
have a strength in the yearsahead is real traveler

(35:34):
experiencing becoming acompetitive advantage.
And I'd love to hear your viewson that, because I'm sure you
get asked that all the time byinvestors or other partners,
they're just like, can't we justuse AI for this now?
What what what do you say tothose people and and how do you
view this?

SPEAKER_01 (35:46):
Um Yeah, this is such a great topic.
So I think um that real travelerexperiences, uh, their value is
increasing every single day.
Um, you're right, people arestarting to, you know, have
issue and challenge AI.
It's funny when we first um whenwe actually had our our launch

(36:10):
in um 2024, I remember peoplesaying, wow, you know, this is
kind of a tough time.
You know, AI is really going togive you a run for your money.
And and I always thought, wow,well, I'm really excited to use
AI as a tool.
I think AI can can really makeour platform incredible, but
without ever sacrificing the thetrust in the human components.

(36:31):
So um, you know, it's it's Ithink AI has has changed the
economics of content.
You know, creating content isbecoming easier, faster, less
expensive, but it's no longerthe competitive advantage.
Real experiences are.
And every day millions of peopleare traveling, they're
celebrating milestones, they'rehaving life-changing experiences

(36:52):
and creating memories that no AIcould ever invent.
So, you know, what it can't dois live an experience.
You know, it can't tell youabout that hotel owner who
remembered your name everymorning.
Those are the details thatbuilds trust.
Those lived experiences arebecoming, they are becoming one
of the most valuable resourcesin travel.

SPEAKER_00 (37:11):
So along those lines, um, with how you are
deciding to embrace it, becausethat's one of the other things
that I'm sure our listenerswould be also keen to know, is
that you know, there arecertainly ways when you
mentioned about seeing the valueas a tool and creating content,
like there's so much value beingunlocked by AI, but there's
there are real use cases, butthere are also um uh uh more and

(37:31):
more becoming uh reasons toremain human and maintain that
human connection more so thanever.
The part that I always kind ofuh when I'm doing my keynotes,
particularly for conferencesaround travel advisors, like I
did for Virtuoso, is I wasactually quite concerned the
number of travel agencies thatwere starting to use chatbots
and starting to train theircustomers to engage with a
chatbot rather than a humandirectly.

(37:52):
And and more of them were doingthat than they were investing in
back office tools.
And I was like, this iscompletely counter to how you
should be utilizing it.
Utilize it to make yourworkflows more efficient, but
you should be the first port ofcall when uh the phone rings to
speak to your guest and to bearmed with the information.
If a traveler knows that theirtravel advisor is powered by AI

(38:12):
and has access to the bestinventory and pricing, and it's
like, as long as they know thatthat's the case, they're gonna
continue to trust their traveladvisor.
So tell us a little bit, if youwouldn't mind sharing how you're
utilizing AI and specificallywhere you're not, which I would
say in the content itself, likeyou're not banning any images or
people using AI to createitineraries or images.

SPEAKER_01 (38:33):
No, I mean we we watch for that, definitely.
And we we want, you know, youcan trust when you come to
Penray that um every travelerthat you see on Pinor A is a
real traveler.
Um, absolutely.
But but you know, back to how AIcan can help.
I mean, it AI is an incrediblepartner.
You know, it can help someoneremember details that they might

(38:56):
otherwise lose.
We can prompt people with AI atthe right times.
It can help organize a story.
Um, it can make an experienceeasier to preserve and more
useful to others, but it shouldnever ever replace that human
voice because that's where thetrust comes from.
Um, you know, for contentcreation, I think AI will handle
more of the repetitive work.

(39:18):
Um, then that's wonderful.
It frees people to focus on, youknow, what they, you know, what
they can contribute their livedexperiences, your unique
perspectives, authenticrecommendations.
Um and but I think community iswhere I think we need to be
especially thoughtful because AIcan do an amazing job of
connecting the right travelerwith the right story at exactly

(39:41):
the right moment.
Um, but it can't createbelonging.
And that's built between people.
Um, my hope is that, you know,AI becomes something that works
in the background for us and inin making authentic stories
easier to capture, easier todiscover, um, and more useful
while keeping real humanexperiences always at the

(40:01):
center.
Because the future isn't, youknow, AI or humans.
It's AI helping humans connectmore meaningfully than ever
before.
And I think that's the key.

SPEAKER_00 (40:11):
Well, on that note, I think that's you know, the as
we look forward, I obviouslywant to get your take on where
the industry is heading.
So this is probably a good segueas we talk about AI and humans
being powered by AI, um, to lookat how travel brands are going
to evolve in you know 26-27.
Obviously, with AI, and this isalways comes up in
conversations, is that you know,how far can you project forward?

(40:32):
Six months, 12 months, the therate of uh technology changing.
One interesting stat that I hadum recently come across from
this uh really incrediblekeynote speaker at the Market
Hub conference was the IQ of heused the example of Elon Musk
being 155 and look what he'saccomplished across industries,
and then um Einstein has 162 IQuh or had a 162 IQ.

(40:54):
Um and most humans are anywherebetween like 85 and 115.
And so what he talked aboutspecifically was with AI, right
now, most of the platforms areabout 155 and they'll be
doubling every six months.
So within the next few years,we'll be dealing with uh having
an assistant that has a thousandIQ or above.
And so uh it this is wherethere's there's a lot of uh

(41:15):
exciting things that comes alongwith that, but I still don't see
how that changes the um uh thedesire of someone to have an
in-destination travelexperience.
So it's like and and and I thinkthe two get like that will that
will provide so many differentsocietal benefits, but in terms
of actually having a holiday andgoing to a beach or going on a
an organized tour or connectingwith other people, like giving

(41:37):
us more time to do those things.
So I always try and kind ofseparate the two of like, well,
how can that be really useful?
And then so it's always thatquestion of how much things will
change, how much things willstay the same.
It's literally the you know,when we started this podcast
post-pandemic, that wasliterally the what's the same,
what's different, and why, andtrying to unpack that.
Um so on that, I just what I'dlove to ask you when you look
ahead, um, even in the next sixmonths to start making plans uh

(41:59):
for 2027, uh, how do you seetravel brands evolving to better
serve customers today?
Obviously, community andconnection is a huge part of
that.
Um but yeah, what where do yousee Pinerary in the next year or
two?
What are some of the thingsyou're working on?
Where do you think the theindustry is ultimately headed?

SPEAKER_01 (42:19):
Um so, well, first I see um some really exciting
enhancements for Pinnery.
Uh like I said before, AI canreally help us get to where we
want to go, um, but it willnever replace the human story.
I'm passionate about that, butbut I intend to AI will be

(42:42):
working in every best possibleway to make sharing and being a
part of Pennery seamless,exciting, fun, um, interesting.
And we're going to just continueto focus on um community.
And I think that AI can andserve us well in the background.
But I I think that actually, youknow, AI is doing something

(43:05):
really unexpected for us.
I think it's reminding us justhow valuable human connection
really is.
And this is like a, you know,thinking of the industry as a
whole.
I think that it is transformingthe way travel companies
operate.
And that's exciting.
You know, it can remove fiction,automate, automate tasks for us.
It can help brands deliverbetter service more efficiently

(43:27):
better than before.
But um, you know, I don't thinkthat's where the real
competitive advantage will befive years from now.
I think operational excellencewill be expected.
I think the brands that standout will be the ones that make
people feel seen, feel known,feel remembered.
You know, they'll use AI tohandle, you know, those complex
tasks so that their people canspend more time creating

(43:51):
remarkable experiences andbuilding genuine relationships.
And I think that's the key.
Um, you know, I think the brandsthat intend.
intentionally capture and learnfrom authentic traveler stories
will have a huge advantage.
They won't just know what theirguests booked, they'll
understand, you know, um whatthey loved and why.

(44:12):
And that's a very different kindof relationship.
The future isn't about choosingbetween AI and human connection.
It's about using AI to makehuman connection even stronger.
So um, you know, they'll neverforget how a place made them
feel.
I think that's what the besttravel brands will continue to
focus on.

SPEAKER_00 (44:29):
Well and the reason I asked that question is uh very
intentional in that, you know,when I look back at my career in
the travel industry over thelast 20 years and the growth
that we've seen, it's the growththat we're going to see in the
next 20 years is going to belike five times what we've seen.
Like with the idea of travelersyou know going from 400 million
travelers a year to 800 millionby 2050.
Like the number of travelers sothere's never been a better time

(44:50):
to be in the travel industry iswhy we're seeing a lot of
private equity and VCs and youknow this this industry is you
know it's the third largestindustry in the world.
It's you know it's veryfragmented.
There's lots of differentverticals within travel um but
it's a huge industry and it's anindustry that is going to be
growing at 10, 20% per year overthe next two decades, especially

(45:10):
with baby boomers tra travelingmore.
So like all the signs arepositive towards um despite the
short-term setbacks that wealways see going from crisis to
crisis in the travel industry.
But one of the things that youknow going back to where our
conversation started aboutstorytelling and community I
think that a lot of travelcompanies really underestimate
the benefit of those two aspectscoming together really

(45:32):
successfully.
And I would also highlight toofrom my experience that there's
a lot of marketers in travel butthere's few really great
marketers and when you see acompany that's having great
success and you see a greatmarketing and I'll give a good
example of that WeRoad likeWeRoad the CMO Fabio is just a
fantastic I'm I'm a huge fan ofWeRoad because it's about
community, it's aboutconnection, it's about the
loneliness epidemic which a lotof these small groups more

(45:54):
operators talk about.
But when you see their marketingit has great cut through it's
something they're doingsomething very different and
they're bringing in a whole newaudience to the industry.
And it's something that I reallylike about your background too
that you love travel, you'vecome into this industry and you
can disrupt an industry byvirtue of seeing the way it's
currently operating.
And so I'd love if you wouldn'tmind sharing Annie from your

(46:14):
perspective why you think travelcompanies are if if you agree
with my statement that travelcompanies underestimate
storytelling in community, whydo you think that is?
And what do you think, asidefrom obviously working with
Binerary, but what else they cando about that?

SPEAKER_01 (46:27):
No, I I agree with you.
I I think that um travelcompanies do underestimate um
the importance of storytelling Ithink they've been built on in
focusing on transactions.
So um I think what they reallyneed to understand that it's um
storytelling isn't just aboutmarketing.

(46:47):
It's about buildingrelationships.
You know, for years the travelindustry has done such a great
job of helping people discover,plan and book trips, but
somewhere along the way we'vebecome so focused on that
transaction that we've forgottenthe person behind it.
And you know travel is deeplypersonal.
People aren't just booking ahotel they're celebrating a

(47:08):
milestone birthday.
They're taking a once in alifetime trip with their family
they're they're reconnectingwith someone that they love.
They're crossing off somethingoff of their bucket list and
these moments matter.
And when a brand creates spacefor travelers to preserve and
share those experiences, youknow, something really powerful
happens and and the relationshipdoesn't end at checkout, it

(47:30):
continues.
That traveler feels seen whenwhen someone says we want to
know your story.
Your story has value.
You know future travelertravelers gain trusted guidance
when that happens and a brandearns something so much more
valuable than another booking.
It earns it earns trust um andin a world where trust is

(47:51):
becoming you know one of themost valuable assets that we can
have it's that's incrediblypowerful.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (47:57):
Well and on this like if you were to give a
travel executive listening tothis one specific piece of
advice about building a strongerbrand I have a thought on this
that I'm also keen to share butI'd love to what would based on
what you just conveyed there,what would be kind of the one
specific piece of advice aboutbuilding a stronger brand?
Because you've built a strongbrand with Pinnery and
continuing to what would be theone thing stands out to you that

(48:17):
you would encourage other travelindustry executives to be
mindful of stop letting yourbest guest experiences
disappear.

SPEAKER_01 (48:27):
I mean it's simple you know every travel brand I
talk to invests enormous energyin telling people how great
their experience is advertising,photography, social media
campaigns, you know, they allhave an important place but your
your most powerful marketingdoesn't come from what you say
about your brand.
It comes from what your guestssay after they've lived it.

(48:50):
And right now remarkableexperiences are happening every
single day but too often thoseexperiences are disappearing the
moment the trip ends.
And I think that is one of thebiggest missed opportunities in
travel.
Capture them, preserve them,connect them to the next
traveler and let them continuecreating value for years to
come.
They're an asset because thebrands that will lead the next

(49:12):
decade, I believe, they won't bethe ones with the biggest
marketing budgets, they'll bethe ones that earn the most
trust and trust is built, youknow, one authentic traveler
story at a time.

SPEAKER_00 (49:22):
Yeah, very well said and I couldn't agree more on
trust and the one additionalthing I would just share that I
hope is valuable to listeners aswell when it comes to building a
strong brand, a lot of peoplewho are working in marketing in
some travel companies work ontheir values and one of the
things that I've always seen isit falls it falls down in the
execution.
So if you don't have if youdon't live your values and you

(49:43):
don't actually execute on themon the travel experience,
travelers know that.
And so if it starts with theactual guest experience itself
and making sure that that umthat you actually walk the walk
with the the brand positioningand then if you've got a great
product experience it makes itreally easy to market a brand
and I've had the good fortune tomarket brands that are really
well run.
And I've seen friends andcolleagues having challenges of

(50:04):
trying to figure out how do Ibetter message this and it's
like if you don't have a greatproduct experience, if it says
these are your values andsustainability but you don't
actually live by them, travelersfigure it out travelers are
smart.
They'll figure it out.
So um but yeah so one otherthing obviously I'm um I always
like talking about the future oftravel and you know it's for us
it's obviously both personal andprofessional and that's one of
the reasons that I I love thisindustry so much and you know

(50:27):
I've stayed in it my career andand continue to remain really
optimistic about travel.
I it's because I genuinely lovetravel and it doesn't feel like
work for me.
And um and I I'm very excitedabout the future of travel and
understanding how it changes.
And I'm keen to know from yourvantage point what excites you
most about the future of traveland obviously Pinnery's role in
it.

SPEAKER_01 (50:46):
Sure.
I mean I'm the same as you I getso excited about it and I'm an
optimist about the future oftravel.
I believe because of AI andtechnology that we are asking
better questions.
I think that we are soulsearching it's not just where
should I go but it's it's why doI want to go and I think you

(51:06):
know the witch helps find thewhere and people are thinking
how will this journey change me?
And you know we're becoming moreconscious travelers.
We're seeing the effects of achanging planet with our own
eyes.
We're thinking more you knowdeeply about the communities
that we visit, the businessesthat we support um and the
impact that we leave behind.

(51:28):
I feel that our stories are partof that.
That's what you learn when yousee people's real experiences.
And to me that's really hopeful.
I've always believed that youprotect what you love and and
when you see things you you knowyou love what you've
experienced.
So you know I believe thattravel has a really

(51:49):
extraordinary ability to bringout our innately curious nature.
But it also opens our eyes andbreeds compassion.
And I think it helps us buildand strengthen connections.
You know you can spend anevening talking to someone whose
life looks completely differentthan your own and it can change

(52:10):
you know how you see your ownworld and it can make such a
great impact of you and that'sthe magic of travel.
The best trips leave us changedand I think the stories that we
bring home are how that changeripples outward.
You know, when a travel feelsconfident enough to take the
trip that they've been dreamingabout, that's that's awesome.

(52:31):
And you know those experiencesinspire another and and I love
being a part of that.
And that's what really excitesme the most about Peneri.
It's not just helping peopleremember where they went but
it's helping preserve whatthey've learned, who they met
and who they became along theway.
And and that's how goodnessspreads and and that I feel can

(52:52):
generate healing.
I think if every traveler hasthat power to inspire another
and we do, then every singlejourney you know has the power
to make the world just a littlebit more connected.
So I I can't think of anythingmore meaningful to build.

SPEAKER_00 (53:06):
Yeah I'm very aligned with everything and I'm
sure many of our listeners hadthe aha moment as you shared
that as well.
Even mentioned things likehealing, you know, um Sahara
Rose de Boer who runs the travelcoach network.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (53:16):
I good friends Sahara Rose, yes.

SPEAKER_00 (53:18):
She's a and I know and it's just another great
example of how the power oftravel and the community that
you've partnered with there isthat you know having people to
encourage you to travel to to goon a personal journey.
And obviously it's another thingyou know you're a friend, a
colleague and a listener to ourpodcast and you know that this
is the year that I've beenhighlighting the year of
transformational travel havingJoe Pine on the podcast.

(53:38):
I nice very much see Pinnery asbeing part of that um next wave
of what's empowering people tohave truly transformative travel
experience because you mentionedthe key thing that um is coming
back changed, impacted in someway and it's like you know it's
appealing to our humanity.
So um I love uh the brand thatyou've built, uh the community
that you're continuing to build.
I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

(53:58):
I'm obviously honored to haveyou here to do the spotlight
episode together.
I'm certainly looking forward toseeing you at a number of
conferences uh throughout theyear and obviously having you
back for our summit in October.
But let's let all of ourlisteners know how best to reach
out to you after this.
I know we mentioned a little bitabout the partners a bit earlier
um but I'm sure it would begreat for our listeners to know

(54:20):
you know what type oforganizations are a best fit to
work with Pinnery today.
So who should be reaching outhow should they connect with you
and then tell all our listenerswhere you're going to be over
the next few months so that theycan uh meet you in person,
Annie.

SPEAKER_01 (54:32):
Absolutely so okay well first of all you can reach
me uh at annie.peza atpinnary.com that's where you can
find our platform that's alsoour Instagram handle you can
find me on LinkedIn um atAnniepeza.
Um as far as partnerships we areagain um uh working with

(54:54):
boutique hotels small luxuryhotels independent stays um
experiential stays that are veryexciting we also have some
really cool partnerships in theworks that are just outside of
travel that I wish I could sharebut I've got to wait a little
longer.
So today you know it's boutiqueand independent and experience

(55:17):
driven stays but beyond that theopportunity is enormous.
Travel advisors, tour operators,rail companies, river cruises,
DMOs, local experience providersum you know we believe you earn
the right to expand by firstsolving one problem
exceptionally well and that'swhat we want to do.
But from there on um we willgrow alongside the travelers and

(55:38):
partners who believe that wehave the same vision vision that
we do.
But in the future it's it'severy experience that you can
come in contact with it's thewhole travel ecosystem.
It's airlines again DMOs um youknow experiences it's all part
of the travel story.

SPEAKER_00 (55:56):
Fantastic and um tell everyone just to close off
as far as conferences you may beat later this year aside from
our summit of course wherepeople will meet you again and
can attend virtually fromanywhere in the world but you're
based in Chicago of course as Imentioned I know you have been
at the Focus Right conferences.
Is there specific events orconferences you're going to be
at in the fall of 2026?

SPEAKER_01 (56:15):
Sure I'm definitely planning on the independent
hotel show.
I will be there absolutely forsure it's a great uh fit for us
I will be a panelist at thedigital travel summit um which
is happening in October as welland uh that will be in Orlando
so you can see me up on stagethere.

(56:35):
Um I'm super excited about theTravel Trends Summit.
Um that's what I'm reallylooking forward to of course so
you'll see me virtually there aswell and then I will be
attending Focus Right again.
So that's in November and I'mI'm excited about that one as
well.

SPEAKER_00 (56:50):
Fantastic Annie well I've been so looking forward to
this conversation and I'm sureit's delighted many of our
listeners and I want toobviously um just thank you for
our continued friendship andcollaboration.
Obviously it's always a delightto speak to you and and um and
obviously I'm very bullish onwhat you've built and excited
for you and the team in thefuture.
So I want to finish by sayingthank you and also wish you

(57:11):
every success in the year aheadand obviously I'm gonna see you
again really soon.
So I'll I look forward toconnecting with you over the
course of the year.

SPEAKER_01 (57:17):
I know I can't wait and write back at you Dan best
of luck and I'm so excited forTravel Trends and um I'm just
happy to be a part.

SPEAKER_00 (57:24):
Fastid and I want to say thanks to all of our
listeners as well for joining usfor this special spotlight
episode of Travel Trends.
I really hope you enjoyed thisconversation with Annie Peza as
much as I did.
I had uh put a number of notestogether to prepare for this
conversation because there wereso many valuable parts of the
Pinnery platform as you wouldhave heard that I wanted to call
out that is really unique thatjust at first glance when I've

(57:45):
heard other people or Annietalking about Pinnery, some of
the questions that that peoplehave asked, I really wanted to
draw out some of the reallyvaluable insights and I hope
that that's what you got out ofthis conversation and that as a
result of it you've, if notalready, but will be very
shortly creating your profile onPinnery.com.
And I would just call out to allof our travel advisors, tour
operators listening to this.
I'm sure if you go to the travelpro section, you'll have the

(58:07):
same realization that there's abig opportunity here to get your
brand involved in thiscommunity.
So I strongly encourage you notonly to create your profile, but
reach out to Annie and the team.
I think it's a very smartstrategy for them to be
embracing the boutique hotelsand the small niche network but
I see great potential for thisplatform to grow and scale.
So this is a perfect time topartner with Pinnery and get in
early just like our friendSahara Rose has and some of the

(58:29):
the events and activities thatAnnie and the team are
participating in.
So thank you again for joiningus.
Don't forget we do post clipsand highlights on all our social
channels which you can find onInstagram, LinkedIn and YouTube
at Travel Trends Podcast.
And of course we send out ourmonthly newsletter where you can
find all the latest spotlightepisodes and you can register
for that atTraveltrendspodcast.com.
Until next episode, safe travels