{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Future Around & Find Out","title":"Will AI Disrupt — or Entrench — the Travel Industry's Big Players? | Rafat Ali (Founder & CEO, Skift)","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/c48206a2\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1043,"description":"Travel is one of the most demo-friendly use cases for AI — and one of the hardest industries to actually disrupt.\nEvery AI launch seems to promise the same thing: “Tell me where you want to go, and I’ll plan everything.” But behind the slick demos sits a deeply consolidated industry dominated by platforms, hotel chains, and airlines that optimize for upsell and extraction.\nRafat Ali is the founder and CEO of Skift, which bills itself as “the daily homepage for the global travel industry.” We discuss whether AI is likely to have a traveler-friendly effect — or whether the big platforms will just use these new tools of hyper-personalization to extract even more from us. \nWe cover: \nWhether AI creates new intermediaries—or just strengthens existing giants\nWhy no breakout consumer AI travel startup has emerged (yet)\nWhere AI does work in travel today: ops, logistics, and B2B automation\nWhy travel is a graveyard for “great UX, bad business” startups (RIP Hipmunk\nRafat’s dad hacks for traveling with three kids\n---\nFeatured voices:\nRafat Ali — Founder and CEO of Skift\nMe (Dan Blumberg) — I’m the host of CRAFTED. and the founder of Modern Product Minds. HMU if you want to build something great! I love building from zero to one.\n---\nAnd if you please…\nShare with a friend! Word of mouth is by far the most powerful way for podcasts to grow\nSubscribe to the CRAFTED. newsletter at crafted.fm\nShare your feedback! I’m experimenting with new episode formats and would love your honest feedback on this and other episodes. Email me: dan@modernproductminds.com or DM me on LinkedIn\nSponsor the show? I’m actively speaking to potential sponsors. Drop me a line and let’s talk.\nGet psyched!… There are some big updates to this show coming soon!","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/HUxsFUd2l2IpBZewHzlZlthVWOmLB5qSDYnIlkRo0LE/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82YTcx/YWIxYzkxYjgwNWI4/MTc5NGYyNjliZjU5/NzQ4MC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}