Travel Buddy with Switchfly

In this milestone 50th episode of Travel Buddy, Rachel Satow, and Ian Andersen reflect on the journey of the podcast and the evolution of the travel and loyalty industry. From memorable guests and standout episodes to behind-the-scenes insights on how their approach and the industry itself have matured, you’ll hear the inside story of what goes into building a successful travel podcast. The conversation features honest reflections, plenty of humor, and invaluable lessons learned along the way such as game-changing innovations around AI, product development, and partnership building. If you’re curious about what’s next for travel rewards or want a genuine look at the people shaping this space, this episode is not to be missed.

Chapters
(00:00) Reflections on 50 Episodes and Show Growth
(01:00) Evolving Conversations and Deeper Industry Insights
(03:00) Hosting Diverse Guests and Partner Highlights
(07:00) Platform Innovation and AI Integration
(14:00) Maturing Audience and Market Expectations
(16:00) Shifting Focus to Internal and External Experts
(24:00) Value, Camaraderie, and Looking Ahead

Connect with Switchfly
Website: https://www.switchfly.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/switchfly/
X: https://twitter.com/switchfly
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SwitchflyOfficial

Creators and Guests

Host
Ian Andersen
Demand Gen & Marketing Operations Manager
Host
Rachel Satow
Senior Marketing Strategist

What is Travel Buddy with Switchfly?

See more at Switchfly.com

Welcome to Travel Buddy,
presented by Switchfly.

In this podcast, we talk about all
things travel, rewards, and loyalty.

Let's get to it.

Brandon Giella: Hello, and welcome back to

Rachel Satow: to

Brandon Giella: I am so
excited to talk to you guys.

Happy 50 episodes.

And you can hear in my voice, when
you do 50 episodes, and also have kids

in daycare, you get a little raspy.

And so I am just excited to, to
cap off this season that we've had.

It's been wonderful.

Two years, 49 episodes, and I think
the overall theme that we wanna

talk about today is how the show has
matured, how the industry has matured,

and how we've become best friends.

And so,

Rachel Satow: tired.

Brandon Giella: reflection
on the last 50 episodes?

What has been important to you?

What have we seen?

What have we learned?

And where do you think
the industry is going?

So we'll start with you, and
then I'll kick it over to Ian.

Rachel Satow: I was thinking ... Yeah,
so I, I came in at episode 25.

Number 25 was actually my very
first episode, so I- I've seen

it really only in the second half
of this, you know, road to 50.

And I feel like

Brandon Giella: Yeah,

Rachel Satow: been able to incorporate
more internal partners, more external

partners, and gotten a little bit more in
depth with some of the conversations that

we're having from an industry standpoint.

And I think honestly that h- has what That
is what has made the last 50 so cool to

kind of reflect upon, is when you look at
the first couple of episodes, it really

is, you know, our, our team going through
some of the, higher level conversations.

and really just that, like that
introduction to travel as, as it

applies to loyalty programs and,
and some of those more, to do this,

how to incorporate that," et cetera.

and now we're really getting into
the nitty-gritty because we've

learned incorporating some of these
industry experts in the conversation

is so much more worthwhile, both
from a conversation standpoint,

but also a partnership standpoint.

and I think Ian is ... It's
really good for him to be on

this because he was episode one.

so I would love to also hear what he
thinks of this because from the outside,

having only been h- a part of this for
50, 50% of the 50, I think I have a

little bit of a different view of it.

Brandon Giella: Ian, what's your take?

You, you've been there
since the beginning.

Episode one was published, by
the way, February 13th, 2024.

My daughter turned one that
day, so it's a happy day for me.

and that was our very first episode.

Ian, you've been here from the beginning.

What's your thoughts?

Ian Andersen: Yeah.

It's been a, it's been a ride.

We've, had a lot of great conversations,
talked to some, some pretty amazing folks,

over the last couple years, I mean, you
know, with, with any endeavor, the, the

more you do it, the better you get, right?

It's just practice.

I-- we were laughing earlier before
the call that first few episodes

were James and I just, lecturing
to each other essentially, not

really having a conversation.

and as we kinda got more and more
comfortable, especially as we started

bringing others in to join us, trying
to remember we don't have to stick to

an outline or a script, that some of
the weird little tangents we go down

end up being our, our best episodes.

so it's, it's, it's been fun.

You've been, a wonderful
partner along the way.

we definitely could not have
had the success we've had

with this show, without you.

so very appreciative of that.

But, yeah, it's been, it's been fun.

It's, it's also really cool to see,
you know, I, I went back and looked

at a few of the early episodes,
which are, are virtually unwatchable,

but, the, the topics we're talking
about haven't changed too much, but,

definitely the way we talk about them
have, the way the industry has grown.

the, the both travel and loyalty
side of things I think have matured.

You know, you think about when we
started, it was still kind of the trail

edge of the COVID, and pandemic era,

travel disruption.

People were still kind of figuring
out this new world of travel.

Things like AI obviously
were, were still very new.

I think that's been one of the
more interesting, topics to, to,

to discuss on here, and how that's
changed over the, the last few years

since we started talking about it.

but yeah, yeah, it's been great.

it's been a lot of fun.

I definitely look forward to the next 50.

Brandon Giella: That's right.

Amen.

Yeah.

So episode one, we obviously introduced
the show and different topics, and

then really quickly after that went
into the economics of the industry.

We talked about AI and automation.

We talked about travel tips,
which a lot more travel tips came

out o-over the season as well.

and then, yeah, talking about
customer rewards and loyalty,

APIs, machine learning.

We had Rob Neate on the show.

We have Noel, the CEO, has been on a few
times, and Ashley has been on a few times.

So we've had really great success
internally, but then externally as well.

We've had quite a few, folks on the show
that have been amazing to watch their

expertise be shared with, with us and with
our audience, with their audience as well.

Which leads me to the, most watched,
most listened to show ever on the show

is with Battleface Insurance, because
peace of mind when you travel is still a

big deal, and people love to insure their
trips and make sure things go smoothly,

which you guys are always good about.

you know, customer support
and how important that is.

That's one of Noel's
talking points, of course.

But, but it's been really cool to
see what has resonated with audiences

and what's resonated internally with
your team as you've been launching

new products, talking about Switchfly
Go, and then we've just talked about

a lot of new things that you guys are
working on, new ways of approaching

things, and it's been really awesome.

Ian Andersen: I, I wanna give, Rachel a
chance to dive in onto the, the getting

partners side of things, 'cause she's
been, she's been the, the driving force

behind getting so many of, of our external

Rachel Satow: My partner is just
right outside as long to say about

it and I want 100% behind you in the

Ian Andersen: when

Rachel Satow: against apartheid-

Ian Andersen: at somewhere internally,
sometimes it's hard to notice

the change day to day, right?

y- you know, the Monday generally
looks pretty much the same as

Tuesday when, when you're at a job.

But, when you look back over the
time, it is pretty, impressive

to see how the platform has
grown over the last couple years.

you mentioned SwitchFly Go, our, our kind
of outreach to, to smaller organizations

being able to let their employees,
kinda share in, in travel rewards.

also the way we've-- we were really,
early in the crowd as far as incorporating

AI into, the SwitchFly pla- platform.

Ravneet, who was our previous, head
of data science, was, kind of a genius

about that stuff, so it was always great.

I think we brought him in several
times to, to just let him cook on

what the heck all this new AI stuff
was, what it meant, where it's going.

looking back at some of those early
episodes that we, we were talking

about AI, It's really fun to see
sort of how we had no idea, literally

no idea what it was gonna mean.

I'm not saying we even have an idea
now, but definitely it's become much

more a part of, daily lives and,
and the SwitchFly plat- platform.

You know, we had very specific
use cases at the beginning, but

those have just grown and grown and
grown over the past couple years.

people like Mark Smith are, are one
of-- our director of engineering who's

joined us, he, he went into to how
that's helping the, the platform grow.

you know, I think the, the kind of
overall trend, if I can nail it to any one

thing, is just, being able for us to more
rapidly integrate the SwitchFly platform

with our, our, customers, and getting
them the ability to offer travel as one

of their, their core rewards, faster
and easier and more widely available,

from a product standpoint as well.

We, we...

Our partner, offering side of things,
the, the, the products we offer

have just grown and grown and grown.

You mentioned Battleface, and travel
protection, but, you know, a wider range

of activities, a wider range of, of
travel options, you know, all of that

stuff we have teams working on internally
trying to, to grow, all the time.

So it is, it is really cool to kind of
look back see, you know, for every single

day you might not think things are moving,
but then you take a step back and, and

see just how far you've come and, that's

Brandon Giella: Yeah, amen.

Rachel Satow: to double down on that,
I think seeing the evolution of the

way we talk about things has so closely
paralleled to all of the, the, the updates

that we're making to the platform itself.

And I know we mentioned, you know,
Battleface was the number one, most

listened, most download partner
podcast episode that we have, but

that came about because Switchfly
offered that as a new product offering.

So it was one of those, like we wouldn't
have had that if we weren't constantly

innovating on our own platform.

And even from the AI perspective,
you know, at the very beginning, some

of the conversations two years ago
were some experimental curiosity.

It was, we aren't quite sure how
we're going to bring this into

the platform yet, but we know
we need to, we know we want to.

And now we have core features that have
been launched specifically because of

the evolution and the maturity of AI and
how it's become an operational necessity.

And I think that is such a cool-- when
you reflect on 50 episode, that is such

a cool trans- like, like transition
in conversation is we are no longer

talking about what it might look like.

We have it in our system.

It is, it is one of the core, you know,
applications to, to the, to the platform.

And like we have neighborhood insights,
and we have different personalization

options where you can like search
for destinations based on text input.

It's, it is so cool to look back on
50 episodes and see some of the ideas

that were, were talked about and
then see how it has come to fruition.

And, I also love that double down on
that, like from a partner standpoint,

we've had new partners come in
that we're able to, you know, say,

"Hey, you are the expert here.

Do you wanna talk about this?"

Because at the end of the day, like
as much as Ian and I are, you know,

trying to stay up to date on everything
in the industry, it's always better

to have it straight from, from
somebody who truly is an expert.

and I think that has been one of
the coolest things about partnering

with these individuals, both from a
Switchfly operational standpoint and

being able to offer new products, but
also being able to tap in it, into

it from a pro- podcast standpoint.

Brandon Giella: Yeah, I love having
those external guests on the show

because as you said, you get like
on the grounds expertise from people

that are living and breathing it.

And you guys are of course, and you've got
all kinds of, of amazing products coming

out, but seeing their perspective from
a different lens, different part of the

industry, it's, it's really fascinating.

but on your point, Ian, about, we
have been evolving and, and it's,

it's cool to see the pace at which
you guys are developing your platform

and, and the company as a whole.

Almost two years to the day after we
launched our first episode, Noel and

I talked about Switchfly's vision for
2026, and the key word was velocity.

And so the whole, you know, train that
is Switchfly or plane, I, I suppose,

is, is moving and moving quickly.

And you guys are shipping really
amazing things, especially

around a lot of the AI, you know,
innovation that's going on there.

And that's a crazy evolving market.

I just, shared, an article with Ian
and Rachel this morning about-- It

was a travel and leisure article,
and, the writer was using, a

couple of different platforms to
build an itinerary for his trip.

And he talked about the ins and outs,
the pros and cons of, of doing that.

So it's just, it's an
evolving thing, of course.

But, but you guys are always staying
on top of it, and it's cool to see

what you guys are thinking up next.

Yeah,

Ian Andersen: with, with AI, well, long
before AI, I think SwitchFly was a,

early advocate of, of travel to rewards
platforms, be it, you know, customer or...

Excuse me.

Thank you.

gave me a cold, Brandon.

the either, either, on the
customer or the, the employee side.

when I started, gosh, four years
ago almost, so much of what we had

to do was educate a audience on
just the availability of travel

being an option for them, right?

I think there, was a pretty big gap in in
just that even being a possibility for for

many rewards offerings whether for small
businesses for for financial services for

whatever s and over the years that's sort
of transitioned to now I think basically

knows right Everybody knows travel is
an option They're just not necessarily

always sure how it fits in with their
program what what provider to go to you

know how to differentiate between provider
offerings Um so so much of what Rachel

and I have had to do lately has been been
that transition of of speaking to a more

educated audience about travel and how how
they fit into to different reward schemes

and that's that's actually been it's been
really gratifying I think we've played

a large part in in the industry in uh
sort of providing that that education and

this podcast has definitely been a a key
part of that along with with a lot of our

other marketing we're having so much more
inbound opportunities come to to SwitchFly

just Looking for travel specifically
right We're no longer convincing people

they need travel They're coming to us
and saying they need travel how how

can we give it to them which obviously
is is very rewarding as a marketer and

and uh uh definitely great for the the
industry I think and it's matured enough

to where like you mentioned Noel saying
that is finally a place where we can

really focus on right so much before was
about the education piece and and now

though we can really kinda crank up the
heat and and push push things forward

Brandon Giella: So speaking of
velocity, we've had 50 episodes,

tens of thousands of listeners
and viewers across 50 countries.

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

Brandon Giella: I think it
was actually like nine total.

Yeah.

No,

Rachel Satow: It's the

Brandon Giella: no.

Rachel Satow: of us and then my mom.

Brandon Giella: Our moms.

Ian Andersen: go

Brandon Giella: Hey, Happy
Mother's Day, you know.

Hey.

Okay, but so where do we go from here?

You know, where-- what does
the next two years look like?

What are topics that have been on your
mind, things you guys are thinking

about internally, guests maybe?

You know, what, what's on your--
what's on the horizon for where

we're going with all this velocity?

Rachel Satow: Yeah, I think, one of,
one of the things that is not going

away is you're going to be hearing
more from this greater Switch5 team.

You know, that has been one of the coolest
parts of being able to come in and, and

almost activate these internal experts,
and showcase that like, you know, that

this podcast isn't scary, I promise.

it's, it's been very cool to, to have
voices like Carrie Griffin come on.

You know, I know, Ian, you
mentioned Mark came on.

We had a couple of other
individuals join us.

Jess Steinberg is, is a recurring
individual that comes on.

She's gonna be our next
episode, spoiler alert.

and you know, it's been very cool to,
to transition the conversation from

just Ian and I, no matter how much
we love talking to each other, to

br- bringing this, bringing more of
the greater team to, to the podcast.

And I think, outside of that, one of the
other things that you won't see change

is, bringing on external experts as well.

I know we've talked to
Battleface, obviously.

We've talked to, one of
our partners, BermudAir.

We've had a lot of really great
conversations with some of our external,

our external partners, and we would
love to incorporate more of that.

and whether they be direct partners
or, you know, members of the ITC, et

cetera, that's kind of where our focus
is moving to of how can we bring more

industry experts to the podcast, and
expand the, the, the overall, you know,

topics that we're talking about of
just what Switchfly lives and breathes.

and I want those conversations to...

And I think, Ian, you, you too,
we want those conversations to

just go really naturally and, and
want them to be more, specific.

I think that's one of the other
things that has really changed over

the last 50 episodes is we had a lot
of education, to, to Ian's point.

And getting to have an audience that
is more educated and knows that travel

is table stakes now I think is such a
great opportunity for us to dig into

conversations that are deeper into,
well, how does this actually work?

What does this actually look like?

Why is this happening?

And, one of the things, Ian, as
you were talking about how we

have this more educated audience
and that travel really has become

table stakes, I think this is...

One of the things I'm hearing
now that I think isn't going

away is why that became...

why that came to fruition, right?

Like, why did travel become so necessary
in loyalty programs and HR platforms?

And it really is being driven by
employee and customer expectations

for rewards and wanting to be
able to utilize, the programs that

they are a part of for things that
they can enjoy every single day.

So I think, that is definitely something
that we're going to see over the

next 50 episodes th- for the future.

I don't think that that's going
to go away, and we'll probably dig

into more of the emotional loyalty
aspects of, of, travel rewards and

how they apply to different programs,
for the n- for, for quite a while.

Ian Andersen: Yeah

Rachel Satow: that

Ian Andersen: you know,

trying to to kinda remember back to to
James my mind state when we we first

started Travel Buddy what we wanted it
to be I think we kinda had the wrong idea

initially as far as we were thinking th
of this in pure marketing terms and right

This came out those first couple episo
at least the first couple o outlines

until uh of got bored with each other and
our conversations they were essentially

infomercials right Like they they were
very you know um topic-dependent Really

pushing what made Switchfly stand out in
the marketplace w-what uh uh y you know

the the benefits of adding travel that
you know would come to to companies if

if they partnered with us it it felt a
little too salesy and and very boring

and probably more to us internally than
to anyone who made a might have listened

So I think sort of organically we kind
of started to learn we need some other

voices and we need to not really care
so much about pushing Switchfly but

naturally talking about the industry
talking about everything from traveler

preferences to the tech to customer
service to you know talking about all

parts of you know travel and loyalty
industries the pitch if you will the

the the how Switchfly stands out would
sort of come out naturally right We we

wouldn't have to focus on that We wouldn't
have to to highlight that just merely

by as as Developed and and prominent as
Switchfly is it would sort of stand on

its own All we had to do is define the
the space around it those led to just so

much more interesting conversations than
than we'd ever thought of They they let

us dive into just kind of all areas of
the industry you know Brandon you and I

are are kinda both lifelong students right
And are both extremely curious about most

random weird little subjects that could

come up in any particular thing not
because know, speaking for me, not

necessarily 'cause I'm so interested in
doing or learning about s- this topic.

What I find int- interesting is the people
who are experts or, or knowledgeable or

interested in that topic, and getting
them to talk about it, getting them to,

to bring out why it's important, how it
fits into this kinda giant crazy puzzle.

that's what's interesting to me and
what's been really fun that we've gotten

to learn over, over the last two years.

and I just see more and more of that,
you know, bringing in more expert voices,

a wider range, weird random topics
that may not necessarily seem like

they fit, at first, but hopefully will,
will fit right in, after you hear it.

And even if not, you know, so what?

I, I wanna have c- fun conversations
sometimes, and if every one of these

isn't a, a home run, well, you know,
there's always next week, right?

Brandon Giella: Yeah, if you do
wanna have an episode on 15th

century punctuation, I am all in.

Like, I

Ian Andersen: is still on the list.

Brandon Giella: am there.

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

Yeah.

Brandon Giella: no, I, I agree.

I, I think something
that I've learned is...

Which is funny because it actually
does perform better in a marketing

context, is I think what people want is
value, and they want to be entertained.

And so, I heard once from an
iHeartRadio host that what, what

radio is, which is podcasts are a
form of radio, is companionship.

That we wanna have a great
conversation among people we like

about topics that are interesting
and provide value to the listeners.

And so I think that's a lesson that
we've learned over time, that we hope

that this conversation is entertaining
and valuable and that, w- and when

you do see the, the performance,
quote-unquote, of the show, it's always

someone's expertise, sharing stories,
and providing value or wisdom even.

You know, some of, some of Noel's, the,
some of the top clips I was looking at

on, on YouTube were, Noel just sharing
some wisdom, you know, about different

things, which I thought was really great.

So yeah, it's it's a co- it's
a combination of many things.

Ian Andersen: my favorite example of
that, not to, to cut you off, Brandon,

but, favorite example has been, a
dear friend of mine here at work,

Ariella Barshay, who's one of our,
on our, our customer management team.

and she has a pretty long history in,
customer service, especially in the

hotel industry and catering industry.

She's she's, she's an expert on
how to deal with customers, how to

create an environment of proactive
customer service in an organization.

frankly, I, I love Ariella to death.

I thought it was gonna be the
most boring conversation ever.

was not at all excited to talk customer
service for 40 minutes or whatever.

and it turned out to be one of my
favorite conversations we've had.

She is so knowledgeable about it.

I think what also made it was she was one
of those who was so nervous to come on.

Rachel and I had to cajole her for,
for weeks to, to finally get her to,

to work up the courage to come on.

she ended up having a great
time, wants to come back on.

She, was able to just sit there and cook
for half an hour straight without any

interruption about all things customer
service, ways it can make organizations,

you know, better and more successful.

And it turned out to be a fascinating
conversation, and, I was, I'm happy to

say was dead wrong before, beforehand

Brandon Giella: That's great.

That's great.

Rachel, do you have any
kind of unexpected episodes?

Anything that's caught your attention?

Rachel Satow: I mean, I, I did
really love Ariella's podcast.

It was one of the episodes where I was
not able to join because I was, I think I

was traveling or there was a reason why I
wasn't able to join, and I was really...

I, I, I was anticipating listening
to the recording on the way

Brandon Giella: Oh.

Rachel Satow: that I knew was
going to be a really great episode,

and I just, I just needed it to
happen, was Kerry Griffin's episode.

And, she...

And, and you and I have
talked about this, Brandon.

She is just such a wealth of knowledge
and, has so much industry expertise,

and just fascinating to listen
to her, you know, own the thought

Brandon Giella: Yeah,

Rachel Satow: own

Brandon Giella: we

Rachel Satow: space, and, that
one I knew going into it was

going to be a great episode.

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

Brandon Giella: her.

Rachel Satow: that I actually listened to

Brandon Giella: I

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

How do we,

Brandon Giella: think

Rachel Satow: do we keep going with this?"

I want her to come back a thousand times.

Brandon Giella: it'll be so fun.

Yeah, you guys have
such an incredible team.

I think just listening to all your
different perspectives, the camaraderie,

the, the kind of, the shared vision that
you guys have built over the years has

been just such a delight, such a joy.

Well, I have had such a-- yeah, it's been
such a delightful experience, working with

you guys and having these conversations.

And so I'll leave you
with this, final question.

what are you looking forward to
most in the next year of delivering

these conversations to folks?

Rachel Satow: Mm.

What am I looking forward to most?

One of the things I think I
love most about the podcast is

that it gives us the opportunity

Brandon Giella: It's

Rachel Satow: that are industry experts.

And I look at these conversations as,
probably a little bit more relaxed

than, than some of our, our colleagues
do who are nervous to come on.

I, I mean, I was in the same
place when I first started and

I had never done a podcast too.

I was obsessing over,
over the conversation.

And I think one of the things that
I look forward to the most over the

next couple of, of episodes and, and
well into the future is just being

able to build those relationships
because we don't get to have open

conversations like this regularly, right?

Like, we're so head down in completing
the next task, making sure the, the

next implementation is comp- is done.

You know, we don't get to have some of
these open conversations, and I think

the podcast really gives us that space
and that time to what does X, Y, Z person

know and, and tell our own stories and
really riff on, on, off of each other.

It's, it's, o- one of my favorite things,
and I think that camarader- camaraderie

that you mentioned is, something

Brandon Giella: so heartwarming.

Rachel Satow: to over the next 50.

Ian Andersen: And I think I just look

Brandon Giella: has

Ian Andersen: getting able to spend
more time talking to one of my best

friends, Rachel, and seeing just
how brilliant she is every day.

Rachel Satow: Heart hands.

Brandon Giella: most
heartwarming conversation.

no, this, this truly has
been really, really awesome.

Yeah, I appreciate you both very much.

Appreciate the Switchlight team, the
hard work you guys are, doing this year,

especially with the theme of velocity.

It's never easy, but, but it's always
a beautiful thing to watch people work

in the same direction and, and ship
things quickly and delight customers.

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

Ian Andersen: you, Brandon.

You've been instrumental
to our success in this, so

Brandon Giella: Thank you.

Rachel Satow: Yes,

Brandon Giella: you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Grateful to serve.

Yeah, thank you very much, guys.

All right.

Well, we will see you on
the next episode with Jess.

We'll see you then.

Bye, y'all.

Rachel Satow: Bye.