The verdict is in, the people have spoken: Arival 360 | Washington, DC was “time well invested.”
Those three words — which quickly became an oft-repeated phrase around the event — are attributed to Joe Pine, widely considered the “Godfather of Experiences.” Pine spoke in the Executive Summit as well as the opening theater session of the main Arival 360 event, setting the tone around this idea of time as a precious resource, which travelers do not simply want to save or spend, but invest in experiences that matter to them.
So following the theme of time well invested, I’ll keep this short and sweet. Here are three top takeaways from Arival 360 | Washington, DC that are worth your time:
1. From “How They Search” to “How They AI”
How travelers discover, choose and book experiences is always a key focus at Arival, whether that’s through sessions on social media marketing or Google Things to do. However, this year the focus is shifting dramatically from “How the search” to “how they AI.”
“In particular the rise of AI overviews is having a significant impact and disruptive impact in the search marketing funnel,” explained Arival CEO & Co-founder Douglas Quinby in his opening keynote session.
“Of course, that’s not the only place where searches are happening,” said Janette Roush, Chief AI Officer of Brand USA, in her main stage session. “All of the major LLMs, including ChatGPT, now enable search inside the language model.” And this isn’t happening in some hypothetical future time — booking.com and Expedia recently announced an integration with ChatGPT to enable users to book directly within their ChatGPT search conversations.
This was also, of course, a key theme of the AI Forum for Destination Experiences which took place immediately before Arival. One of the sessions centered on a core question for travel experiences: will online travel agencies or direct bookings prevail in the age of AI search?
“Whoever owns the customer in search is going to be the winner,” said Lori Timony,
SVP of Global Trade Sales and Business Development at Go City.
2. What Future Travelers are Really Looking For
With all the talk of AI, one might expect the conference to have felt very tech-focused and disembodied, however in reality it was quite the opposite.
Behind the drive towards using AI to discover, choose and book activities, are humans looking for increasingly personalized, immersive and meaningful experiences. In the Executive Summit, where industry leaders gathered before the main conference to discuss the global mega-trends shaping future of travel experiences, seasoned industry veteran and former Expedia CEO Eric Blatchford discussed the rising desire for “IRL” or “in real life.” Operators should consider what the rising wave of “de-screening” means for experience design.
We know travelers want more experiences, but it goes deeper than that. “There’s a generational shift underway,” said Quinby. “It’s not just about where to go and what to do, but what do I want to experience and how do I want this to impact me, what does this say about me as a person?”
What it boils down to, according to Pine, is transformation. And this isn’t just a fancy word: Pine argues it’s the “next competitive frontier for experiences.” Travelers are looking for nothing short of personal and lasting transformation, and it’s the experiences that facilitate this that travelers will deem “time well invested.”
This is also why we’re seeing a rise in private tours, smaller groups, and multi-day tours, particularly among younger travelers, adds Quinby.
“The category itself has been exploding because when we came out of the pandemic people realized the last thing they wanted was to be on a giant bus with a tonne of people,” shared Christian Wolters from Intrepid Travel during the Multi-Day Track session on marketing. ”With small groups you can have a more authentic experience.”
3. The Importance of Authenticity in Disruptive Times
The elephant in the room at Arival was not related to Craig Dodge’s amazing presentation about the transformative experience of the Phare Circus. It was, rather, related to the location of the conference itself — Washington, DC — and the looming political and societal tension we hoped would not put a damper on the event.
But everyone loves a good reframing, and Akila McConnell of Unexpected Tours and Training did not disappoint in her session on Storytelling in an Age of Disruption, reframing the challenges presented in the current political environment in the U.S. as an opportunity to offer transformational learning experiences to the guests that are hungry for them.
“Customers do not want the predictable, they want the transformative,” said McConnell, citing a study by American Express Traveler that found 73% of luxury travelers want experiences that “challenge their worldview.”
The topic came up in the Operator Town Hall as well in the final theater session, in terms of whether and how to address touchy subjects on tour with your guests. Stacey Toussaint, Founder of Inside Out Tours, explained how they train their guides to address these topics head on:
Guests appreciate authenticity, said Toussaint, echoing the points made by other speakers throughout the conference on the importance of being real. “We’re not changing who we are and we’re not going to change who we are,” Toussaint said emphatically.
What’s Next at Arival
The energy from the sessions about AI, transformation and authentic conversations carried on throughout the conference from structured breakout sessions to informal networking and community events.
There were, of course, far more than three takeaways from Arival DC — we have barely scratched the surface on all the incredible AI content, for example, and haven’t even touched on the Q&As with Airbnb and GetYourGuide execs in the hot seat.
Over the next few weeks we’ll have a lot more highlights to share here, on social and on the podcast. Make sure you’re on the newsletter list so you don’t miss anything!
Become an Insider Pro Access member today and get access to the full library of Arival research, plus many other benefits such as free consulting sessions, special discounts and 20% off in-person events, starting from $179 per year.
Sign up to receive insights tailored for the in-destination industry as well as updates on Arival.
