Gillian Morris, CEO of Hitlist, presented on innovative startups and the future of travel distribution at the Airline Information Mega Event. She discussed how travel planning has changed with the rise of mobile and millennials, with today's travelers visiting an average of 32 websites before booking. She identified key trends in the industry, including travel assistants that help users find deals, inspiration platforms that suggest destinations, proactive alerts about price drops, customer-focused options like hidden city booking, and greater social integration when planning trips.

1. Innovative startups & what’s next in
travel distribution
Beyond metasearch
Presented at the Airline Information
Mega Event, 25th October 2016, Toronto

2. Gillian Morris
1. CEO, Hitlist: an app that alerts you when
there are cheap flights to places you want
to go
2. Also obsessive travel industry analyst: I
do my best to keep track of the coolest
things being developed in the space
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
Presented by

3. The state of travel
planning in 2016
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

4. The state of travel
planning in 2001
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

5. What’s changed?
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

6. Will anything change?
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Yes this is outdated but I didn’t have time to track down current numbers and this illustrates well enough

7. New entrants take market share from
incumbents, but also expand total market
size
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

8. ’Disruption’ doesn’t come
out of the blue
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

9. ’Disruption’ doesn’t come
out of the blue (2)
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Companies that formalize Craigslist marketplaces,
via Andrew Parker of Spark Capital

10. What’s driving change?
Millennials & mobile
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
People aged 18-24 report a
stronger desire to travel than older
generations by a 23% margin.
Travel spend by this group is
expected to increase 47% by
2020.
Today’s travelers are social, mobile and
underserved by current travel planning
tools: they visit an average of 32
websites before booking

11. What hasn’t worked
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

12. What hasn’t worked (2)
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
2001-era
Rough metric: must be 10x better or 10x cheaper to break out

13. Trend #1: Assistants
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Describe your
travel goals,
Slingshot
assistants help
you figure out
a way to get
there for free
(usually
through credit
card point
bonuses)

14. Assistants
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
For complex
itineraries: hire
a Flightfox
agent to help
you save $$$ by
finding
unconventional
flights +
mileage
redeption

15. Assistants
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Anyone can be
a travel agent:
create an
itinerary for
yourself or
someone else,
get paid a
commission

16. Assistants
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Chat & book
with a travel
agent (as
opposed to
talking on the
phone/emailing)

17. Trend #2: Inspiration
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

18. Inspiration
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

19. Inspiration
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

20. Inspiration
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

21. Trend #3: Push
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Alert to book
when flight
prices drop

22. Push
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Alerts to book
when prices
drop; see what
friends are
planning

23. Trend #4: Customer-first
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Book ‘hidden
city’* flights
and get off
before the
last leg to
save $$$
*dubiously
legal (like
AirBnb)

24. Customer-first
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Book ‘hacker
fares’: fly part
of the way
with a legacy
carrier, part of
the way low
cost

25. Trend #5: Socially
integrated
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app

26. Socially integrated
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
See which friends
have been to a
destination, ask
them for advice,
share trip plans
with others

27. Socially integrated
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Not usually
considered a
travel company,
but #1 app used
to meet people
while traveling

28. In conclusion
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto
@hitlist_app
Trends in travel search:
- Assisted
- Inspirational
- Proactive
- Customer-first
- Socially integrated

29. Hitlistapp.com
More at
Mega Event, 25/26th October 2016, Toronto