Speaking
Keynotes for people building the future of travel
Twenty-plus years running Culture Discovery Vacations, published research on anti-extractive tourism, and a track record of predicting where technology was headed before it got there.
Track 1 · The Future of Travel
Humanity Is the New Currency: Why AI Is Making Authentic Travel Priceless
AI will commoditize transactional travel services within five years. This is a framework for automating that half of the business while making the human half louder.
Best for: Conferences, industry keynotes, executive audiences
The Death of Hospitality (And the Birth of Something Better)
Why traditional hospitality metrics are going obsolete, and how Culture Discovery's shift to transformational experiences produced a 42% guest return rate.
Best for: Conferences, industry keynotes, executive audiences
Track 2 · The Anti-Luxury Revolution
Beyond Five Stars: Why the Future of Travel Is Anti-Luxury (Signature Talk)
A personal story, LA wealth to Italian simplicity, backed by data on affluent travelers walking away from amenities. The business case follows: anti-luxury earns higher margins and keeps guests longer.
Best for: Conferences, industry keynotes, executive audiences
From Porsche to Purpose: How Personal Transformation Became Travel Innovation
Leadership lessons from leaving the tech industry on principle, and how being the same person in private and in public turns into an actual competitive advantage.
Best for: Conferences, industry keynotes, executive audiences
Track 3 · Digital Transformation & Strategy
The $250M Lesson: How a Tech CEO's Predictions Can Save Your Travel Business
In 1999 I stood on conference panels telling rooms full of people that the valuations were insane and the whole thing was going to crack open. They laughed at me. I was right. That same year I turned down the VC who wanted to take us public, they funded a weaker competitor instead, and that founder exited at $250 million. Being right about a market and being right about your own company turn out to be two different skills. The foresight method behind that call, plus streaming, mobile, VoIP, and GPS, aimed at the decisions travel companies keep getting wrong.
Best for: Conferences, industry keynotes, executive audiences
Aim at Yourself: Why Every Generation Fights the Future
From my forthcoming book of the same name. Every generation meets its disruption by defending what it already built. I watched it happen up close in 1999, and I'm watching the same reflexes play out around AI right now. What separated the companies that came through the dot-com collapse from the ones that were certain they were safe.
Best for: Conferences, industry keynotes, executive audiences
Track 4 · Research-Based Keynotes
From 18 Residents to 850,000 Visitors: What Went Wrong and How to Prevent It
Two Italian villages. One thriving, one hollowed out by overtourism. Includes a "Sustainability Removal Test" for telling real sustainability from the performative kind.
Best for: Conferences, industry keynotes, executive audiences
Existential Sustainability: When Community Benefit Becomes Business Necessity
A framework from published 2025 SSRN research, adapted for industry audiences. Covers 100% partner retention over 20+ years and zero-commission partnership economics.
Best for: Conferences, industry keynotes, executive audiences
Where I’ve spoken before
I spoke and sat on panels regularly through the dot-com years. Comdex, Internet World, ISPCon, CeBIT, plus a run of radio interviews. Then I burned out on corporate life and stopped, for about twenty years. This is me coming back to it, with something considerably more interesting to say than I had the first time.
Masterclasses & workshops
Strategy & leadership
Building Anti-Luxury: A Travel Business Model Masterclass
The financial breakdown behind the model, how we made the transition, how we choose and pay vendors, and what marketing looks like when you have no amenities to sell.
The Zero Commission Revolution
How to move a business off commissions without losing your partners. Covers the negotiation, the transition period, and what it does to profitability on the other side.
Crisis-Proof Travel: The 42% Return Rate Formula
Industry average for repeat guests runs 5 to 8%. This is the loyalty mechanism behind ours, and why it holds up when the market doesn't.
Digital & marketing
The Digital-First Tour Operator
Search, content, social, and email sequences, built specifically for travel companies rather than adapted from generic ecommerce advice.
AI for Travel: Implementation Without Losing Your Soul
Which tasks to automate, which tools actually earn their keep, and how to protect the relationships that are the entire reason guests booked you.
Operations & guest experience
The Authentic Experience Design Workshop
The psychology of transformational travel, a working method for designing experiences around it, and how to price the result.
From Service to Transformation: The Anti-Luxury Operations Model
Staff training, operational systems, vendor selection, and the quality metrics that tell you whether any of it is working.
Formats
- Keynotes: 60-90 minutes
- Executive workshops: half-day or full-day
- University guest lectures
- Multi-day consulting + speaking programs
Fees
I don’t publish a rate card. What I charge depends on the format, the audience, and how far I’m traveling, and I’d rather give you an honest number once I know what the event actually needs. I charge less for academic institutions, non-profits, and destinations putting real structural sustainability policies in place. Ask and you’ll have a figure inside a day.
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