The Tourism AI Podcast by Tourism AI Network

October 22, 2026Episode 447 min

AI Adoption at a Ski Resort: Start With Your Front Line

Subscribe to our newsletter! Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! Email info@tourismainetwork.com to learn more. Dane Swanson analyzes guest feedback for a living. As Guest Experience Analyst & AI Integration Strategist at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village, Wyoming, he turns large volumes of guest data into reporting for senior leadership. He is also one of the resort's AI champions. Peter Pilarski talks with Dane about what AI adoption looks like inside a working ski resort. This spring the resort's CEO set up an AI task force with one rule: no senior leaders at the table, only front-line staff. Dane explains how that group got started, how he cut a one-hour weekly executive report to about 20 seconds using Copilot, Office Scripts and Power Automate, and why a person still checks every number. Topics: Building an AI task force from the front line Turning an hour of weekly reporting into seconds Training staff who learn in different ways, and the knowledge library Dane is planning Working with ADHD while the tools change every month Why new technology can free staff up for more guest interaction, and why guests don't always see it that way Guest: Dane Swanson, Guest Experience Analyst, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Host: Peter Pilarski, Founder, Tourism AI Network; President, CIPR Communications Read the full blog here . Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded using Riverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside ⁠here⁠ . #AIinTourism #TourismAI #AIAdoption #GuestExperience #SkiIndustry #TourismIndustry #MicrosoftCopilot #Neurodiversity

October 8, 2026Episode 332 min

Curiosity Over Code: AI Adoption for Non-Technical Teams

Subscribe to our newsletter! Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! Email info@tourismainetwork.com to learn more. Peter Pilarski, Founder, Tourism AI Network; President, CIPR Communications, talks with Kendel Lavallee, Director of AI Adoption and Visibility at Tourism AI Network and a finalist for Woman of the Year in AI at the 2026 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Neither of them calls themselves a technical person, and that turns out to be the point. The tools now run on plain language, good instructions and judgment, and the work is shifting from doing tasks to designing loops and approving what comes out. Topics covered:- Why curiosity, judgment and agency matter more than a technical background- How agentic AI came together, from chatbots and reasoning models to the harness- The difference between a task and a loop, and where agents fit inside one- What has to be in place first: a team account, an AI policy, a knowledge base and written processes- Field notes from tourism training rooms, and why confidence can dip as AI use grows Read the full blog here . Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded using Riverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside ⁠here⁠ .

September 24, 2026Episode 244 min

AI in Hospitality: What a Machine Should Never Touch

Subscribe to our newsletter! Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! Email info@tourismainetwork.com to learn more. Kate Colley co-owns Hatch Hospitality with her husband, a chef and culinary consultant. Her own background is marketing, communications, branding and media relations, including ten years with Four Seasons Hotels in Vancouver and Whistler and the launch of Naramata Inn at the start of the pandemic. She joins Peter Pilarski to talk about how a two-person business uses AI, where it belongs in hospitality and where it does not, and why she has joined Tourism AI Network's Expert Advisory Network. What we cover: Running Claude and ChatGPT against each other, and what each one is better at Why the back office is where AI earns its place: menus, payroll, schedules, SOPs, newsletters The reluctance Kate hears from chefs, and what changes the first time someone tries it Using AI as a teacher, and knowing your own work well enough to tell it when it is wrong Where the existential risk conversation sits next to the risks an operator controls Kate Colley, Co-owner, Hatch Hospitality. Peter Pilarski, Founder, Tourism AI Network; President, CIPR Communications. Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded using Riverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside ⁠here⁠ . #AIinTourism #TourismAI #AIAdoption #Hospitality #TourismIndustry #CulinaryTourism #SmallBusinessAI

September 10, 2026Episode 139 min

AI Burnout, Build Sprints, and Google’s AI Mode Booking

Subscribe to our newsletter! Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! Email info@tourismainetwork.com to learn more. Season 4 opens with Peter Pilarski and Kendel Lavallee back from the summer break, working through what changed whilethe industry was busy hosting. Peter names AI burnout as real, for practitioners and for the DMO leader trying to learn AI on top of a full job, and makes the case for pacing yourself. The two then trace how requests to Tourism AI Network have shifted from training toward building: Build Sprints, packaged tourism workflows, and version one of TourismOps AI, the reportingtool built with the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association. Peter also previews the season's guest lineup, including members of TAIN's Expert Advisory Network. The back half turns to Google. Kendel walks through the new travel features in AI Mode, including hotel booking through themajor chains and OTAs and what she found testing it on smaller properties, and Peter connects Google's Ask for Me feature to a near future where AI agents phone businesses for quotes. The episode closes with a family trip to Japan planned and navigated inside a Claude project. In this episode: Why AI burnout is real, and how to paceadoption The shift from "teach me" to"build it for me" What agentic AI looks like in operations,marketing, and HR Google AI Mode's new travel and hotelbooking features Voice agents, speed to lead, and keepingyour data ready Hosts: Peter Pilarski, Founder, Tourism AI Network; President, CIPR Communications. Kendel Lavallee, Director of AI Adoption and Visibility, Tourism AI Network. Read the full blog here [HYPERLINK]. Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded usingRiverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside here . #AIinTourism #TourismAI #AIAdoption #DMO#TourismIndustry #Hospitality #GoogleAIMode #AIAgents

May 7, 2026Episode 4146 min

#41 - AI Maturity vs. Digital Authority: The Two Journeys

Subscribe to our newsletter! Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! ⁠Book a call⁠ to learn more! Peter, Kendel, and Matthew unpack the Two Journeys Framework, the idea that every tourism business is now on parallel paths of AI maturity and digital authority, and why getting them in the right order changes everything. In this episode: Peter's Trendsetter to Watch award, the new Digital Authority Framework launch, how CIPR Communications rolled out organizational change through daily morning huddles, the Invisible Innovators problem in tourism, Peter's vibe-coding adventure with Claude Code (and what it actually takes to build something useful), and why being a messy learner right now beats waiting for certainty. If your team is investing in AI tools but your brand says different things in different places online, you're accelerating in the wrong direction. This conversation explains why and what to do first. Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded using Riverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside ⁠here⁠ . #AIinTourism #DigitalAuthority #DMO #DestinationMarketing #AIAdoption #TourismAI #TAINPodcast #VibeCoding

March 19, 2026Episode 4030 min

#40 - AI Data Governance: What Tourism Operators Must Know

Subscribe to our newsletter! Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! ⁠Book a call⁠ to learn more! Data governance is a people, process, and legal problem. In this episode, Peter Pilarski sits down with data analytics expert and Tourism Ops AI co-builder Jeremy Adamson to unpack what AI data governance actually looks like for tourism organizations of all sizes. They cover why good intentions aren't enough without documentation, the very real financial penalties hiding behind everyday AI habits, what GDPR compliance means for Canadian operators marketing to Europe, and why the regulatory picture in Canada is murkier than ever. Whether you run a DMO, a small operator, or anything in between. This one is worth your time. Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded using Riverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside ⁠here⁠ . #AIinTourism #DataGovernance #TourismTech #DMO #DestinationMarketing #GDPR #TourismAI #AIAdoption

March 5, 2026Episode 3943 min

#39 - AI Readiness for DMOs: Where to Start with Your Team - AI Marketing Workflow Series Part 3

Subscribe to our newsletter! Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! ⁠Book a call⁠ to learn more! What does it actually look like when a DMO starts preparing for AI adoption? In this episode, Peter Pilarski walks Gerardo Corro, Executive Director of Tourism New Westminster, through a live AI readiness assessment. Gerardo shares his team's real tech stack, pain points, data gaps, and organizational challenges as a 2.5-person team doing the work of 40. This is Part 3 of our AI Adoption for DMOs series, and the conversation gets practical fast: from disconnected file systems and reporting bottlenecks to the question every small destination needs to answer before touching a single AI tool. Read the full blog here . Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded using Riverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside ⁠here⁠ . #AIinTourism #DMO #DestinationMarketing #AIAdoption #TourismTech #AIReadiness #SmallTeam #TourismStrategy

February 19, 2026Episode 3843 min

#38 - From Chat to Delegation: AI Adoption's Next Phase

Subscribe to our newsletter! Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! ⁠Book a 15-minute call⁠ to learn more! Most tourism businesses are spending 90% of their energy on 15% of the AI adoption problem. In this episode, Peter, Kendel and Matthew break down Peter's latest blog "From Chat to Delegation" and what the updated AI adoption hierarchy means for tourism operators. The team also covers Anthropic's new Claude Opus 4.6 model, the release of Cowork for Windows, TripAdvisor's ChatGPT-powered trip planning app, and a rapid fire round on EU AI transparency rules, airline disruption chatbots, Google Maps VibeCheck, and Airbnb's AI listing descriptions. Read the full blog here . Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded using Riverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside ⁠here⁠ . #AIinTourism #AIAdoption #ContextEngineering #TourismMarketing #DestinationMarketing #TourismTech #ClaudeAI

February 12, 2026Episode 371 hr 3 min

#37 - Claude's 23,000-Word AI Constitution: What Tourism Needs to Know

Subscribe to our newsletter! Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! ⁠Book a 15-minute call⁠ to learn more! Small tourism businesses need AI tools they can trust. That starts with understanding how those tools are built and what values guide their behaviour. Peter, Kendel, and Matthew discuss why Tourism AI Network made the switch from ChatGPT to Claude, diving deep into Anthropic's groundbreaking constitutional AI approach. From the 23,000-word ethics blueprint to real security concerns with viral tools like OpenClaw (formerly Clawdbot), this episode unpacks what responsible AI adoption actually looks like. Key topics: Constitutional AI vs reinforcement learning from human feedback The four-tier priority hierarchy: safe, ethical, compliant, helpful Why Claude Code is changing how non-coders build solutions Security risks with hyped AI tools (and how to spot them) Matthew's workflow automation that saves hours weekly Read the full blog here. Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded using Riverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside ⁠here⁠ . #AIinTourism #ClaudeAI #AIEthics #TourismTech #ResponsibleAI

February 5, 2026Episode 3646 min

#36 - What Climbing Kilimanjaro Taught Me About Hospitality

Donate to Melanie's Ascent Did you know we offer a free AI Minute Snippet for your organization's newsletter? Give your members valuable AI insights without adding work for your team. Partner with us to add high-quality, thought-provoking AI content to your newsletter - for free! ⁠Book a 15-minute call⁠ to learn more! PeterPeter climbed Mount Kilimanjaro as part of Melanie's Ascent, raising over $300,000 for domestic violence victims. What started as a fundraising trek became a masterclass in hospitality, service excellence, and tourism's real impact on communities. In this episode, Peter shares stories from 8 days on the mountain with 11 hikers and 55 crew members, revealing how Tanzanian guides and porters delivered six-star service at 19,000 feet. From tables and chairs set up for tea breaks to porters thanking tourists for meaningful work, the experience reshaped Peter's understanding of what great hospitality actually means. Plus: The AI revelation Peter had on the flight home that changed how he thinks about technology in tourism. Subscribe to our newsletter Follow Tourism AI Network: ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠X (Twitter)⁠ ⁠Facebook⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ ⁠Website⁠ This podcast was recorded using Riverside.FM – the platform we trust for studio-quality remote recordings. With local tracks, HD video, and easy guest access, Riverside makes it simple to create pro-level podcasts from anywhere. Want to launch your own? Try Riverside ⁠here⁠ . #AIinTourism #Hospitality #TourismAI #ServiceExcellence #Kilimanjaro

The Tourism AI Podcast

About the show

Listen to episodes

AI Adoption at a Ski Resort: Start With Your Front Line

Curiosity Over Code: AI Adoption for Non-Technical Teams

AI in Hospitality: What a Machine Should Never Touch

AI Burnout, Build Sprints, and Google’s AI Mode Booking

#41 - AI Maturity vs. Digital Authority: The Two Journeys

#40 - AI Data Governance: What Tourism Operators Must Know

#39 - AI Readiness for DMOs: Where to Start with Your Team - AI Marketing Workflow Series Part 3

#38 - From Chat to Delegation: AI Adoption's Next Phase

#37 - Claude's 23,000-Word AI Constitution: What Tourism Needs to Know

#36 - What Climbing Kilimanjaro Taught Me About Hospitality

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