Speaker 1hello everyone and welcome back to the travel trends podcast this is your host dan christian and today we have a special spotlight episode for you featuring jesse fisher the founder and ceo of guest os now jesse has been a key part of travel trends over the years she has presented at our last two ai summits and she'll be back again at this october for our summit v3 as one of the hottest startups from the last few years that has been brought back by demand because she's given some great presentations but she also as many of our listeners know has a really compelling backstory in the travel industry and why she founded guest os in the first place she started her career in hospitality at the age of 12 her parents run a number of hotels near yosemite national park and she worked at the front desk very hands-on exposure to what guests need and what makes a property run well and she's been building around that ever since she actually worked with a number of early stage startups in her career across a range of industries but then she founded guest os back in 2024 with a simple but ambitious idea to give every property a 24-7 multilingual ai teammate that can answer the phone handle guest questions manage bookings and itineraries and surface local recommendations all through a single number with no app required and i've seen her demo this as jesse knows i've actually demoed guest os a number of times on stage it was the platform that we have used for our summit for the last two years so you've called jet and asked jet questions about the speakers and tickets this year tickets are completely free so you can register now but coming back to the focus here of our spotlight episode the guest os is a platform that we've used for our summit for the last two years so you've called jet and asked platform was specifically designed for hotels for tour operators and activity providers as well as event organizers so that that means less workload for staff more direct bookings and a guest experience that doesn't drop after checkout what makes guest os really stand out isn't just the technology it's how jesse has applied it and you'll see that when we bring her in in a moment but she has built ai powered hotlines to support communities during crises like the california wildfires which she experienced in the last two years and she's been doing that for a long time personally because they lost one of their properties and so jesse has taken this platform to tourism officials internationally she was recently in cambodia she is a great representative for how this technology can be used across hospitality and travel and what ai driven hospitality can really look like at scale they now have more than a hundred partners as you can see if you go to guest os.ai i'm very excited to have jesse back on the show she was part of last season of our agentic ai series her and the team at guest os have been working together for a long time since that is a core client segment for them but today we're going to focus on guest os itself how it's evolved what she's learned building an ai teammate for an industry that's built on human connection and where she sees this going next so on that note jesse welcome back to the travel trends podcast hi
Speaker 2dan it's so nice to be back here with you what an introduction very well
Speaker 1tell everyone where you are today jesse i
Speaker 2am back to where it all started i'm just at my family home near santa cruz but yeah you can usually find me between here san francisco or yosemite and i was just thinking you know very much a creature of habit and those things but i guess it's not normal to navigate between three locations every week well i know
Speaker 1yeah typically you're one of those three locations when we speak it's always a spectacular background but you're either in san francisco or you're in yosemite but the or your family home but you're in california most often but obviously you travel a lot as well so we see each other at conferences last time was a few months ago at the visit california conference in san diego was that
Speaker 2just a few months ago this year is just so it's flying by but it also feels like many years in one year well you've
Speaker 1been building out your team even then when i saw you were racing off after the conference to go and do some client onboarding with a local hotel and we'll get into that because i think our listeners will be keen to know where you've gotten to with guest os and where you're headed but let's give everyone a bit more background and let's start on a personal level first because this is the first time we've been able to do a spotlight episode i know you've demoed at our conferences you've you've joined our agentic ai series but one of the things i always found most compelling about you ever since we met and i saw you present and your share your family story was the fact that this is an industry you grew up in and i just want to spend a bit of time giving a bit more context to that and also your love and care for your family and your dog remy that for anyone who follows you on social media much much like my dog moose hopefully one day they all meet but remy i've obviously got a chance to hang out with a number of times and have sat on my lap during the banquet dinner at the visit california conference so you have a great love for the outdoors and for animals but yeah tell us a little bit more jesse about your childhood your parents background and
Speaker 2growing up in hospitality yeah i think the the main story you i guess you can say but back in the 1970s my dad had an opportunity to purchase a 12-room motel and his background was not in hotel management or anything so it was just an opportunity that came up and we had no affiliation to yosemite it's uh about just under four hour drive from where my family is based so quite quite a commute right so you know that really changed our life in hospitality and just taking that risk and building it out over the years this year we're celebrating 50 years so really exciting and you know just having taken the 12 rooms and built it into just under a thousand different types of accommodations from lodges to vacation homes to glamping and each of those really requires such a different business strategy but i think growing up around all of those and just seeing how you know the perspective not just operations at the front desk but also from you know dirt to building to helping guests it's all and i did work in architecture for a little bit near in carmel so all the beautiful big sir locations but yeah i think i think just that's really shaped everything and what i'm doing today
Speaker 1and one thing i want to share with the audience if it's all right with you too jesse because when you are presenting and sharing pictures of your parents and your sister and your family one thing that is obviously very unique about your story is that you were adopted and you're originally from korea and so when you see your family and it's a lovely wonderful family that you have and i know you guys are also close and i always see pictures of you and your dad going to conferences together and it's like it's like a it's like a it's like a it's like a wonderful family dynamic i mean what a beautiful place to have grown up but i think that also adds a unique dimension to your story in terms of being an entrepreneur and you know seeking opportunities and that and so i just thought i would mention that as well because when we first got to know each other i think it was what you had gone back to korea for the first time and yes and so yeah so tell us a little bit more if you wouldn't mind just sharing a little bit more context around
Speaker 2that yeah wow i think this is the first time i've talked about this on a podcast so would uh be happy to share more about that side of my life but yeah i think you know i was born in seoul and came to california just a week before my first birthday and so i have two sisters who are also from korea and then two older brothers who are quite tall and you know the family pictures are so funny but i think it's just really shaped growing up and a diverse you know unique situation and nothing about my background is normal and growing up i really hated that but now i've i've accepted it and i'm really appreciative of all the uniqueness and unconventional lifestyle that that is ours so yeah i appreciate you
Speaker 1speaking about that and sharing that because i actually do think that is really powerful when you get the full perspective of your your background and seeing your family and knowing your background and seeing your family that you not only have the connection to nature and one of the most beautiful national parks in the u.s but also san francisco you know where you went to school where you live and being very focused on technology and being in really the hub as we get into talking about ai and that's what's really unique for me is it kind of combines when i when i've seen you speak and on stage you know that you have the background in hospitality you have this global perspective and then you also have a very strong understanding of technology and how it could be utilized and so i think that's one of the reasons that you know investors have gravitated towards you and guest os and partners as well is that the more they get to know about jesse and get to know meet remy it's just like your personal story is is so compelling so let's dive into more the technology side so given that you have that the background in hospitality tell us a little bit more what brought you into technology given that you're working on other projects and the genesis of the of guest os i have always loved
Speaker 2the technology and i've always loved technology so growing up uh you know we had limited time on the computer and And so I would definitely take that time because we're in the mountains and, you know, internet also took over the phone line at the time. So you'd have to be like, okay, I will have this hour every day. And so I've just always loved it and answering the phone at the hotels and just really, I'm a quick learner. I think sometimes growing up when working at the hotels growing up, my dad would be like, slow down, slow down. And then I'd already done and went along with that. So I think technology has always fascinated me from the standpoint of being able to do things more efficiently and help us develop and really become, use our creativity as humans. So I think now is especially exciting. I spend a lot of my time, as you know, just guest OS related work, but also it's just such a fascinating. Time and what we're able to do now that brings our creativity to life is incredible.
Speaker 1And so given that you've now, you know, you've had this business for two years and obviously a lot has happened. Tell us about those, the first wave of activity in the first six months, because I've had the privilege of seeing this from a front row seat and being part of your advisory group. And obviously I'm, I'm thrilled to be a part of that. That's not why we're doing this spotlight episode, if anything, that. That certainly adds to my perspective of the business. And obviously I'm, I am very bullish on guest OS in your success. So our listeners should know that I, I am a strong advocate and an advisor for, for guest OS, but that's not why we're doing the spotlight episode. We're doing the spotlight episode because I think the world needs to know more about guest OS and what Jesse and the team are building, but rewind back to those first six months and tell all of our listeners what that first wave of activity looks like. And then we'll, we'll jump to the last six months and how, how things have evolved.
Speaker 2Yes. I love this because it allows me to take a step back from the day to day grind and really think about how far we've come. I think it's always hard to do when you're building a company because there's so much to do and you're just like next, looking for the next thing constantly, but reflecting on, you know, the first six months and actually I had reached out to you, I think in November before I incorporated guest OS the, the March after. And. I think that was just such an exciting time and so cool that you've been along really for the whole journey from inception and beyond and it, the first six months was so much about just getting introduced to the community. And I remember you had invited me to Virtuoso, even though I was the youngest startup there by a long way, I think three, just three months old, just an idea, but really loved and believed in the background there. And so just getting these opportunities to speak at, you know, Bruce also invited me to speak at Arrival and, and I had the scholarship for Focusrite, the Philip Wolf scholarship, and I had not heard of these things before. So I was just very excited, learning and at the very core, just sharing my story in hospitality. You know, I had stories. I didn't have metrics. From being five years in business, like everyone else presenting, but I had a story and that was really special.
Speaker 1Well, one thing I'll share too, with our listeners, because getting to know you and I won't reveal your age and I, but I will comment on something that, that does come up is that people comment on how young you look or how young they think you are. And that's a wonderful thing long-term for you, because obviously I want you to continue to look young for the rest of your life. And I think most people would, would definitely envy that. But what stands out to me is the fact that you were quite accomplished already before launching GuestOS. You'd worked in a number of different industries, but when people see you on stage and think that you're younger than you are, they think that who's this kid with this great idea that's come up with this. Like, so the crowd automatically gravitates to you because they, they see you as like a young entrepreneur, just kind of hitting the hitting the stage. But the reality is you've been in this space for more than a decade and you had startup experience before. And like, you actually, not that you're a veteran by any means, but you are definitely, you've had a lot more experience than most people would necessarily think at first glance. And I, and I get a kick out of that every time because they're like, she's, you're so good on stage. You're so, you're like, you're so young, so I'm sure you still get that.
Speaker 2Oh, all the time. And if I don't wear makeup, I think people think I'm 12 years old. It's it's, it's really funny. I'm like, dang, but yeah, actually it's kind of been my first experience. And being really the face of a company and being out there on stage, a lot of people don't realize it, but I was telling my team who I've worked with for quite a, quite a bit now. And I was like, oh yeah, I'm actually an introvert and I can do these things, but I'm so drained after it. And it takes a lot of energy to even like get there and there, they just didn't believe me. They're like, there's no way there's no way you are an introvert, but yeah, I spend a lot of my time reading in nature. And with Remy.
Speaker 1It keeps you young. I don't know about that.
Speaker 2I definitely need a little bit more sleep in my life, but I was
Speaker 1thinking of nature and Remy. Those are two things that, but when the one thing I'd love to pick up the story on, because as you've built out guest OS over the last couple of years, one of the pivotal moments for you, both personally and professionally was the wildfires, not only because you were personally affected. You realized that there was an opportunity to leverage this platform you've created. And that sort of opened up to, you know, when, as you were talking about taking a step back and thinking about how the business started, how it's evolved, that was a key milestone. So let's, let's pick up the story there. Tell everyone what transpired. Cause some people may have seen you on the news people, um, because they, I remember the, uh, the clip from, I think it was a Fox news and it was like young woman loses home in California. And I was like, that's Jesse's on Jesse's on the TV. Yeah. So tell us what happened there and then what that meant for guest OS and how it changed
Speaker 2your journey. What a, what a life we endure and get to live. But yes. So, um, my family's lost two homes to wildfires in the past, I guess, eight years now. So one in the 2017 Atlas fire, along with all those big fires in Napa. And then more recently in 2024 and the French fire, that one is in Mariposa. And with that one, I was like, okay, I'm going to have to do this again. I'm going to have to do this again. Yeah. So that was, that was a, it was a vacation rental property that my siblings and I, you know, put together and we're running it with each other. And I was in charge of guest experience. And we actually had a, a friend, a friend, uh, from Highgate who was taking his family there and visiting Yosemite the first time. And it was July 4th, I'll never forget the 4th of July. Um, but, but he sent me a picture. And he was like, it looks like there's a fire close. We're going to go into town. And I just saw it. Cause I always see these types of things and they end up being, you know, not, not too serious. But, but then a minute later, he's like, the sheriff just came and we're, we're evacuated. And then my brother was looking at the ring camera and it just turned off. There's like fire around it. It turned off. So I remember my dad and I, uh, went up there. What? And when we're able. To see it, it was just completely the same exact terrible scene because we didn't know if the house was burned down. My brother was pretty sure it had, but yeah, when, when we arrived on the scene, it was just one of those feelings that was like so many emotions, but instead of being upset or like, why me? It was more of like, okay, I'm getting to understand this industry, what's going on. And how can we prepare? Because as you can see today with so many wildfires, it's not going away.
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly. And you've experienced it firsthand. And obviously I'm based in Canada. People know what's been happening here. And, but even now in Spokane where the next arrival is going to be held. I mean, there's just, it's an unfortunate reality. You see what's happening in Europe and Spain and France. And it's part of this new unfortunate reality that it's not just unique to California, unfortunately, but it was obviously it's a, it highlights in your perspective. In particular instance, the need to be able to pivot, especially when it personally and professionally, it intertwines, obviously it also shows it showed to me. And I think to many of you are investors and colleagues, you know, really what a big heart you have. Like there's like, there's no certain entrepreneurs, like there was no profit motive there. Like it was, it was a great brand and marketing exposure. So there's a positive halo effect there, which, but that's not why you did it. It was, you know, you did it because you wanted to help. It had that secondary benefit, but if anything, it would have distracted you and the team for a short period of time. To, to address that issue and then get back to rebuilding GuestOS. So I think that speaks volumes about you and the company you're looking to build and the people you're looking to surround yourself with. So that's why it's another one of those milestones in our friendship and collaboration that I was like, good for you, Jesse. That's exactly what you should do. Like using this as a force for good. So after that, you know, unfortunate incident, but obviously learning experience. And tell us a little bit more than how you evolved the GuestOS platform based on that experience. experience with the type of clients you could offer this platform to, because I've as I mentioned in my introduction, it's more than hospitality. If anything, like there's a huge opportunity just in that vertical for you. But I mentioned about, you know, tour operators and tour activity providers, events, because I know you've not only powered our event, there's several events that you've powered as well with your GuestOS technology. So tell us a little bit more about how the business evolved after that, and then let's bring us up to speed on where you are
Speaker 2today. Yeah, the biggest learning from that experience was that through communication, access to information, you can save lives. And that to me was just a fundamental moment of realization. Okay, you know, products, of course, increased revenue, all those things that are great for a business. But now more than ever, you know, these natural disasters are happening, and events where you have to keep your guests safe, and you need to be able to get that information to them in real time. So that was the biggest learning of knowing what we can do, what's possible there. And then it also, it's funny, I had many meetings with, but, you know, just in that sector with red, cross leadership and completely different industries from hospitality. And so I always joke that my brain is capable of switching, you know, switching topics and gears quite rapidly. In fact, ask any family member or friend, they're like, say on this topic, I'm like 10 topics deep in a different way. But I will say that going from meetings and luxury hotels to meetings at the sheriff's office with Office of Emergency Services was a mind, like really messed with my brain. And definitely intimidating. I've never been in the sheriff's office before. So when I was speaking about guest OS, and, you know, things that are possible there, I was just sitting up very straight and answering like very properly. But yeah, I think it was just incredible to see how that component of real time information with all hotels that are serving guests from nearby and far can help them stay safe. When I mentioned in
Speaker 1the beginning that rather than being an app, and this being a voice agent, and this is where, you know, when we have the conversation about agentic AI, and what agents can do, I mean, people over the course of this year, across our industry, are starting to leverage the power of agentic AI for back office tasks. And it's becoming many people are upskilling themselves and taking courses. And it clearly, this is the year of agentic AI, you were ahead of the curve by being kind of two years ago, launching an agentic AI business and creating this concept of agents that can work on your behalf. And tell us a little bit more about where you guys are today, given the fact that now, I don't say the technology is catching up. There's certainly, you know, OpenAI, Claude, and Anthropic, so ChatGPT and Claude are now starting to introduce tools. And this is always the concern with technology, especially when you look at how Google has rolled over businesses. And it's always the concern for a lot of early AI companies that were really kind of a service layer wrapped in in another LLM platform. And so if those LLMs start to move into that space, then but this is, and I know Grok is even highlighting the fact you can build your own LLMs, and you can build your own LLMs, and you can build your own LLMs, and you can build AI agents in minutes now with, you know, create your own voice. But again, this was something that you were creating for clients two years ago. And so tell us a little bit more about how you're keeping ahead of the curve, so that people choose GuestOS versus what some of these LLMs are starting to introduce as their own platform features.
Speaker 2Yeah, I was at a roundtable discussion at Stanford University last year. And we were talking, the topic was on what in the age of AI, what are what are the main moats? Like, what's the defensibility? Because now more than ever, people can easily code things or, you know, use the new technology to build these things themselves. And that conversation concluded that the two moats are access to distribution, and being an industry domain, you know, expert in that field. Because you have to deeply understand how the operations work in order to build something that is going to be useful. And in order to deeply understand that you need to have worked in it. And especially something like front desk and hotel operations, it's not how you would logically think it is. So even with the team, you know, engineers on my team, it's like explaining and I am the product and every one else on the team who's been in hotel operations, product experts, and it's because we understand how things work and how we can build based on processes and stuff that the teams will be able to adopt. You can't just throw in how you think it should be and expect the teams and hotels to use that.
Speaker 1So what, what I think that's where it comes back to where our conversation started with really understanding hospitality, because the idea of creating an agentic tool and agentic, an agent that can that can interact with your customers, especially when you think about the chatbots and, and the level of customization and really understanding a vertical in an industry. And hospitality is one of those ones that if you get it wrong, you know, if you haven't, you know, one thing to send an extra pillows to someone's room, but like, you know, people have so much invested in their trips and their holidays, and the the fact that the human experience is really ultimately what people are traveling for technology is really transforming the travel industry as many other industries. But there's that important balance between what you want technology to do for you and where the human experience and I want to ask you about that as well. Since that is a big theme of our summit this year about beyond AI, where humans are still relevant, and where AI is best utilized. When you look at that, tell us a little bit more about the technology that you're applying for hospitality. And what's really unique about the guest OS platform? So take us through it, if you wouldn't mind, for a hotel listening to this, that is trying to figure out if they should use a tool like this. Give us a brief overview for them to help help them better understand what it is you guys do and why they should choose a platform like guest OS to help evolve their guest experience.
Speaker 2Number one thing that AI should be doing right now is automating the repetitive and mundane tasks. So any hotelier knows, there are many of these things that they can automate, and that will free up time to let their staff focus on the guest and deliver more experiences. So it's pretty straightforward.
Speaker 1And give us if you wouldn't mind, share a few examples of the clients, the partners that you are, you're powering in terms of hotels.
Speaker 2Yeah, we found a lot of success with luxury, high end boutique hotels and full service hotels. So teams that have a lot of amenities and things to offer on site are seeing huge success metrics around our portfolio are, you know, having a guest OS AI teammate increases conversion from 16 to over 50. And I'm not surprised at all, because having worked in hotels most of my life, you know, when you call, you might not get the same amount of money. You might not get an answer. When you call or email, you know, or reach out for something, you might not get an answer. If you do get someone on the phone, you have a specific question, you get a specific answer. But what about everything else there is to do on the property, and, and giving them that the ability to book it right then, not the back and forth, because you have to be able to capture that right in the moment. And I think it's very difficult to do. With current operations, but very possible with AI.
Speaker 1And the one other thing just to highlight, because obviously, I've set this up with you, the simplicity of getting something like this set up, obviously, people can check out guestOS.ai and look at, because it's a SaaS platform, a software as a service, and your pricing is based on monthly fees, like it's all very simple and straightforward. But the key is obviously making sure that it can speak in your brand voice. Tell us a little bit about the setup, because that was the part that it surprised me when we were getting started. Getting jet set up for last summit was how quick it was. And it was just indexing our website and pulling information. So tell everyone just the steps that are required to get a guestOS agent set up.
Speaker 2Yeah, so we do. We do most of the work, our team, you know, gets all the information for your team to review, confirm that it's still accurate, because we're getting it from their website directly. And then we. That's all we need to get to get the AI teammates set up and customized. And everyone is just so surprised by the simplicity. Yeah. We can onboard teams within 10 minutes or less, and then they just understand it. And I knew that building this product, it had to be intuitive. It had to be simple, you know, front desk. We are distracted by a million things going on every day, you know. So something where you can easily log in, get the action item done, and that's it. You know, very, very simple to use. And I think maintaining simplicity is a challenge. And I told the team, I said, it's going to become increasingly more difficult because there are so many features available and to build. But the moment you lose the ability for someone to log in and know exactly where to go, how to navigate, that's the moment, you know, the value of your platform changes. And there have been several platforms over the years I've logged into. And I log out. I'm like, what the heck? I have no idea where anything is. Goodbye. But yeah, so I think that's the ease of use is something that definitely differentiates GuestOS from others.
Speaker 1Well, I still remember after I'd given a keynote on AI at the Education Travel Consortium Conference, ETC, and I had done a demo on stage of GuestOS, and they were keen to implement it. And you kindly offered them the opportunity to create theirs. For the next year's conference. And again, that just, to me, that highlights kind of your, you know, your generous spirit and the fact you just want people to use this technology and, but you've built a business model around events as well. But, you know, one of the challenges I know that you had when you were speaking to kind of our board of advisors, you were looking for feedback, whether you should become the GuestOS of everything. And because, you know, you're not really limited to hotels and hospitality. And so in theory, that is obviously very possible. But obviously, as our feedback. And any investor listening to this would advise most startups to really narrow who they're trying to focus on, who they're trying to sell to, and really make sure you get that messaging right. And so you've done that with hospitality, but you've already expanded into tourism and attractions. Tell everyone, especially for those that are working in that space, why you decided, you know, destination management, visitor experience. Clearly, I know you're on the board of the Yosemite National Park. So you have that. Hands-on experience as well of knowing what it's like to manage a national park and seeing that up close. But tell everyone why you decided to go into that vertical next. And anyone listening that's in that space, what they should know about what you guys offer and why they should consider utilizing it.
Speaker 2Yes. Well, first, I'll say you should always listen to advisors because the ones we have are incredible in what they do. And, you know, you onboard people because of their experience. And trusting that is important. So I think with our product, there are so many use cases and everyone who has a business with a phone can use us. And so we've had a lot of interest from other industries. But, you know, we're really focusing on hotels now. And we do have tour operators and we have worked with, you know, Los Angeles tourism, welcoming guests, welcoming visitors. During FIFA recently. And that was an incredible pilot. And we learned a lot there of what's possible. So first, I'll just kind of highlight. It's been incredible to be the first trusted AI partner for Yosemite National Park for Los Angeles tourism. And, you know, these hotels that are top luxury hotels and really guest experience is the most important thing. And for them to trust us as their first AI partner is very meaningful. And we earn our trust. So it's been incredible to see that.
Speaker 1And I know you've moved into education. Obviously, you have events as well. Events isn't currently an area that you have your marketing towards, at least not on the website. But obviously, events do reach out to you. You've powered a number of them, including even the Focusrite conference. And so in terms of events that might be considered utilizing this. Is that still an offering that you would highlight that for people listening to this that are doing events that they could use GuestOS for just like we did for for our summit?
Speaker 2Yeah, you make an excellent point over since GuestOS started, we've been able to help with events, tour operators, hotels, and more. And through all of that, the focus has really been based on the visitor. And so the first thing that visitors need. To book, and, you know, one of the most important thing is that they have a place to stay. So that's where it's like hotels are the core of our focus. And everything around that really depends on the hotels. And so with, for example, the work we're doing ahead of LA 28, very exciting times in California, but all of that is driven by the demand for better communication. And we start with hotels. So it's like those events drive it and we do help because hotel guests are in town for that and they're going to need to navigate the destination. So we help with that. But the first thing that we focus on powering is hotels.
Speaker 1And so with that, one of the things I'm also interested to ask you, since I've seen the back end of your platform and I see how one of the things that your system does really well is learns from all the interactions it's having with guests. I still remember being on stage and doing a demo. And I've not only ETC, I've demoed this at World Travel Market in London, various conferences. And so people can find me on stage talking to my phone and highlighting the difference between asking Siri a question, which is still immensely frustrating, especially when you're driving, because Siri doesn't like that. But there's lots of things that Siri can't answer. And obviously, she just refers you over to chat GBT for the most part, as many of these Apple users know. And so Apple's really behind the game in this regard. And you can see the difference. When I asked Siri something and then I go and ask Jet, my guest OS, agentic assistant to help with something. And but what I was going to say is that when I look at the back end and you see all the interactions, because this is the really cool part for me, is that not only can I see my phone calls and my demos, but you can see other people that have called in. And I remember being asked on stage, too, is like, isn't that creepy? Or it's like, well, then it's not. No one's using this for anything untoward. You were using this to, like, improve. Improve the service and better understand what guests are requesting of a hotel like this. The most valuable part of the marketing data on a website for me is seeing what people are typing in to search boxes and seeing how they're navigating the site. It's the user behavior they're going to get the most information from. And so you can help you improve your business if you have a better understanding of why people are calling it in the first place and what questions they're asking. You can rethink some of your messaging and your approaches to check in. And I still love when we had our luxury hotel. In Syria, we had Jonathan Raggett from Red Carnation Hotels, who hopefully will be utilizing GuestOS in the future because I think they're a perfect use case for this because they very focus on high touch. And this whole idea that no request too great, no detail too small is kind of one of their. And when you look at he made the comment that one of the things he's adamant that he doesn't like is when team members, when they when someone comes to check in, what they want to hear is the magic words is your room is ready. Yeah, what they don't. He says we have. Failed if we don't have their room ready or specifically if we ask the question, how was your trip? And it really made me laugh because it's like nobody wants to talk about their flight. And I was like, it made me laugh because the number of times I get to a hotel check in and the first thing they ask me is, you know, how was your travels? And I'm like, like, it was an overnight flight. I'm kind of cranky. I just like I just I just want my room. Like, why do we have to have this conversation? So so tell us from what you've seen in the back end of the platform working with all these clients, like what is what is some of the data? What stood out to you that has been interesting for you to help work with other hotels to improve their services or tell us what stood out to you? I'd love to know your highlights.
Speaker 2Yeah, the major piece of the core value is information and insights. And for the first time, we're giving hotels the insights to what all their guests are asking for. And so I think that it's important to separate how things work and how things operate. Today, and how you can improve with what you have today. There are so many improvements to be made with just that foundation that I think you should hotels would benefit astronomically if they focus on that. But what I think is happening is there's so many distractions, buzzwords everywhere AI that I try not to even use any of those buzzwords, but it's, it's and those are things that are add ons and things that can help. But first, you should focus. Focus on what you can do today. And I think being able to have those insights and see exactly what guests are asking for today, where the knowledge gaps are, you see immediate improvements from day one. And that has been so exciting. And to give a tool and build a tool that we get front desk employees emailing our team. Thank you for building this like it impacts our day to day that that how they love their job. and so we're making people love hospitality again and that's special.
Speaker 1Well, I think striking that right balance between technology and the human touch and knowing where humans still play a vital role in, especially with hospitality, luxury hotels in particular, and where technology can actually not only just ease the workload on teams, but more specifically address friction points in your business for your guests. That is the part that is, you know, you want that right balance of picking up the phone. Because I know one of the things you've built into the product is you can zero, zero out at any point to speak to someone directly. And that's what people, that's what, especially luxury hotels, if there's someone that really needs something and needs to speak to a human, you'll get them to a human right away. But oftentimes that's not what they need. They're, you know, 90% of the time or more, I'm sure you have the stats on this, this, you know, the agentic AI can handle that request faster and I'm going to more efficiently. And this is why we text each other all the time. We don't even call anymore. We just like, we, we, we find the shortest way to get what we need accomplished. And so, so yeah, on, on this topic, Jesse, I'm really keen to hear where you're headed. I mean, I have some idea, but I would love to hear your vision for guest OS going forward.
Speaker 2How far of a vision do you want to hear? Because my brain is a decades ahead, but I think that's been a really important thing to, for me to really focus on. It's like the next three to five years, but yeah. So let's do 20, 30.
Speaker 1Let's do like a, where do you want to get to in the next, yeah. Yeah. And in the next three to four years, where do you, where do you see guest OS going in terms of other verticals? Like if we focus on that and specifically as you expand and travel, and obviously we focus exclusively on travel. So obviously you may be venturing in other directions as well, but more or less as it relates to travel, where do you see the guest OS platform going in the next few years?
Speaker 2Well, I'll allude to something you said earlier about how the importance of focus and, you know, the many different, verticals that I've, I've experienced, you know, I'm on the Samadhi tourism board and seeing that insight from the DMO perspective. And then of course, as a hotelier having that insight and then also from the technology and startup side of things. So I think, well, I'll even go so far as to add in the wildfire experience and all of the public sector side of things that that's exposed me to. So I think, well, I'll even go so far as to add in the wildfire experience and all of the And, you know, I was invited to speak at the United Nations World Tourism Conference earlier this year on this for destinations, mountain destinations. How can mountain destinations worldwide bring technology to help keep visitors safe and have a great experience? And so I think it's all those things that really allow me to see how, how destinations work as a whole, and what makes sense for GuestOS, a progression that connects the visitor journey, which I know is a buzzword. But once you see the actual way that GuestOS has created this, your brain will be like, whoa, that makes sense. But the only reason it makes sense is because I have deep experience in every one of those things from working in them. And that's how you can get pattern recognition. And that's how you can build these things. And, pattern recognition is very valuable, but it's also a curse because a lot of people don't see on the surface how things connect. So it just doesn't make sense. But now as people are starting to see how it connects, it's like, why wasn't it always this way and stuff like that. So I think that in the next, by 2030, you'll actually start seeing how we, how we are powering entire destinations and how the visitor experience, you know, just smarter, more intelligent, because now we're giving a tool where everyone can see those insights. And with Yosemite National Park, you have visitors, the visitors do not care that there's a concessionaire who manages a different activity in the park. They just want to get the activity and book it. And so recognizing on our end, who owns that and how you can help everyone provide that information. Is how you build smarter destinations.
Speaker 1Jesse, tell us a little bit more about what's ahead in the near term for GuestOS.
Speaker 2It's a very exciting time. I think we're entering a new chapter and that chapter is scaling. We've been lucky enough to build a product alongside our partners. You know, our hotel partners are the ones who determine every feature we build and we build every feature to solve a real challenge that they face. Every day. And so now over the next month, I'll be meeting with some of the largest hotel management companies and brands to see how we can get this platform to more hoteliers.
Speaker 1Exciting. And tell us, yeah, tell us a bit more about the team and where you're headed as you build that out, because I'm sure some people listening to this might be interested in, in working directly with you and helping build out GuestOS.
Speaker 2So our team has grown. You know, from just a few people last year, and now we're over 10 people. And at the core of our company is, you know, and our industry, it's the people. So we are hiring incredible humans. And I think it's funny, everyone on our team, they're like, Jesse cares about being a good human. And I think that's always going to be so important across our customers, our advisors, our investors and our team. And that's. Definitely the core of our culture.
Speaker 1Well, Jesse, to close, I want to make sure that all of our listeners can connect with you and the team, but also to follow your journey. And if they're going to be in Yosemite, obviously, I want them to be able to check out your family hotels and have an extraordinary experience in Yosemite, which literally was the highlight of all the national parks when I was living in LA through COVID. And we were taking a lot of, like many people at the time traveling domestically and also doing a lot of travel. And so I think it's going to be a lot of fun. And so before we got a chance to know each other is when I had been to Yosemite and a number of my colleagues had told me how amazing it was. And it's like, it's a, it's an absolute spectacular, absolutely spectacularly beautiful national park that everyone should experience in their lifetime. So I know that's one thing that people, anyone could reach out to you on and you'd give them great advice. But yeah, where would you suggest people reach out to connect with you after this?
Speaker 2LinkedIn is probably the most efficient way to find me. And yes, I still, a huge part of my what brings joy to my life is helping people have memorable experiences and trips in Yosemite. I think nature is so important to, to immerse in and spend that time out there. So I love doing that. I've been able to welcome so many incredible hoteliers and it's just really incredible. I'm consistently learning from other hoteliers how to be more hospitable, profitable. So thank you to all those who have helped. And I just love, love this industry and
Speaker 1Yosemite. And just in closing, obviously, I want to say thank you again for our collaboration over the last few years. I've been so impressed to see you grow, develop, build this business. And I'm so keen to bring the spotlight episode. I think the future is very bright for you and GuestOS. And I want to just to say, yeah, thank you for joining us. And I look forward to having you back at our next event. So you can come and join us for our in-person event, but I look forward to seeing you again in person soon.
Speaker 2Yeah. Thanks for being on this journey together. We're just getting started.
Speaker 1And thanks again to all our listeners for joining us for this conversation. I think you can see how highly I think of Jessie and what she's built at GuestOS. So if you want to learn more, check out guestos.ai to see the platform in action. And if you don't want to wait too long to hear more from Jessie, she'll be joining us at our Travel Trends Summit on October 29th in the afternoon. It's so head to TravelTrendsPodcast.com and register specifically for her session in the afternoon as we talk to investors. And we'll look at where the industry is headed because the session that she's going to be a part of is leadership and hot startups to watch. And also, I just wanted to highlight that we do post clips and highlights on our social channels, as most of our listeners know. So you can see clips from this conversation on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. And of course, if you want to check out more spotlight episodes, you can go to TravelTrendsPodcast.com. And I hope you benefited from this conversation and have a great rest of the week. And until next time, safe travels.
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