As the winter break fades into the past, the question on every traveler’s mind is: “Where to next?” While familiar platforms like Booking.com, Airbnb, TripAdvisor, and Expedia dominate the space, a fresh wave of travel tech startups is shaking up the industry. These emerging players are setting trends that will reshape how we book, experience, and connect with destinations in 2025.
Post-Pandemic Consumer Behavior Shifts
The pandemic profoundly shifted consumer behavior, forcing travelers to reconsider how and where they travel. As countries began reopening, the pent-up demand for travel led to the rise of “Revenge Travel,” resulting in a surge of visitors to popular destinations. This phenomenon of overtourism became a major concern, with cities like Barcelona seeing pushback from locals, Kyoto implementing travel bans in certain areas, and Venice introducing day-tripper fees. In response to the overcrowding, travelers are increasingly seeking off-the-beaten-path destinations that offer cultural authenticity and a more relaxed experience.
According to recent reports from Booking and Expedia, travelers are increasingly choosing lesser-known destinations over typical global hotspots. This shift is accompanied by a growing desire for personalized, safe, and sustainable travel experiences—fueled by innovation and a demand for authenticity.
In 2025, the intersection of these evolving consumer preferences and travel tech is set to bring a new era of travel that’s more dynamic, responsible, and tailored than ever before.
AI and Personalization: The New Norm
With AI-driven personalization tools being integrated into travel tech platforms, travelers are now experiencing more customized trip recommendations, itineraries, and experiences. Platforms like Expedia and TripAdvisor have adopted tools like ChatGPT to build personalized itineraries. But the key question for travelers and companies alike is: how much value do these personalization tools really offer beyond generic suggestions? And what impact will they have on customer experiences in the coming years?
The Rise of Female Travelers and Safety Concerns
The post-pandemic rise in female travelers has brought forward an increased demand for safe, personalized travel experiences. Companies like Greether have emerged to offer women a unique solution: a platform connecting them with local female greeters for a more comfortable and secure travel experience.
Vanessa Karel, Founder at Greether, a travel and safety app for women backed by a16z TxO, explains, “Our platform matches travelers with local female greeters who provide personalized guidance and support. Pre-trip introductions build trust and offer tailored advice, while in-person tours deliver authentic, off-the-beaten-path experiences”.
Sustainability in Travel
As concerns about climate change grow, sustainable travel is becoming more critical. But as Jennifer Loh, CEO & Co-Founder at TRAVARAS, points out, while travelers express interest in sustainable options, finding them is still challenging. With certifications, local partnerships, and verified sustainable experiences becoming essential, it’s clear that companies will need to ensure they can offer genuinely sustainable and culturally immersive experiences.
“Not only do we curate vetted, certified sustainable travel options and work with local partners to craft culturally authentic, conservation-focused experiences that have a net positive impact on the destination, but we also work with local experts to collect recommendations for hikes, beaches, shopping, restaurants, and more,” she adds.
Value-Driven Solutions For Smarter Financial Decisions
In response to the recent layoffs, more people are seeking value-driven solutions and making smarter financial decisions. As a result, these trends have positively impacted LinkedLivin’s growth, as an increasing number of users recognize the value and flexibility that the company provides.
Natalie Plotnikova, Founder at LinkedLivin, a community-driven platform designed for professionals to swap or rent apartments within a vetted and trusted network, mentions, “Interestingly, while the average length of stay has decreased since the pandemic, the frequency of travel per user has grown. This shift is likely driven by two key factors: the expansion of our network, which now offers a broader range of options, making it easier for users to find their ideal match, and the current economic climate.”
Where Inspiration Begins
With such high competition in the travel tech space, it’s interesting to understand where inspiration begins. It turns out, a lot of ideas come from personal needs.
Vanessa Karel says, “The inspiration for Greether came from personal experience. Traveling solo as a woman can be stressful and even dangerous without access to trustworthy local support and tools. This experience revealed a clear gap in the market for a platform that could provide female travelers with access to verified local guides who understand their unique needs.”
Natalie Plotnikova shares a similar story, “LinkedLivin was born out of a personal need. When I lived in New York, I frequently traveled to San Francisco and other cities, spending several months a year away from home. Each time I traveled, I rented expensive Airbnbs while still paying rent for my unused apartment.”
Trying to save money, Natalie created a small group chat with friends from other cities who faced the same challenge. In just a few weeks, the group grew to 300 members, and it became clear that there was a significant demand for a proper solution.
Increasing Competition
In the increasingly competitive travel tech landscape, both Greether and LinkedLivin have found distinct ways to stand out by addressing the unique needs of modern travelers. Greether’s unique value proposition lies in addressing women’s top concern when traveling: safety and navigation. Unlike traditional tour platforms, Greether offers an experience where travelers set their own rules. Whether it’s a personal greeter meeting them at the airport or creating custom tours around local gems or vegan spots, Greether ensures every journey feels truly personalized. The platform stands apart by pairing travelers with their greeter before they even arrive—offering real-time, human support and insider local insights that no AI or guidebook can provide.
Similarly, LinkedLivin’s approach to apartment-sharing is setting a new standard for travel. It is the only platform that vets its members, offering a safer and more reliable alternative to traditional home-sharing services like Airbnb. By connecting users with trusted networks like friends, coworkers, and alumni, LinkedLivin fosters a sense of community and trust.
The Transformative Role of Technology
Jennifer Loh, CEO & Co-Founder at TRAVARAS, underlines the role of technology in shaping the travel tech industry. Technology has drastically transformed the travel industry and how travelers engage with booking travel. You may remember the days when travelers had to rely on travel agents to book travel. Today, technology has enabled travel operators to “go online” and empower travelers to find and book their trips on their own—from booking flights to car rentals, hotels, tours, activities, and more. With the rise of AI, we will see another huge shift in how technology plays a role in travel.
Vanessa adds, “I strongly believe travel will become easier, more accessible, and more inclusive. Travelers will spend less time planning and more time enjoying, while people with disadvantages will feel seen and supported.”
Challenges Ahead
The travel tech industry faces a variety of challenges as it continues to grow, especially for companies like LinkedLivin, TRAVARAS, and Greether, which are carving out their niches in a competitive space. For LinkedLivin, one of the biggest challenges in apartment-sharing is navigating overregulation. The rise of platforms like Airbnb has led to backlash and restrictive regulations, particularly in popular cities where short-term rentals have become a flashpoint. While the benefits of apartment-sharing are clear, these regulations often fail to distinguish between full-time short-term rental investment properties and occasional sharing of primary residences with trusted acquaintances. To address this, LinkedLivin emphasizes community-driven sharing, focusing on genuine connections between hosts and guests, which helps mitigate regulatory concerns and redefines apartment-sharing as a trustworthy, collaborative experience.
TRAVARAS, on the other hand, faces challenges surrounding AI-enabled personalization. While AI is a key driver of travel tech innovation, the challenge lies in creating truly unique experiences that go beyond what open-source platforms like ChatGPT can offer. By curating sustainable travel options and crafting off-the-beaten-path experiences with local operators, TRAVARAS focuses on the experiential element of travel that no AI tool can replicate. They are building a database of vetted travel experiences that balance personalization with authenticity, knowing that their customers crave genuine, immersive journeys that can’t be replaced by algorithms.
Greether, a startup focused on women’s travel safety and empowerment, faces the challenge of scaling globally while competing against well-established giants in the industry. However, Greether’s agility and hyper-focus on solving specific problems have helped it scale to over 1,000 cities. By forming strategic partnerships with global tourism boards and major corporations like Expedia, Greether is driving community-led growth and reaching new heights. The key to their success lies in their ability to adapt, learn, and focus on what works—constantly refining their approach as they grow.
Future Trends
Jennifer believes that the travel industry is ripe for disruption, and the power of AI will allow all travel tech platforms to improve their services and offerings, while catering to the increasing demands by consumers for more personalization and authentic, cultural immersion.
Natalie is excited about how AI will create more free time for people, enabling them to travel and explore the world. This aligns perfectly with their company’s vision of making travel more accessible and enriching. In the near term, the most relevant development for LinkedLivin is likely the use of AI assistants for travel bookings and scheduling. AI assistants will revolutionize this process by learning user preferences and improving rapidly through machine learning. Over time, they will manage increasingly complex requests and deliver tailored options for accommodations, flights, activities, and more.
Advice To Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Jennifer Loh recommends, “If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur looking to break into the travel tech space, I highly recommend working in travel and learning how the industry works – the ins and outs of travel. Founder-market-fit means having experience in the industry you’re building in, and that concept applies for any startup entrepreneur.”
Vanessa adds, “Be obsessed with the problem you want to solve, but stay open to how you’ll solve it. Flexibility is key. Build relationships with other travel platforms and brands — collaboration will take you further than competition.”
The travel tech industry has rapidly evolved, with new technologies and innovative companies helping to shape how we experience the world. The shift toward sustainable, personalized, and safe travel, coupled with the growing impact of AI, is changing the way we approach both travel and the industry itself. From women’s safety to authentic travel experiences and overcoming regulatory challenges, the founders of LinkedLivin, TRAVARAS, and Greether are addressing these shifts head-on. By staying agile and embracing the changing needs of the modern traveler, these companies are not only leading the way in the travel tech space but are also poised to make travel more inclusive, responsible, and rewarding for all.
