Balance. I believe if you first and foremost take care of your mind/body/spirit then the rest will take care of itself. And most of the things I worry about never actually happen. Stay in the moment and live right now. Do what’s in front of you. Action is my job, results are the universe’s job.
As part of my series about “developments in the travel industry over the next five years”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Kohn.
Gary Kohn started his professional career over 30 years ago in Hollywood as an actor where he appeared in over 30 films and TV shows before moving on to become a film and TV producer. Over the years he’s worked with some of the biggest names in the business. He’s consulted and worked for almost every major studio and network in show business, was head of development for various companies and served on the board of Verge Media, a technology company. This is where he became fascinated with how technology and content were beginning to intersect and born out of that was Luxury Travel Hackers. He spent a solid two years developing the idea and model before he decided to take a leave of absence from Hollywood to build LTH.
Shortly thereafter he met Katie Warner, a former Assistant Attorney General to the state of Texas who left law to become a travel photographer and agent. The two of them, with their love of photography and travel joined forces to start LTH.
Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
I spent most of my career in film and the way I created my work schedule was to spend 6 months out of the year in intense production work and then 3–4 months of the year traveling to remote places. Travel ironically kept me grounded. I loved meeting new people that had nothing to do with show business. Travel has changed my life and I really felt the need to share these experiences with the world in a way that I knew, and that was through storytelling and content.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
Well, which career? Haha. This is a new one for me as I spent most of my professional life in Hollywood. But I’ll give you two stories I guess. One in show business and the other in travel
I once had an audition for a Wes Craven horror film where I had to pretend I was eating the brains on a zombie while also feeling shame about it and the prop they gave me was a rubber ball. I’m pretty sure that was the moment I decided to be a producer instead.
My most interesting travel story was spending two weeks in the Palasinian territory with X-hamas fighters who are now peace activists. It was interesting to visit with terrorists and people with a long history of hate become such loving and caring human beings. Coming from a privileged country it was hard to wrap my head around it all but it changed me forever.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Oh god, for some reason mistakes don’t seem funny when they cost money…which they usually do. The amount I have learned in the last 2 years has been more than I’ve learned in the last 10. When I am producing a film it’s a sprint. We work very intensely for 3–5 months and then relax and wait for the next one. I treated a startup as a sprint for the first 2 years and almost drove myself crazy. Building a company is a marathon and must be treated that way or you’re gonna drive yourself and everyone around you crazy. I still struggle with it but I’m getting better.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”? Can you share a story about that?
Balance. I believe if you first and foremost take care of your mind/body/spirit then the rest will take care of itself. And most of the things I worry about never actually happen. Stay in the moment and live right now. Do what’s in front of you. Action is my job, results are the universe’s job.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
The names on this list are pretty long. My advisors have been amazing in guiding us to where we have to go. I learned early in my career as a producer to hire smart. I usually hire and build teams of hungry hidden talent. I don’t look for someone with the longest resume. I look for people who are hungry, love what they do and have the right attitude. I wanted a team with LTH that was going to grow with the company and build into senior positions. But in answer to the question I’d say Woodrow Zeigangel, my earliest advisor and champion of the company. He taught me how to be a CEO. I didn’t always like him for it but he always had my best interest in mind. Aslo my co-founder Katie, who is super nice and sweet to everyone keeps the drill sergeant in me in check to protect the company culture, which I appreciate.
Thank you for that. Let’s jump to the core of our discussion. Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the travel and hospitality industries?
Yeah, what we do is shoot and repurpose travel content with influencers and make vacations bookable via social media. What we determined is that upwards of 80% of all travelers are choosing their next vacation on social media but no one is leveraging this influence and content for booking. If you look at the comments of the big travel influencing pages you’ll see hundreds of comments about…”Where is this?, I want to go!, Wish I was there! Etc.” and what you’ll see also is people tagging their friends. And what we discovered happens from here is that travelers are spending an average of 7.5 hours of additional research to build the trip that was just presented to them. This is the primary problem we are solving in the industry.
Secondly we are creating an additional revenue source for influencers by re-purposing their content into travel packages and becoming a travel booking platform for them. This part of our model has really taken off and we have been having a hard time keeping up with the demand of influencers wanting this service and partnership.
Lastly, the technology that we will be introducing at the end of the year will further ease the booking process in an industry that is miles behind every other service and e-commerce industries..
Which “pain point” are you trying to address by introducing this innovation?
Saving travelers time and showing them through story content and influence the exact experience they will have when they embark on an LTH trip.
How do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo?
Well, interestingly enough the desire for a concierge and travel agent has gone up drastically in the last 5 years. And post covid, it’s going to skyrocket. I have a theory and it’s actually one of the number one reasons our lead investor, Thomas Mangas, who was the former CEO of Starwood Resorts invested in us. In the early 2000’s when the Pricelines, Kayaks and Booking.com’s hit the market it was a game changer. All of a sudden we had hundreds of options we could do ourselves. Travel became a do-it-yourself option and people loved it! I loved it! But what’s happened over the years is that we now have too many options. People don’t want more options, they want better ones and that is the area of our focus. We also want to spotlight hidden gems, destinations and places not quite discovered yet. For example as I chat with you here we are in Belize. This country is amazing and just coming online as the new place to travel.
As you know, COVID19 changed the world as we know it. Can you share 5 examples of how travel and hospitality companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers will prefer to travel?
The need for a travel agent to now deal with changes for you, make sure you have the right travel insurance, understanding of safety protocols, someone to manage cancellations and changes, how business travel will now be conducted, etc… All of these are becoming standard post-covid. Travel is going to have a very big shakeup and if companies are not thinking ahead of the curve they will be in big trouble.
You are a “travel insider”. How would you describe your “perfect vacation experience”?
I’d say I’ve become a travel insider as I’m very boots on the ground. Since I have been directing all our content I get a very clear picture from both the consumer point of view as well as the property and management side as well. We are constantly interacting with other travelers and management, asking questions and learning what is important for both of them.
For me a perfect vacation experience is more adventurous. I tend to be more of the Indiana Jones type. When I was producing films and traveling it was always first class, private planes and 5 star hotels but when I’d travel for myself I liked it down and dirty. For example I spend 4 months driving a motorcycle around India with a backpack staying at hostels. I really like the authentic cultural experience. And I think that what we are trying to do with LTH is to have a 4–5 star experience with authenticity as well.
Can you share with our readers how you have used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I’m still working on this one but as a storyteller I’ve always wanted to tell stories that change the way people think and see the world. How can travel make us better people? We spend a lot of time talking about this internally and how we can make that a part of our messaging.
As a company we also spend time shooting content in the locations we travel to around giving back and charity work. We think responsible tourism is important and want to spotlight ways to give back and not just take from the places we visit.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
In travel I think it would be to become a brand that promotes responsible and sustainable tourism while also integrating cultures and exposing people to the differences that make us unique and also the similarities that make us human. I think this can make the world a more tolerant and kind place. It can give us a respect for one another that doesn’t exist.
In filmmaking I’d like to continue to make content that changes us emotionally and connects us to each other.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Luxury Travel Hackers is on all social media platforms including Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/luxurytravelhackers/
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Thank you, it’s been fun to talk about what we do and I appreciate the thoughtful questions.
Gary Kohn of Luxury Travel Hackers: The Future of Travel in The Post Covid World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.