The RenAIssance of Rail with Railbookers

The rails are buzzing for a reason: travelers want flexible journeys, city-center convenience, and window-seat scenery without the stress. At the Railbookers Global Summit, we sat down with CEO Frank Marini and three of his senior leaders to explore how a remote-first culture, deep trade partnerships, and an ambitious AI strategy are powering the renaissance of rail travel.

Frank breaks down a record year—27% growth overall and 39% in luxury rail—and why small groups and pre- and post-cruise extensions are surging. VP of Marketing Kaitlyn Birkinshaw reveals how AI-driven content, conversational podcasts, and a global advisor toolbox are making travel advisors rail-fluent. SVP of Product Andrew Channell previews 2026 highlights: Switzerland–Italy combinations, rising demand for Norway, Alaska and the Canadian Rockies, and the new Stars and Stripes Collection celebrating America’s 250th with itineraries inspired by Route 66, Colonial America, and Lewis and Clark. SVP of Strategic Partnerships Jim Marini explains how advisors win with instant quotes, two-year booking windows, and one-to-one support that simplifies even the most complex FIT.

From national rail networks to luxury icons, Railbookers packages trains, hotels, sightseeing, and transfers into seamless global itineraries. Their proprietary Fast Tracks AI, a system that captures “every answer, every time”transforms 4,000 weekly calls and frontline expertise into smarter service, sharper product, and faster marketing.

If you’ve ever dreamed of connecting Basel to Zermatt to St. Moritz to Milan, or pairing a cruise with a scenic sleeper, this conversation shows how rail has become one of the most modern and inspiring ways to travel today.

Learn more at railbookers.com

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Chapters

• 0:00 Rail’s Renaissance Sets The Stage
• 0:29 Meet Travel Trends And Railbookers
• 5:14 Company Culture, Remote Model, And Scale
• 9:10 Record Growth And Small-Group Trends
• 12:54 Building Fast Tracks: Railbookers’ AI Brain
• 17:36 Marketing With Data, Podcasts, And AI
• 21:12 Stars And Stripes And 2026 Destinations
• 24:24 Trade Partnerships And Global Expansion
• 30:45 Caitlin On Marketing Playbook And Tools
• 37:58 Who The Rail Traveler Is Today
• 43:25 Andrew On Product And New Itineraries
• 49:52 Partners Onboard: Trains, Hotels, Sightseeing
• 54:40 Evergreen Icons: Switzerland, Norway, Rockies
• 59:44 Singapore Launch And Market-Specific Product
• 1:05:39 Jim On Trade Growth And Sales Engine
• 1:12:05 How Advisors Work With Railbookers
• 1:18:09 Luxury Rail And Cruise Extensions

Transcript

SPEAKER_04: 0:04

One, you know, one of the big themes of the conference has been that the Renaissance of Rail Travel. And Rail really is having a moment both in the industry but also within product that's driving some new and innovative things. So stay tuned, continue to pay attention. We've got a whole lineup of exciting new products, exciting new inclusions and activities, and things that we've just never done before. So stay tuned. We got more to come and uh this train ain't slowing down anytime soon.

SPEAKER_05: 0:29

Hello everyone, and welcome to a special spotlight episode of Travel Trends. This is your host, Dan Christian. And today we're gonna be looking at the company called Rail Bookers. Now, most of our listeners became familiar with Railbookers. When I interviewed Frank Marini on our podcast last season, we did a two-part series on Rail. I spoke to Frank and I spoke to Bjorn Bender, the CEO of Rail Europe. But one of the things that really stood out for me in my conversation with Frank was their company culture and their innovative use of AI. And that conversation really resonated with our listeners. And we brought Frank back to speak at our AI summit this past year. We had him join to give a keynote on how AI has transformed their company, their culture, and how they're approaching this massive industry. And it was by far and away our most popular session at our event. And so I was so keen to bring Frank back and also his team back at Travel Trends so that our global listeners can learn more about this amazing company, the journey they're on. And I had the privilege to do so by being invited to their annual conference, which was hosted in Las Vegas, and the theme was the Renaissance of Rail. I had the opportunity to sit down with Frank, again, a live in person, that you're gonna hear from shortly, but also three core members of his executive team. And in this episode, you're gonna hear from the VP of Marketing, Caitlin Birkinshaw, the senior vice president of product, Andrew Channel, as well as the senior vice president of strategic partnerships, Jim Marini, who, as you would expect, is Frank's brother. It's his younger brother, so he's gonna round out this episode. But one of the things that I have to tell all of our listeners from my experience in Vegas at this conference, you know, besides from Frank, I was meeting Caitlin, Andrew, and Jim all for the first time. And you'll hear that in the sequence of conversations as they each came into the room and I had all my equipment set up to be able to meet them. Not only were they all incredibly smart, engaged, and just wonderful to be around, so was the entire company. I was at the awards night later that evening, I had the time of my life, I clapped all evening, I laughed. So I had the privilege to sit next to Frank, but also the executive chairman of Railbookers, John Tavanu, who I got to know over the course of the evening. It was so amazing to see them continually going up on stage and how much they care about the people that work at Railbookers, their partners that were there. It was really a special evening. I got to sit across from a former colleague of mine that I greatly respect, Monica Hunter. It was so wonderful to see you, as well as Chris David, and so many amazing colleagues that I've had the pleasure to either work with or know over the years. But ultimately, it was just a really special night to see so many people rewarded for their efforts and to have so much fun together. So thank you again for bringing me in and for giving me that opportunity to see an incredible glimpse of your company culture up close. I'm so keen now to share with our global listeners and to be able to not only have Frank back on the podcast to give highlights from the conference, Railbookers' plans for 2026, but also to bring in the rest of his team so you can get a better understanding of how they're approaching marketing, product, and partnership. So whether you're interested in working with Railbookers or working for Railbookers since they are expanding, I definitely encourage you to listen to this episode and to get more information as we're having this conversation. You can feel free to multitask by bringing up railbookers.com. But let's bring Frank back to the podcast first. Frank, it's so great to see you again. Wonderful to sit down with you. Thanks for bringing me in and tell us a bit about the conference and how things are going.

SPEAKER_02: 4:16

Thanks, Dan. Great to see you again, pal. Really excited to see you. Especially at our conference. How cool!

SPEAKER_05: 4:21

No, thanks for bringing us in. Obviously, thrilled to be here. You were at our AI Summit just recently. You had one of the most compelling keynotes of the conference, which was terrific. And obviously, we had a chance to record together earlier this year when we were in ITB in Berlin, which was fantastic. I've seen you a couple times over the course of the year. But I'm thrilled to be here at your annual conference. So tell us a little bit about what has brought everyone to Las Vegas and why we're all here.

SPEAKER_02: 4:45

Thanks, Dan. Great to see you again, pal. Really excited to see you. Especially at our conference. How cool.

SPEAKER_05: 4:49

No, thanks for bringing us in. Obviously, thrilled to be here. You were at our AI Summit just recently. You had one of the most compelling keynotes of the conference, which was terrific. And obviously, we had a chance to record together earlier this year when we were in ITB in Berlin, which was fantastic. I've seen you a couple times over the course of the year. But I'm thrilled to be here at your annual conference. So tell us a little bit about what has brought everyone to Las Vegas and why we're all here.

SPEAKER_03: 5:14

So no, thanks. So we have our annual conference once a year, and we bring in most of our company, about a little over 200 of our 350 staff in you know, being a because we're a remote company, so in some cases it's once a year we get to staff. So we bring everyone in for from seven countries around the U.S., as well as all of our vendors and partners, our rail vendors, hotels, sightseeing, cruise vendors. And actually we brought in uh some of our top travel agents from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. So it's it's just it's an awesome get-together training, fun trade show, and and a lot of laughs, of course.

SPEAKER_05: 5:48

Well, and it's interesting timing because it was almost exactly a year ago that you published your book, Staying on Track, Lessons from a Customer Focused Travel Disruptor, which I've read and you've kindly given me an autograph version of it. And we talked about that at our AI summit as well. And I'm sure a lot of what you shared in there about the culture of the company, obviously being remote, not only that, but obviously your focus around AI, which again, you talked about at our keynote conference, and I want to make sure people can go to our YouTube channel and find Frank's keynote speech. I definitely encourage, after you listen to this, to go and check that out. But today, we what we want to do uh together is both with Frank and his executive team, is actually showcase to our global audience the amazing culture that Frank and his team have built globally. And even as I walked into the conference today, I have so many amazing colleagues that have moved over to work at Railbookers. I don't know we're having a gala tonight, but everyone was so buzzing and with excitement that you know seeing each other again is obviously so wonderful, bringing everyone together in person. But many of these people, Frank, this is, you know, you're you've been in this industry for over 25 years. You've held key roles at companies like the Travel Corporation, which is where we know each other from, but companies like Colette as well. Um but tell everyone about railbookers because I want to make sure our global audience actually knows more about this company and your role there.

SPEAKER_03: 7:00

Yeah, sure. So so you so railbookers, we're we're the largest independent rail vacation provider worldwide, and we provide you know rail hotels, sightseeing, transfers, everything independent travel at scale. And that's both national rail systems like VRail, Amtrak, Trent Italian, Italy, Deutsche Bahn in Germany, as well as luxury rail, uh the Venice Simple on Air and Express, Rovos Rail, you name it. And we help travel advisors all over the world uh to make rail easy. I like to say we speak trains. So uh that that's what we do. And I'm I'm president CEO of the company, I'm very lucky. It's uh it's extremely fun. I have an amazing, amazing staff who are fun and a lot of practical jokers, and we really you know, we don't take ourselves too seriously, we but we focus on our customers and make sure they're happy and we we have a great time. I mean, we really do. You'll see that.

SPEAKER_05: 7:48

Well, it's very clear. I mean, we got so much fantastic feedback from our standalone episode. We did a two-part series last season on rail. I was so keen. I'm a huge fan of traveling by rail, obviously, especially in Europe, but I've traveled by rail in Asia, and there's a lot of new markets for rail holidays. Um Frank can obviously talk to us about that with some of the product plans for 2026, and we're gonna have one of his executives in to talk about marketing, talking about product and the future. But Rail Bookers is a real forward-looking company, but it it has an incredible history and legacy. So tell us a little bit more about how long Rail Bookers has been around. Obviously, the US is a core market for you, but you guys are very much a global company now.

SPEAKER_03: 8:25

Yeah, so so this is our 53rd third year in business as a company. I know that because I'll be 53 in a few weeks. It's easy to remember. Um, and in March of next year, it'll be our sixth year of being fully remote, which is amazing to me. Um so so that's kind of our history and and and and fully global with staff all over.

SPEAKER_05: 8:44

Yeah. And then that was actually during the pandemic when you guys decided to go to remote. And that's actually was a very much a conscious decision to maintain that post-pandemic, because one of the things you'd highlighted to me, Frank, when we spoke was this that it gave you the follow the sun. It gave you the opportunity to make sure you had the most talented people around the world working at Railbookers.

SPEAKER_03: 9:05

It did. You know, I we would not then absolutely be in the place we are today if we weren't uh remote, you know, without a doubt. Because it gave us that ability to find the best of the best all over the world and to hire by time zone. So no matter what we hire a position, we may say, hey, let's let's hire that person in Perth, Australia to keep the machine going. And you know, as a even a testament to that, you know, one of the things I went over uh in my keynote here is this year alone we've received 115,000 applications to work for us. Wow. And part of that is next year, only five percent of the global workforce will be 100% remote. So we're getting bombarded. Um The truth, even myself, it's hard to even respond to everything. I I can't in LinkedIn to the amount of hey, I applied, I want to work there, but it's been amazing. It's just a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_05: 9:50

Well, and the the buzz builds. I mean, having nearly 200 people here and seeing some of my colleagues as I walked in who were saying that, yeah, I'm remote. This is our first chance to meet some of our colleagues. They're buzzing with excitement. And they go back and they post on LinkedIn, they tell people what an amazing, and that was actually so it was Rebecca gonna reveal her identity, who happens to be based in Toronto. Yep. Um, and so the first thing she said to me was like, I love the culture of this company. And I like I uh my friend Monica moved over and I decided to move over. And I just like she was buzzing from excitement from being here at her first uh summit. Um so tell us a little bit more about the summit. You know, we're sitting here on day three at the end of the conference and about to have our gala dinner after this. Tell us a little bit what's transpired over the last few days.

SPEAKER_03: 10:32

Yes, so the last few days has been amazing. So what what we've had is we've had different uh department head updates from the company. So for myself at a keynote, uh, our head of marketing, our head of product, our head of uh business development giving updates on trends, the department, what we've seen, what we see this year, what we've seen going forward, and I can share some of that stuff, uh, as well as with all of our different vendor and partners, rail hotel sites, in-depth training on our product, their product, and then what we jointly see for the future. And that's been really awesome because this you know, this this is actually the largest gathering of rail providers who for leisure travel globally. Uh so you have everyone who has been here from Brovos Rail, from Golden Eagle, uh to Alaska Railroad, Trinitalia, Eurostar, uh, Amtrak, you name it. So it's just it's pretty awesome with having that many rail sell us as a rail tour operator, all the rail providers in our hotel. It's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_05: 11:27

For sure. And obviously, it's you know uh just to timestamp this for all of our listeners. We're at the end of November in 2025. Obviously, Frank and the team are preparing to go into another successful year in 2026, but you've also had a remarkable 2025. So tell us a little bit about what you've achieved, some of those sales results, sure, and then how you've positioned the business for the year to come.

SPEAKER_03: 11:48

Sure. So this year we've had an amazing year. Uh we are up 27 percent over last year. This is the best year in the company's history, and last year was the best year in the company's history. A couple of nuggets on that that we've seen is we're up 39 percent this year versus last year in luxury rail, specifically luxury trains uh that we've seen this year. And a couple of other interesting things we're very excited about. In 2024, 10 percent of our travelers that went with us uh through our trade partners were six or more passengers. So think, you know, three couples, small groups. This year in 2025, it's 20 percent we saw, because what we see is uh these small groups, because it's all independent, you know, couples, they want that personalization, customization. They want to be able to design their itinerary, and but they may not want to go, let's say, drive or be on a coach or a set date, and they can choose whatever they want to do together. So those have been some of the things we've seen for this year. It's been a remarkable year because it's also a year we changed reservation systems, we changed a lot of things, which that typically is a difficult thing in those years, and that has not affected uh, you know, in terms of our growth. It's been awesome.

SPEAKER_05: 12:49

Yeah, and one of the things I do want to highlight too for our audience is the development on AI. Now, obviously, some people will have heard our episode before and likely seen your keynote, but I just wanted to touch on because I think you know, coming off of other conferences, everyone's talking about AI, you're actually really leading in regards to AI because you were early in embracing that technology and identifying it as such a significant opportunity and training yourself first to figure out what does this mean and how can I apply this. So tell our audience a little bit about that, because I think that's a uh an important lesson in leadership, and then also how you've actually rolled that out here at the conference because I saw the AI on the sign of like that. It was a cool way to call out the visual of how important AI is gonna be. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 13:29

No, I you you know, I like you mentioned, you know, earlier on, I'm like, okay, when it started to come out, even though AI is, as we know, has been around a long time, when it started to come out and ChatGBT became in in the sphere a couple years ago, you know, I recognized, you know, I I've got to get ahead of this and you know, reading as much as I could. But then really the game changer was taking that first course at MIT uh a year and a half ago, two years ago. And because I really got an opportunity to be around the best of the best uh for a week of learning, and that was incredible. And I've been back several times since, as well as uh have some great cohorts uh with my classmates over the different classes and the professors who were become really friends because it's changing so fast to be in touch with the best and the brightest. And from that, uh that first class, I uh I hired one of my classmates to help us build our own LLM AI system, which we rolled out officially this week. Uh it's been rolled out internally uh for our team, but it's called Fast Tracks, uh, Every Answer, Every Time. And that that was a culmination of uh of that almost two-year building out our own system. Basically, uh again, interviewing all of our train geeks. We got some train geeks here that know everything about where to sit, where to go, that you just can't find online. It's not online on even on the rail operator's website. So documenting that as well as letting, you know, with 4,000 calls every week, AI listening to our calls and identifying questions uh that customers and travel advisors are asking and putting that into our system in the answer and really continue to build it. And and it will be a living breathing thing. That's it's not a one-and-done, a living breathing thing that we'll make sure we curate, keep adding to on a regular basis. But basically, uh, you know, no one on earth is an expert on every rail system everywhere in the world, because they're all different. But the more we put it into our proprietary system, it allows uh all of our staff, regardless of their roles, to be expert. And that was the kind of the goal behind it as customer first, to say how can we give better service, better answers to our travel advisors? And uh, we're excited about that. Oh, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_05: 15:19

And obviously, technology is incredibly important to the travel industry. You know that from your background, so embracing AI, I'm sure the reception to that at the conference was very positive from the team, seeing that their company is leading in this area and that actually they encouraging their team members to be able to utilize that technology because I know that's something that you've uh been a real advocate of.

SPEAKER_03: 15:38

Oh, yeah. You know, part of it is you know, what where we advocate for our staff, we have AI committees, they have access to Chat GBT, our enterprise level. You know, we embrace it. And I'm always very honest with our staff. You know, uh, you know, early on, and even today I did a fireside chat with all of them, you know, and answered all the questions. And and basically said to them, you know, I said, and I asked the question for them, you know, will AI replace uh roles? And the answer is yes. I said, but it doesn't mean we're wanting to replace the human. That's not the case. I said, is I said, of course it. I said, imagine if we sold horse and buggies and a car came out. If you said, well, um is it gonna replace my role as a horse and buggy? Of course it is. But it doesn't mean you just you may have a different role now. We'll teach you how to build an engine. So it it's uh and I went over, I said, you know, the people that are gonna lose their jobs for AI don't know enough about AI, and we're trying to train you and upskill, and we all have to embrace it because this is the new this is the new internet, and it's amazing what it can do.

SPEAKER_05: 16:31

For sure. And obviously, one of the ways that AI can strengthen businesses is marketing. Um key to your success has been the brand of Railbookers, and so technology, marketing, and then product. I'd love for you if you wouldn't mind walking through the people that our listeners are gonna hear from on this episode, because we're gonna have Frank and three of his key executives who have been here at the conference sharing their updates on marketing and then product. And then we're gonna speak to your brother as well, Jim, who I'm so excited to meet for the first time. But tell us a little bit about the the journey in marketing specifically and what has been showcased here at the conference.

SPEAKER_03: 17:05

So sure. So for marketing, you'll hear from Caitlin Birkinshaw, who's our vice president of marketing, who just won 40 under 40, very proud of her, uh, who's been with us over 10 years. Uh so in marketing, we've really embraced AI in many aspects. So, as an example, uh we take the questions that customer asks, as I mentioned, not just put it in fast track, but also we use AI to create a conversational podcast between two people that answer those questions related to our product, all automated, uh, that goes back and forth, and that can produce that content on a regular basis. Because our our that's just one aspect, because we want to produce content uh that we're answering the question we know we get asked, but also we're the answer to that. So we can do it at scale now with AI and with podcasts. We still do other podcasts, but using that, that's one. Uh the second thing is we we're lucky being independent. We have tons of data. So let me let me give you an example. If you went to any of our websites, you'd see uh on any of our products saying, Would you like a call back now? Would you like to speak to a a rail expert? This year alone, we've had 108,000 uh customers put their phone number in to ask for a callback right now. And and who does that? Who puts their phone number in unless you're serious? But more than that, it's not just your phone number. We leave an open field, like what questions you have, things that are important to you. And it's amazing what people will put in there. And we use AI because it's easier with 108,000 to crunch that, find the pattern to then create new content on that. So those are just a couple ways, but there's many, many ways with AI.

SPEAKER_05: 18:31

Yeah. Well, I'm looking forward to getting that conversation soon with Caitlin Birkenshaw. Then we have Andy Channel coming up. Tell us a little bit more about Andy's role and the focus on product here at the conference.

SPEAKER_03: 18:40

Sure. Yes. So Andy, he he's been with us coming up on 13 years. Uh so Andy's our senior vice president of product. So he he oversees all of our product development. Most of our product development is actually uh generated in the past, it was manual by our analysts looking at what FIT patterns that they would see. Now, with the help of AI, it can automatically look into what's FIT and immediately, very quick, instead of hours and hours and hours to analyze all the FIT components, it very quickly can say, here's a pattern on uh this route this many days, this is where they're staying in a hotel site saying, but it can do it immediately by each market, because the Australians are different than the Canadians and the US market, the UK market. Uh even now, as we opened up in Singapore, we see different bookings from Singapore. So that's been extremely helpful in the product development side. It's also uh helped out on the product where we've built a number of AI chatbots, uh, sorry, not chatbots, AI agents, excuse me, that can automatically shop our product that we FIT just to look at it to say, hey, if a consumer instead of going through our travel agent part, try to book it themselves, what pricing and what routing would they find? So it immediately it's an immediate competitive advantage. So we make sure we create the right product. So it's been those are just two examples.

SPEAKER_05: 19:48

Yeah, well I'm keen to dive into product with him, and it's actually one of the questions I'm uh will also ask you as well, as far as where's the uh some of the new destinations for 2026. But let's also highlight your brother Jim Marini, who's the SV. Of strategic partnerships at Railbookers. Tell us a bit more about Jim's role and what he's been focused on in the conference the last couple days.

SPEAKER_03: 20:06

Sure. So Jim's really our head of sales, and he's kind of the face of the company. You know, he I like to say he's the outgoing one. So Jim, Jim's oversees all of our consortium partnerships around the world. So he's very much, whether it's AAA in the US, Virtuoso Signature, Hello World in Australia, Advantage uh in the UK. He's working very closely with the sales team, the marketing partnership marketing team, with all of our consortium partners into seeing trends that we see all over, not only through a product, but a marketing standpoint. Fantastic. Okay, no, it's great.

SPEAKER_05: 20:38

I I'm looking forward to those conversations. I want to make the most of the time that we have together as well. And want I want to talk about what's ahead for Railbookers in 2026. And so I'm I'm sure you are uh leaving everyone feeling incredibly inspired and heading back to their offices or their home offices, I should say, um, ready for another banner year at Railbookers. Tell us about some of the big themes that you've been focusing on and what you're hoping people are going to walk away from this conference to take home.

SPEAKER_03: 21:03

Yeah, there's a couple things. And one is it from our staffing standpoint, just to you know, share the love, right? Just to see them, it's like seeing family again and how much we appreciate them, thank them, their voice matters, and and you may be remote, but you're never alone, right? So so that that's a big thing to all of us. A lot of a lot of hugging, not just because I'm Italian going on here. Uh so that that's the big thing, and you'll you'll see that. Uh the other thing is to recognize that you uh are part of something very special, not just an innovative company that puts ourselves out there, but we're in a space that we're very lucky. We're in a complex space, but we're a leader in that space because we innovate, we try, we learn, we listen, and and it's it's not a static type product. It's an evolving, exciting product, and we have lots of great product development things we're launching for next year uh as well that Andy will get into. And I'll give you a snippet on one, uh, with the 250 anniversary of the United States, we've we've uh created a Stars and Stripes collection, which is really cool stuff from Route 66 by rail, the Lewis and Clark Trail, from Hollywood to Broadway. So we're going all over the world, just using that as an example. Some real fun stuff.

SPEAKER_05: 22:06

Yeah. Where are you seeing the growth? Actually, that's a really good point you raised there. I mean, with a 250th anniversary, clearly there's going to be more domestic travel, and there's also going to be inbound travel to the U.S. Yes. I know this past year has been more challenging for international inbound to the U.S., but that's where your company uh has gone from strength to strength because you open up new markets, you've become a global business. Tell us a little bit where you're expecting to see growth in 2026.

SPEAKER_03: 22:29

Yep, yep. So we did a survey to our customers and our travel advisors where they're looking at for next year. And it's your traditional number one Switzerland for next year, number two is Italy, obviously the UK, and that combines variations of Ireland, Scotland, England. Uh we see absolutely Norway and Scandinavia, we see Luxury Rail, we see all your traditional Spain, Portugal, all over. When it comes to the U.S., we see that as well. Canada's up there, high up there, can Iraqi specifically. When it comes to the U.S., it is Alaska and the national parks. We see that. And one of the interesting things that we found for this year for our inbound market specifically, for for inbound, out of Canada, we've never really done it because more of a drive market. But for other markets, the UK, Australia, and our other regions, we're up this going in this year into the US, and we're way up next year. So so for us, it's it's wherever the customer wants to go. I think because it's independent, the trip can be anything the customer, the travel agent wants the customer to be. So we we could be a piece of a trip. They could be going for a conference or post-cruise.

SPEAKER_05: 23:27

Yeah. Well, with Jim's role, I know given it's uh the partnerships, which are so incredibly important in the travel industry and community. One of the things I just wanted to highlight for our listeners as well, partly given your background and how we work together, understanding the importance of trade partners, the need for human connection in a world of AI, that people are, you know, in many ways, our industry is going to be the one that, from an operations point of view, people still want to go out and have an incredible holiday. They want to experience a destination, they want to do all the things that the humans want to do to be able to elevate their senses and destination, which is what technology alone can't do. And so working with trade partners, I know, is a big uh important factor for you. Where does that, where do you see that in 2026 in terms of new partnerships and uh certainly a number of uh organizations listening to this saying, wait a second, we don't work with railbookers? And I didn't realize rail was such a big industry.

SPEAKER_03: 24:16

Oh, yeah. No, we we're very lucky in in uh at all of our source markets uh that we're in. We're preferred with all the major consortiums all over. Uh and we're working very hard and Jim and his team on the key accounts with all underneath all those consortiums. And it's really just getting those that and we work with many, many of them are so thankful for their business. And today almost 70% of our business is trade versus 30% direct. And and that's because of the growth of trade. That's what we see. And really, what it is is we solve the problem for travel agents by speaking train, making it easy. They don't have to be an expert on every rail system because we are and we've got their back. So we continue to see that even with our opening up in Singapore uh a little while ago. Uh, we're now preferred with most of all the consortiums in in most of the ASEAN ASEAN countries now because there's nobody like us. And they're like, oh my God, thank God you're here uh to help us out. And it's it's exciting. Our our biggest thing for for the trade is that is that agent who hasn't booked us yet, because they their fear of rail, because they don't want they don't know how it works and they shy away from it. But knowing we're not just a booking engine, we like to talk to you uh and and we're here to help and support you and work shoulder to shoulder because it's uh we appreciate their business.

SPEAKER_05: 25:28

Yeah. Well, congratulations on the launch in Singapore. I saw all your updates while you were traveling. I know you've been very busy. But one of the things that stood out to me on my way to the conference, because I have been traveling over the last six weeks, and I've been telling people ever since we uh got a chance to reconnect and record podcasts together, and you being part of the AI Summit, myself looking forward to coming here, I've been telling people that this is the last conference for me for 2025 and how much I'm looking forward to it. Everyone's like, What's Railbookers? Tell me more about Railbookers. It just reminds me there's so much opportunity for this brand to still grow because the opportunity to raise the brand awareness is significant. And I was speaking to Bjorn Bender from the CEO of Rail Europe just the other day, and he was talking about just how much investment there is in rail in Europe and all and low-cost, high-speed routes that are opening up, and just so much competition, but so much now selection for customers. And so I was like, actually, I'm gonna I'm just gonna be speaking to Frank shortly. And so, yeah, so that's where I see there's so much potential for growth. So I'd love for you to leave us with a couple of thoughts on that, uh, Frank, as far as what the future looks like for railbookers.

SPEAKER_03: 26:30

Yeah, totally. Because you know, part of my kickoff uh was uh here by keynote uh at our own summit was the winds behind our sales and talking about exactly that the investment we see in rail in Europe and all the different routes and competition coming out, the EU uh proposing the new high-speed rail in different areas shorten the time, and even on the luxury side, all the new builds coming out. They just announced the uh luxury train coming in Saudi Arabia and then Egypt. So there's so many things behind us that are going to help us in scaling. And we have so far to go because I think for us, let's say different from the cruise industry, you have so many great cruise lines, you have a great organization in CLIA. Well, you don't have there's no CLIA of rail, right? And for us, truthfully, we're we're really the only ones singing the praise of where you can go by rail, how to package it, what itineraries. And that's really what we do is we bring to life what's possible by rail. You know, there's uh there's ticketers, but there's also most people don't know where the train goes. And by coming out with all these different itineraries with all the different trains all over the world, most people are like, oh, travelers, I didn't even know you could do that by train. So that's that's our mission and putting that out there. And we know once a travel agent works with us the first time and their consumer goes with us, we we've got them to like, because they love it, because it's like, oh my God, this is so much easier. It was fun, it was relaxing, have to worry about driving. I can have a glass of wine, I can ring a book. It's it's just a it's an awesome way to travel. For sure.

SPEAKER_05: 27:51

Good friends of ours just did the Orient Express. Awesome. And they were had the most incredible trip and were sharing uh photos with us after they got back. And I just was so excited to see more and more people loving rail in the way that I know I love rail because ever since carrying a backpack and doing that, you know, around Europe trip. And someone had said to me, It's the best sleep you'll ever have is a sleeper car because it's like being back like a in the womb again, yeah, in your mother's heartbeat. And it was like, and I had that experience. I was like, there's so yeah, exactly. Best sleep you'll ever have in your life on a night train. So anyway, it's a it's such a romantic way to travel, but at the same time, it's also a very modern way to travel and being able to just go from city to city in Europe and then be able to get off the train and stay at incredible hotels, because I think this is the beauty of this style of travel, is that you actually get to see the countryside by rail, and then you get to stop in smaller towns or in the heart of big cities and be able to stay in amazing and different accommodation every night.

SPEAKER_03: 28:52

Yeah, yeah. That and that's it, it's it's such a variety and and and and transport is so much easier because you're not it's not multimodal per se. It's city to city center, and it's just it's awesome.

SPEAKER_05: 29:02

And is there one trip that you have uh planned for 2026?

SPEAKER_03: 29:05

Uh you know, I haven't planned anything for 2026 yet. So I I do have to, my wife's on me about that, saying where are we going for next year? So I uh I've got to figure that out. I haven't not yet.

SPEAKER_05: 29:14

Awesome. What would be the one thing you want everyone to leave this conference and also our conversation and this podcast with today?

SPEAKER_03: 29:20

Yeah, I I think I just, you know, i i if if you're thinking about rail or considering it, definitely check us out, give us a chance. But uh because and even if you don't know enough about it, where can you go? Well, you can do check out our website just to see what it is. But but the thing I would say to leave everyone with is rail isn't a fad. Rail isn't like lamping, right? It's not it's not this fad. Uh there's 180 countries out of 195 that have passenger rails. There are uh over 500 stations in the United States, 400 in Canada, 26,000 in Europe. So the infrastructure is already in place, and you're seeing more and more on top of that competition, you're seeing luxury. So it it's it's here to stay because it's not just about uh, let's say, a sustainability, it's about mobility and moving around. And you can see things by rail that you can't see by any other mode of transportation. So that's what I'd leave. And we and it's really consumer driving that through to our travel advisors as they want personalization and customization.

SPEAKER_05: 30:13

Yeah. So my takeaway from that is plan a rail trip for 2026 for yourself and your family. I know that's high on our list, but also if you're a travel advisor not selling rail, you need to know about rail bookers and you need to learn about this product because more and more customers are gonna be coming in asking for it. So, Frank, you've built an incredible company with an amazing culture. It's a thrill to be here. Thank you for our continued collaboration and all the best for 2026. Thanks, Dan.

SPEAKER_03: 30:36

It's great seeing you, my friend, and thanks for being here. Real excited to see you, pal.

SPEAKER_05: 30:40

I now have the pleasure to speak to three extraordinary executives from Railbookers. You're gonna hear now from Caitlin Birkenshaw, who's the VP of Marketing, Andrew Channel, who is the senior vice president of product, and Jim Marini, who of course is Frank's brother, who is the senior vice president of strategic partnerships. Now, I wanted to kick off these next conversations after you've heard from Frank, who's an incredibly inspiring leader of this organization. I've heard so many amazing things about railbookers coming into this conference here in Vegas. So I'm delighted to be here and get a chance to meet everyone for the first time. So I'm now sitting down with Caitlin Birkenshaw, who I've been told is, you know, one of the top marketers in this business and in this industry. And I believe you also just won a major award just recently. So we're gonna tell everyone about that. But uh Caitlin, of course, you're the VP of marketing. Thanks for joining us on this special episode. I'd love for you to just introduce yourself and tell everyone a little bit about your role.

SPEAKER_00: 31:36

Yeah, absolutely. And thanks for being here. We're obviously so excited to have you with us at the conference. Um, yeah, so like you said, my name is Caitlin. I've been with the company for almost 11 years now. Um, and basically I oversee, as it sounds, all things marketing. So um, all of our different source markets, both travel agent and consumer marketing. Um, that's a little bit about me.

SPEAKER_05: 32:01

And and one of the things, of course, that we heard from Frank is that the company is remote. Tell everyone a little bit about where you're based. When you're not here in Vegas at this conference, the renaissance of of rail, where are you typically based?

SPEAKER_00: 32:13

Yes, so I'm in Southern California, so Orange County area. Not too far from Frank, actually.

SPEAKER_05: 32:19

Of course, yeah, yeah. Okay, that that uh and I know that's yeah, I know that's where Frank's based. And of course, uh we um when I was uh with the travel corporation for many years, and yeah, he was as well. That's of course where uh where I was based, so not too far. Um but I know your colleagues are spread across the country. So uh but tell us a little bit about your background in the travel industry and how you ultimately landed this job at Railbookers, because yes, as you highlighted, you have you you have continued to rise up through this organization. It's one of the reasons that I actually really wanted to interview you as part of this uh spotlight episode, is you're one of those uh rare individuals because you you've stayed with the business and you've grown with the business, and I think that's a big testament to the company culture. But yeah, tell us how you got into travel and then and this role at Railbookers.

SPEAKER_00: 33:04

Yeah, absolutely. So um at the time, Yankee Leisure Group, um, who we've now come into Railbookers group and um had that transition, but we had actually an office in Orange County area. So this was pre-COVID, but we had an office in Orange County, and I applied with no truthfully no previous travel experience, just marketing. Um, I had come from actually a fashion industry background, um, but started as um basically essentially Frank's executive assistant and did all the things and really moved my way into more partnership marketing, working with all of our amazing consortiums and AAA's and um travel agencies across the globe and managed a lot of those accounts and then just worked my way up. And like you said, it's an amazing company, as I'm sure you can see here at the conference and the culture, and um, it's just a really great place to be. Um, and obviously the industry is booming and the renaissance of rail travel is here, so um definitely a good spot to be in an exciting, exciting to see how much the company has grown and how much we're able to accomplish in this space.

SPEAKER_05: 34:15

Yeah, for sure. And that's that's the part that really intrigued me because you know, moving up from an assistant to a specialist to a manager to a director, and then the VP of marketing and expanding your focus globally. I mean, it is an exciting company to be a part of, but obviously to be able to have that growth is a true reflection of your contribution and and commitment to the business. So uh tell us a little bit about your your role today, especially as we sit here at the conference. I'm sure you've been hosting a number of sessions. Of course, I've just arrived towards the tail end of the conference. You guys have been together for the last three days. Tell us a little bit about your role and how it relates to what you've been covering here at the conference and educating everyone on the plans for marketing railbookers in 2026.

SPEAKER_00: 34:54

Yeah, so yesterday I led a session just giving a general overview of all the exciting things that we have coming up in marketing. So um, my team consists obviously of the email marketing and some of the exciting things we've been doing there. We've announced new websites coming up in 2026, will be um an initiative myself and our team are leading, um, as well as different things in AI. So our marketing team is really leaning into AI podcasts, was one of the things I discussed yesterday in my session. Um, so some really fun things that we're overseeing. And it's not only um for the US market, but it's also for the Canadian, the UK, the Australia, the Singapore market. So um we're really across the globe, which is great.

SPEAKER_05: 35:36

Tell us a little bit more about that because obviously it perks my ears as soon as I hear podcasts and AI, especially the two together. Tell us a little bit about how that works and what the benefit is.

SPEAKER_00: 35:46

Yeah, absolutely. So we know everyone consumes information differently. Some people, you know, like to read, some people like to watch videos, and obviously many people love to listen to podcasts. So we definitely wanted to get into that space and make sure no matter which way someone wants to consume content, that Railbookers is there. Um, and so obviously incorporating AI as a way of the future. Um, this is really set up as essentially two people having a conversation, um, very similar to you and I having a conversation across the table. This will just be um more of the AI side of things and set up to really discuss the top questions that customers and travel agents have when it comes to a rail vacation and what that consists of, um, integrating a lot of our top questions. So um, yeah, it's something we're really excited about, and um customers and travel agents are really grasping onto them. So we're excited to do more moving into 2026.

SPEAKER_05: 36:43

For sure. And then you mentioned travel agents, of course, they're such an important part of the distribution for rail. I know you've had a number of travel agents here over the last couple of days and uh partners as well. And you mentioned, of course, Frank highlighted just now the expansion into Singapore, and I'm keen to ask the rest of the team about that because you've truly become a global company. But your role is complex for those reasons, and uh you clearly have international markets, that's one complexity, but you also need to be able to market to consumers and to travel agents. So tell us a little bit about the travel agent side because you need to make sure, and I know this from my experience, you need to be able to make sure that travel agents are able to market railbookers. So, your your role, you know, you've got to talk to two different audiences, and you have to arm travel agents with all the marketing collateral, the messaging that they need. So, tell us a little bit about how that's been working here at the conference, the agents you've brought in and the B2B side of your marketing.

SPEAKER_00: 37:38

Yeah, absolutely. So, so excited to have obviously our travel advisor partners with us here at the conference. That's been something I know our team was really excited about, and just everyone um within the company. So it's always nice to speak to the travel advisor, of course, um in person too. Um but yeah, to your point, it is um different, and we want to make sure that we're arming our travel advisors with all of the knowledge. So we have several um webinars that we're doing on a weekly basis for our travel advisor partners. We have an amazing TA toolbox on all of our websites, so um, for every market. So they're all different, depending if the advisors in the UK or the Canadian advisors or the US advisors, um, all of those have different assets and materials available for the advisor to be able to market to their customers and really make them an expert in rail travel as well. We know it's complicated, um, and we want to take that burden off of them as we are the experts. So social media assets, videos, flyers, we have it all. So lots of things available.

SPEAKER_05: 38:45

Well, one of the things you obviously need to have is the collateral that meets the need of the customer based on destinations they're interested in. And that's one of the things I was keen to um to ask you about, but also uh the rest of the team as well, because you know, for me, as I have gotten to know more about Railbookers, you know, getting to know Frank, he's been on our podcast before. He was part of our AI summit recently, which everyone loved his keynote. He's you know, he's very inspiring with how he's approaching AI and building it into the business. Uh, but I want to understand this uh the kind of guess the destinations for 2026 and some of the marketing uh campaigns you have coming up. So tell us about some of the, I guess, major destinations for 2026 you've been highlighting and some of the marketing campaigns that you have coming up to uh to meet to meet the moment and what travelers are looking for in 2026.

SPEAKER_00: 39:34

Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, Switzerland, Italy, those will be um very popular, of course, moving into 2026. We've seen them in 2025. Um, but even the combo of the two is something we're seeing quite a bit of of people connecting Italy and Switzerland. Um, so that's very common. The other big campaign that we'll have moving into 2026 is the um Stars and Stripes collections. So I talked about this a little bit in my presentation yesterday again, but the Stars and Stripes is huge for us. Um, and I know Andrew Channel will touch on that as well, um, our SVP of product, but we've done a lot with that. It's a new collection really embracing the 250th anniversary of the US. And we have some really fun, like Route 66 in Colonial America by rail. And there truly is no better way to see the US than on the ground. Um, you can obviously only see so much by clouds.

SPEAKER_06: 40:34

So for sure.

SPEAKER_05: 40:36

Well, yeah, Andrew's waiting outside, so I know Andrew, and I you know, I've not met Andrew before, and I actually met Jim, so it's and it's fantastic to sit down and to get to meet you because again, I've heard so many great things about railbookers and the culture and getting to know uh Frank more and more. So what I but I I'm really keen to understand more uh about the company and the product and the marketing and the messaging. So one of the things I'm I'm keen to ask you, since you're very focused on the consumer and trying to get the right message in front of them. So tell us a little bit about who a railbooker's traveler is and also where they come from. I know you guys are primarily based in the US, so you guys and obviously I'm in Canada, you've got a Canadian audience as well. But tell us a little bit more about the types of people that book uh a railbooker's trip.

SPEAKER_00: 41:20

Yeah, great question. So our customers are diverse, and we always use the analogy of how would you identify a plane traveler, right? So um it's very hard. There's obviously many different types, but in general, what we're finding from our customers is they're about 45 plus. Um and there's different areas they may be. It may be a pre-post cruiser, so someone who's not necessarily wanting to fly. Um, we also find people who maybe are doing some of those bucket list experiences. So it may be um, you know, one of the more complex Switzerland itineraries, or they're really checking things off the bucket list. Um, as well as people who are doing, you know, maybe off the beaten path is another thing we're seeing a little bit more of. So we have all types of travelers. Um and again, you may not define it necessarily in your head as a rail vacation, but what is Venice, Florence, and Rome? It is a rail vacation when you actually connect it by train. So just switching the perception a little bit.

SPEAKER_05: 42:22

For sure. You know, when you said that it made me think of my son because he's training to become a pilot and he's been an avid plane spotter for years. And when I think of plane spotting, I think of I think of train spotting, and obviously there's people that love trains. And so my son always, you know, his favorite part of travel is the airport and the airline, which is not which is what very few people would say is the highlight. Right. But I would say with what you guys do, the train really is a big part of the experience. I didn't realize what an important destination Switzerland is for. I know how beautiful Switzerland is, and of course there's train cars that can take you up to see glaciers, but I didn't realize you know it is number one destination for you. What are some of the other standouts in Europe or globally that you expect more travelers to learn about this year and get excited to travel on?

SPEAKER_00: 43:07

Yeah, so I mean, we're doing some can Canada and Alaska itineraries, which should be really exciting. Um, the Switzerland-Italy combos, we're expanding those more as we're seeing those um take off a little bit more, and then Norway's starting to peak up a little bit as well. So beyond, of course, the stars and stripes in the US, I would say those are some of the destinations we're seeing.

SPEAKER_05: 43:30

And where have you been and where are you going next? What's on uh what's on your list for 2026?

SPEAKER_00: 43:37

Yeah, so I have two very young children, so my travels are a little slower this year. Um, but we definitely would like love to take the family to Switzerland. Um that's on our bucket list, definitely. But I've been lucky enough to travel quite a bit um with railbookers and Amtrak vacation. So I've done everything from Glacier National Park to the Canadian Rockies, and I was lucky enough to do um the Venice Simplon Orient Express as well, which is part of our luxury train offerings and was as amazing as it is.

SPEAKER_05: 44:12

No way. That's extraordinary. I have uh a good friend that did the Orient Express last year, him and his wife, and just had the most incredible time. So I've seen pictures. I was checking out the website afterwards, and um that is an extraordinary trip. And I'm um obviously that's one trend in and to itself is luxury travel. Um, is there any other trends that you're paying attention to in 2026 that might be interesting for our listeners, you know, as it relates to rail travel, but just global travel and how people are seeing the world?

SPEAKER_00: 44:37

Yeah, I mean, to me it it is connecting those different destinations. As I mentioned, the Alaska and Canada is very common, um, but also that Switzerland and Italy and then Norway. Um I'm trying to think if there's anything else. Luxury, as you touched on, and you know, I briefly mentioned the Orient Express. We also find that obviously when people are traveling um to Europe, they're not just doing the luxury train. Um, they want to do a pre-post, they maybe want to go see other things. It's similar to if you're doing a river cruise, you maybe are um, you know, you're not just doing the cruise, you're already over there, so you might as well take advantage of that. So we are seeing a lot of um customers do that pre-post and want to explore more of what's out there. And that's um something that we help a lot of travel advisors with and a lot of customers.

SPEAKER_05: 45:28

My mom is an avid uh train traveler, she watches lots of programs. I've um mentioned that, and I think that's you know, for me, she's gonna be keen to do a trip. I'm likely gonna do a trip uh with her at some time in 2026. So I'm I'm excited. And and I think that renaissance of rail is is very real. I see it with I see it with my family and I see it in the industry. I know just speaking to Frank, that you know, the business is up, you know, 30% year over year, and and and it you guys are growing and you're hiring, so it's an exciting time to be with the business. Um, you also I did mention at the beginning that you won an award because Frank gave me a heads up on that. Tell everyone about your recent recognition.

SPEAKER_00: 46:04

I did. I won um travel pulls 40 under 40.

SPEAKER_05: 46:07

So very excited.

SPEAKER_00: 46:09

Thank you. Yeah, that was nice.

SPEAKER_05: 46:11

Yeah, well deserved. Thank you. That's fantastic. Uh well, I want to make sure that all of our listeners, especially if it's uh travel agents, you mentioned about some of the resources that they have access to. Um, but I'd love for you to share the best ways to get in touch with your marketing team. Obviously, some people might want to reach out to yourself, but the main focus, of course, is people connecting with railbookers. So, from your perspective, Caitlin, what would be the best ways for people to do that?

SPEAKER_00: 46:34

Yeah, absolutely. So um visiting our website, so railbookers.com, railbookers.ca, um all of the different domains. And then also we have the travel agent portal, which has a contact form. You can definitely get in touch with us there, um, requesting any sorts of resources, as well as making sure that um, you know, your business development representative for all of our travel advisors, they're a fantastic team, and I'm sure Jim will touch on that. So um, yeah, we have lots of different resources and amazing people who are here to help all of the travel advisors.

SPEAKER_05: 47:09

Yeah, definitely leave that to Jim. I know Jim has a big personality because I see him on LinkedIn all the time. So looking forward to meeting him shortly. And I know you guys have your award night tonight, which I'm looking forward to being a part of, to see a bit more of the Railbookers culture in action. So it's but it's terrific to meet you. I'm really glad you made the time for this and obviously wonderful to come in and meet the Railbookers team. And so thank you, Caitlin. Great to meet you, and I wish you and the team every success in the year ahead.

SPEAKER_00: 47:33

Oh, thank you so much. We're so glad to have you and have you able to meet all of our employees and staff and travel advisors. So great to be here and really appreciate it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05: 47:45

I now have the chance to speak to Andrew Channel, who is the senior vice president of product and operations at Railbookers Group. Frank's already given us a few highlights of some of the exciting product developments we just heard from Caitlin as well about some of the marketing developments. But I really wanted to talk product with you, Andrew. So, first of all, welcome to the Travel Trends Podcast. Great to have you on.

SPEAKER_04: 48:05

Thank you. Very, very glad to be here, of course.

SPEAKER_05: 48:07

For sure. And this is uh a fantastic opportunity to meet the Railbookers executive team and feel some of the buzz from the conference. And I know we're going into our gala dinner after this, so we both need to get turned into our tuxedos. And uh uh, but tell us a little bit more about your role, Andrew, at Railbookers and what you're focused on.

SPEAKER_04: 48:25

Sure, absolutely, thank you, and happy to do that. So uh my team and I really are focused on developing our product, enhancing our existing product line, creating new itineraries based on consumer demand. And being at Railbookers, a very customer-focused organization. A lot of it has to do with really focusing on what customers are telling us, new trends, patterns within our bookings, uh, and exciting new things we're able to bring to the clientele.

SPEAKER_05: 48:46

Fantastic. Now, it's been three days of this conference, and today is obviously the wrap-up. Take us through what you guys have focused on for product. You've got your global team is here, you've had a number of partners and suppliers here as well. Tell us about what you've covered in the world of product at the conference in 2025.

SPEAKER_04: 49:02

Yeah, great question. So a number of things. Uh, really, what everyone's most excited to hear about is not just what's going on in terms of what we've done this past year, and uh it's really all about the what the future holds. So, what we've been able to do is share a number of exciting trends, really connect with both vendors and our staff, but also connect those two together. So, things, for example, like the uh the trade show or the chance for our teams to interact with who we work with, great sightseeing companies, rail companies, that's been really exciting. But probably the highlight is a chance to feature what 2026 looks like in terms of new itineraries, new products, new styles of travel that we haven't offered before.

SPEAKER_05: 49:33

Yeah, and one thing I want to highlight too, since it is a remote culture company, you're based in Massachusetts, is that right?

SPEAKER_04: 49:39

Uh, native of Massachusetts. My accent probably gave me away, but actually based in Nashville, Tennessee nowadays. And as a direct result of being a remote company.

SPEAKER_05: 49:46

Fantastic. That's great to know because you've been with Railbookers over 12 years, and it was really interesting speaking to Caitlin, just understanding her 11 years of the business. So clearly you guys have worked together over that time. She has risen in her role in marketing, and you obviously, and the same with product, now as the SVP of product and operations. Tell us a little bit more about these new itineraries for 2026.

SPEAKER_04: 50:07

I will. And uh, you know, ask a product guy about product, and you'll definitely get an answer. We'd love to talk about what we do. So uh I'll give you a snippet of some of the most exciting ones. So uh where to begin. So heading into 2026, one of the recurring themes that we keep seeing with our customers is the desire for more uh authentic, inclusive um uh uh itineraries, things that offer unique glimpse into the destinations people are traveling, whether it's by train or or locally, uh, but also a chance to travel in different ways. So I'll give you a couple things that really stand out to us. So, one, um, as we head into the new year, the 250th birthday of the U.S. is coming out, right? The 250th uh celebration of our country. I'm with it, our Stars and Stripes collection. And we had a chance to feature for our team some of the really interesting combinations we've never really featured before on and off the rail. Uh so for example, being able to travel cross-country, you know, in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark and our Lewis and the Captain.

SPEAKER_06: 50:58

Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 50:59

Uh in that following that same journey of how the Pacific Northwest was really opened up, but really doing it by train offers something special, the magnificent views on board, getting off and exploring Glacier National Park. Uh, that whole line of products is really exciting, historically themed tours down the eastern seaboard by train. Really, really exciting products in ways that we've never offered them before.

SPEAKER_05: 51:16

Well, we've talked a little bit already about Orient Express. Uh we've talked even about VIA and the Canadian. Obviously, you work with some of these amazing rail lines around the world. Tell us a little bit more about who you brought into the conference this year in terms of partnerships to be able to showcase these amazing product experiences to all of your internal teams and uh sales partners.

SPEAKER_04: 51:36

You bet. And we're very blessed with excellent partners. So just a few that really, really stand out. So our friends from Trinitalia were with us this week. Uh, we had a chance to debut uh just last night, an exciting new series of brochures and product lines coming out with Trinitalia, featuring some classics of ours, but also a line of products that features some destinations we've we don't feature as frequently, places like Siena and Luca and Bologna and Verona, really, really exciting stuff. So Trinitaya being with us was an excellent experience. Our partners at Alaska Railroad. We do quite a bit of business, uh both in connection and uh not in connection with cruises, doing Alaska explorations by train. They were here with us this week. Some of our best hotel partners going through some of our most amazing properties, some of these wow uh accommodations our guests get to experience. So I could go on and on, but whether it's on the rail side, the hotel side, you know, we've had so many great ones with us this week to kind of highlight uh some of what we've been able to do.

SPEAKER_05: 52:24

Well, one of the beauties of your role is being able to do product development so to find these partners and these new opportunities. So I'm sure you get to travel quite extensively, which um but what I wanted to ask you along those lines is that what have been some of the standouts for you over the years in terms of the destinations or the itineraries that you just love? So, what are some of the things? Because it's always exciting to talk about new, but there's certain places or certain destinations of rail lines that are just perfect the way they are and that have been that way for 30 or 40 years, and you just need to have that experience. What have been some of the standout highlights for you in your career?

SPEAKER_04: 52:57

You got it. And I will say, what someone once said that uh when I came to Pride, wow, you get the best job in the company. And I said, Well, yeah, somebody has to do this and test out all these trains and hotels and things. Um and you're 100% right, you know, for all the exciting new things we do, there are certain destinations, train journeys that will never go away because they're so breathtaking. At the top of the list, Switzerland's got to be up there. And when I say Switzerland, you know, there are so many Switzerlands in reality, whether it's doing the most popular, most well-known routes like the Glacier Express train, the Bernini Express, uh, you know, Zermott and San Maritz, and those that popular combinations, but you could go on and on about amazing Swiss destinations. Those are certainly highlights, but whether it's you know those or or visiting regions like Ticino and taking some of the the Goddard Express and other trains and visiting the lakes, the Swiss and Italian lakes country, that's definitely a highlight. Norway. If you haven't done Norway by train, put it on the list.

SPEAKER_05: 53:51

Yeah, I haven't done Norway yet at all. It sounds like a Norway by train. There's always when you talk about certain countries, you're like, it's one way to experience like even Sri Lanka, like Sri Lanka by by train is one of the most extraordinary ways to see that country, just given the history and how some of the developments with tea plantations and and so it cuts through the most beautiful parts of the country. It's the best way to see it. But yes, I'll I'll come back to that next. I want to know what some of these other places that are gems that our audience should hear about. But please, yeah. Norway, yeah.

SPEAKER_04: 54:17

So Switzerland, Norway definitely stand out. I mean, the convenience of certainly traveling through the Alps is and taking in that scenery. It's funny. I was talking to one of our team members who just got back from a trip with us, learning about our product in Switzerland, and she said something that's very, very true, and that was it wasn't just the the wow trains, like those highlight trains. She's even the regional, and she's right, even the little regional train connection, just getting from Zurich to another thing, she's like, the scenery was eye-popping, even just going place to place, and she's 100% right about that. So Switzerland is definitely a gem, Norway, absolutely a gem. I gotta tell you, even here in North America, doing the Canadian Rockies by train, whether it's with via rail or Rocky, or very often our guests will do both. Yeah, we'll do a circle journey and do both. Absolutely spectacular. If people often ask me this, like, what are the best train journeys? And I could talk about I've done India by train, I've done Peru by train, I've done all over Europe. Those are three right now that would say if you haven't done them, you know, for all the exciting new things we open up, those are must-haves for everybody.

SPEAKER_05: 55:09

Yeah. So well, and that's where so many people are still just discovering rail travel. And I was telling this to Frank that you know the uh is such an amazing company culture and brand, but there's still so many people that aren't familiar with railbookers that need to, right? So it's so, and that's exciting on the trade side and consumer. Tell us a little bit about some of these emerging destinations, especially having recently opened in Singapore.

SPEAKER_04: 55:31

Yeah, and Singapore opening up as a customer market for us is really interesting because it opens up a whole new customer and a whole different approach to products. So we recently launched a series of two dozen itineraries aimed specifically at the Singapore market. And some of those feature familiar destinations, but in different ways. And I actually shared this week, for example, a couple new itineraries through France, uh through Switzerland, to other places that seem familiar, but our guests are doing them in a slightly different fashion, connecting regions we've never done before in new ways. For example, we have a historic France itinerary that takes in a little bit of Normandy, Loire Valley, a journey down to Bordeaux, some wine country experiences, Mont Saint-Michel. Again, not unfamiliar, but combined in ways that are just different from what I'd say our American or Australian or British traveler might experience.

SPEAKER_05: 56:10

Yeah, and what about yourself in terms of 2026? What is on your list of destinations that you're keen to explore or itineraries that you've helped put together but maybe not experienced yet?

SPEAKER_04: 56:20

Ah, so one that stands out for me, I'll be doing my first exploration of Alaska this year. So it's immensely popular. So our team has been, uh it'll be my first exploration in long overdue.

SPEAKER_05: 56:29

Fantastic. The other thing I wanted to ask you while I have you here is, and I want anyone that's listening to this on audio to make sure they go and check out the YouTube clip of this, to be able to see these incredibly cool badges that I was kindly handed when I arrived at the Global Summit here for Railbookers in Las Vegas, and I got a very uh a lovely special guest pass. And as I noticed, uh that I have one pin. And uh instantly what hit me was my experiences at Disney when people get the pins and trade pins, and I'm looking across at you, Andy, and you are adorned in a whole series of pins. Tell us a little bit what they mean. Are they from each year's conference?

SPEAKER_04: 57:07

So it's funny. I was gonna ask if you had started your pin collection yet. I can see that you have, which is very, very good. Yeah, I'm I'm I feel like I get more of a dazzled by the year and everyone that goes on. Uh it's a few. Uh years of service. So I've been here, as you mentioned, you know, going on 13 years. So I've met uh you know three and five and ten years. Uh definitely a couple of the conferences on here, and then uh the Bob DePaulo Award. That's the goal one.

SPEAKER_05: 57:27

Well, tell us about that.

SPEAKER_04: 57:28

So every year the company awards uh the Bob DePaulo Award to an employee that really stands out as exemplary in every way. Uh and I think it's they're often described as when you mention this person's name, Frank said, we'll say this, and it's true. When you mention this person's name to anybody in the company, like the smile that lights people up, like, oh, they're wonderful. And and and not just wonderful personally, but professionally, and they do just an excellent job. So uh I was very lucky a number of years ago to to win the Bob DePaul Award myself. Uh and true story, I never saw it coming. Frank will say I don't get choked up often. I'm not a teary guy. They almost got me that night. It was good. But we have a number of our Bob DePaul winners here as well. So that's the that's that one.

SPEAKER_05: 58:03

That's fantastic. Well, it's such a delight to speak to you, get a chance to meet you. Obviously, it's wonderful to be here. And uh, you know, aside from knowing Frank, this is my opportunity to get to know each of you and then to see the celebration tonight. I want to make sure also that we uh anyone that might want to reach out to you as a result of this, whether it be for partnership opportunities, obviously, Andrew, uh you also go by Andy, as I said. Yeah, it's funny.

SPEAKER_04: 58:25

I always sign my name is Andrew, but I go by Andy.

SPEAKER_05: 58:27

Yeah, okay. It's like um uh and Andrew Channel is obviously your full name with two N's and two L's.

SPEAKER_04: 58:33

That's the important part, yes.

SPEAKER_05: 58:34

If people want to reach out to you on LinkedIn, um what are some of the other ways that people can connect with the Railbookers organization on the product side?

SPEAKER_04: 58:41

On the product side, yeah. Feel free to give us a call at any point, so they reached out through LinkedIn, uh, and reach out to me at andrew channel. Andrew.channel at railbookers.com. The team and I are always excited to make new connections and happy to hear from anybody.

SPEAKER_05: 58:53

Fantastic. What's one thing you'd like to leave us with, Andy, in terms of railbookers in 2026, whether it's product or the results of the inspiration from the conference. What's one last takeaway that would be interesting for our audience to know about railbookers, about you, about where you guys are headed in 2026?

SPEAKER_04: 59:09

So uh just two, I'll leave you with two quick ones. One, you know, one of the big themes of the conference has been that the renaissance in rail travel. And rail really is having a moment, both in the industry, but also within product that's driving some new and innovating things. So stay tuned, continue to pay attention. We've got a whole lineup of exciting new products, exciting new inclusions and activities and things that we've just never done before. So stay tuned. We got more to come and uh this train ain't slowing down anytime soon.

SPEAKER_05: 59:30

Uh well, I look forward to seeing you on a train journey. I'm a big fan of rail travel, our listeners know. So uh I'm looking forward to featuring more on rail in 2026. So I'm sure we'll have you back on the Travel Trends Podcast to share more highlights with us. But terrific to meet you, Andy, and all the best for 2026.

SPEAKER_04: 59:45

Thank you for having me, and now be glad to come back anytime.

SPEAKER_05: 59:49

I'm now thrilled to be joined by Jim Marini, Frank's younger brother, who you've already heard on the podcast, is the SVP of Strategic Partnerships Globally. So what Welcome, Jim. Great to meet you. Great to have you on the podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:02

Thanks so much, Dan. And I noticed how you said younger, and that is correct. I am Frank's younger brother, but great to be here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_05: 1:00:09

Yeah, for sure. I'm thrilled to meet you. I feel like I know you because I constantly see your updates on LinkedIn, and obviously I've got to know Frank so well over the years. So it's a real pleasure to finally meet you. But tell everyone about your background. I know you've been with this company for more than 13 years. Like you've been, and you were with Celebrity, you were with Colette before. So yeah, tell us about your background in travel and specifically your role at Railbookers.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:31

Yeah, absolutely. Well, my story actually starts at age 15 years old. And let's just say I have another five in my birthday, but it's it's the first number of five. Uh so been in the travel industry ever since literally high school, and it almost happened by accident. So uh used to play uh American football quarterback, yes, back in the day. Uh had an injury and didn't know what else to do, had a lot of time, couldn't play sports, and uh as it so happens, one of my closest friends, uh, his uh family operates Colette, and that's kind of how I got introduced to travel and started uh back in the day in high school at Colette, uh tours at the time, and worked in the mail room, believe it or not, and then went into telemarketing, then marketing, and then the minute I graduated college, went in right into outside sales and then spent about 15 years at Colette. From there, moved on to Celebrity, just a pure uh marketing, great, great company. Uh certainly super supportive to the trade. Uh, spent about four years there and uh handled the New England region and then came on board and was able to partner with uh my brother Frank. And uh we uh we actually started working together yeah, literally almost 13 years ago, and uh it's been fantastic. And now I handle all of our partnerships, not only in the United States, but I help support and oversee them uh throughout Canada, England, Australia, and New Zealand as well.

SPEAKER_05: 1:01:52

Yeah, I just love that it's become a family business. And from everything I've heard about Railbookers, and I'm sure everyone listening to this that knows the company culture uh can and from what I've already uh been able to quickly glean from being here at the summit is that it very much feels like a family company, that people feel strongly connected. And so uh it's really cool that you guys obviously set this set the tone for that in many ways.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:14

Yeah, absolutely. I know, I know even when Frank first started years ago, he's like, you know, it's something I just I want great people, great atmosphere, super supportive, and you know, that's exactly how it is to this day. And and I often hear it every time we have our summits, even you know, all the time just talking to so many of our our uh fellow uh teammates and folks within the company, how much they enjoy it. So it's been great. It's awesome. No complaints.

SPEAKER_05: 1:02:37

Well, clearly people are buzzing here after the third day of the conference. Tell us a little bit what's happened on the sales side over the last three days.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:44

Well, you know, the sales side, I we actually had a great presentation on stage and uh was able to give everyone some exciting updates on just how how much the trade is is really such an integral part of our company. And I have the pleasure of uh helping uh work closely with all of our uh business development team, who basically is the team folks supporting all those travel uh advisors out there and uh sharing some of the success uh how even to this day, uh recently uh this past year, travel advisors is the fifth fastest growing uh industry in the United States. So, you know, between that happening and then our model as a company, just focusing on rail independent FIT, flexible independent style travel, we really help solve a lot of those pain points for those travel advisors.

SPEAKER_05: 1:03:29

I see you guys at all the major travel industry conferences. Yes. Uh Frank and I were at ITV together, WTM just recently, and obviously you guys are at all the different uh consortia partner conferences as well. And and so take us through and with with Frank highlighting the fact that 70% of the business is trade, take us through a little bit more about the partnerships, especially because some of them have been here over the last couple of days. Obviously, you're bringing in some of the partners to be here to feel the buzz, the energy, as well as the internal teams. Tell us a bit about where you're seeing the that growth in in particular.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:59

Absolutely. Well, I'm proud to say as of today, we are officially preferred with every major consortia travel organization in the US, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand. And in fact, at the summit here, we actually invited, we called it our Lucky Seven session because we actually had travel advisors from each of those countries, including right here in the United States, that were basically sharing some of their great success stories as to having worked with uh rail bookers and how they can, you know, book up to two years in advance. That's a huge benefit. Uh many of them love working with our account executives, and that's a big highlight as well. Uh, in fact, we always pride ourselves because any of the advisors out there, they literally can work with the same one uh account executive, basically the same reservationist, time and time again. They don't have to call 10 times and speak to 10 different people, which is great.

SPEAKER_05: 1:04:47

No, that's fantastic. And I think that's where for the all of our audience out there, there's likely going to be some travel agents that are not familiar with railbookers. So tell us a little bit about how people can actually partner with you. For the ones out there that are either the stragglers or they're late to the game, like, wait a second, I I should be selling rail. Of course. Something happening here.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:05

Absolutely. Well, well, you know, our claim to fame, really, and we're, you know, part of our presentation that we did yesterday, actually with uh my my fellow teammate who's also from Toronto, like yourself, Dan, uh Chris David, he's a VP of Glob uh Global Sales, just a salt of the earth type of person. I'm so honored to be able to work hand in hand with him. But the theme of our presentation yesterday was preparation and opportunity. So, you know, between opportunity preparation equals a little bit of luck and hard work. And, you know, as an example, years ago, if any travel advisor were to book any rail tickets, and certainly for any of them listening to this podcast, uh, they could certainly relate. Back in the day, uh, if if they were booking any rail tickets for clients that needed to get from point A to point B to point C, whether it's in Europe or anywhere around the world, um, they typically would have to wait until 30, 60, or 90 days to actually book or issue those tickets, which for travel advisors, that can be a real pain point because they could have booked a trip a year in advance, except for the rail. Not to mention when they would book rail tickets, they may make two or three dollars, maybe ten dollars out of average. Let's just say they they're fortunate to make a lot more. So between being able to book up to two years in advance with rail bookers, being able to make much more commission, but also um, we take care of everything rail, hotel, sightseeing transfers, and more. So, really that one-stop shop when it comes to independent FIT style vacations.

SPEAKER_05: 1:06:28

And for those people who are going to reach out, I mean, obviously you have a sales pipeline for that, but how how does it work in the regional markets? Do you guys have uh trade partners in each of those major markets? And then are people contacting you directly through the website? Uh what is that process?

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:42

Yeah, absolutely. So we we actually uh we're happy to say we have staff all over, all over the US, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand. So typically any of the travel agents, travel uh advisors, whether it's here in the United States or or any of those countries that I just mentioned, they would contact our local numbers, local staff. And we have uh trade team members located throughout all those different areas and most recently, which you may have heard about, um, now expanding into Asia region. Uh in fact, uh hired some staff in uh Singapore as well.

SPEAKER_05: 1:07:11

Yes, yeah, we touched on that. I was thrilled to see that announcement with Frank over in Singapore. And so, yeah, you guys are truly a global company. One of the things that we also talked about in addition to marketing is technology, and I know that's important to travel agents as well. So take just through, I know AI is such a focus for you and your brother and the whole company. Yes. And it's you know, it's obviously the um uh it's incredibly important for the travel industry to embrace this technology um and to lead in the space because so much of travel is leveraging technology. Tell us how that works from a travel agent point of view uh with how they're able to book railbookers through your portal. Take us through some of the tech that you guys offer your partners.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:51

Absolutely. Well, you know, we we we're actually implementing and building a whole new uh really data lake system with internally within our own company to just really kind of be that one-stop shop, almost like the railbookers Google of all the latest and greatest and helpful information to better help support and provide to our travel advisors. But typically the way that our advisors work with us, because as of today, there really is no way to be able to book rail hotel sites and transfers more, ferries, you name it, actually online. So typically what they'll do is they'll they'll give us a call, all right, and again, they can work with the same one account executive, the same one reservationist. Uh typically, I always say once they initially call us to you know help answer that question, make that first quote, make that first booking, then from there, they literally can just email that same account executive time and time again, uh, and they never have to pick up the phone if they don't want. Uh, we also have an online form that they can also fill out if they have any uh particular itinerary requests, and then that will be responded to shortly after. And uh and here's another unique selling point. We do instant quotes. Um, I will tell you, most travel advisors, especially when it comes to independent FIT, flexible, independent style travel, it's not uncommon that it could take them sometimes three to five days to actually get a quote back using another operator with Railbookers and our Amtrak Vacations, our other brand. We do instant quotes, two copies, one for the travel advisor, and one that they can forward right on to their clients as well.

SPEAKER_05: 1:09:19

Well, I appreciate sharing that because I mean my background is coming up through corporate travel and just knowing how important travel advisors are, and certainly you guys are very agent-focused, and we're continuing to see growth in that category. The other area I want to highlight while we have this time together too, Jim, is the destinations that you are specifically excited about. Because I I had the chance uh to ask that of your colleagues, and I'm really keen to get your take on that as well, because clearly you work in the travel industry because you're a passionate traveler, so you know you're on the sales side, you're on the road. But take us through some of the itineraries that you're particularly excited about from a sales point of view to get out there and let people know about for 2026.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:56

Absolutely. Well, you know, the the destination by far that's our most popular or in the world, let alone in Europe, Switzerland. So I know I I might be saying what some of my fellow colleagues may have. Backing them up. That's right, backing them up. Switzerland, you can't go wrong. I mean, from the snow capped mountains, the cuisine, the fondue, the people, and of course the rail. I mean, from Bernina Express to Glacier Express. And and the nice thing with us too is we can book all different categories of service on board the trains, um, again, and then have uh some sightseeing tours included periodically throughout the tour, as well as giving uh the travel advisors' clients free time. But Switzerland is by far our most popular, followed by Italy, right? And then from Italy, it's other great destinations throughout Europe, from Ireland, Scotland, England, Norway, uh, Spain, Portugal, and beyond. Uh, we also see a huge uh uh trend uh of folks going to Canada as well as next year. We do have the 250th anniversary here in the United States. So we're gonna have some some real exciting itineraries as well.

SPEAKER_05: 1:10:56

And what about yourself? What are you gonna take next year?

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:58

What am I gonna take? Well, actually, on my wish list, it's actually uh Norway. I I I I've been fortunate to travel around the world, um, but Scandinavian countries uh is not been an area I have been to yet, but yet it's one of our top areas in the world, let alone in Europe. And funny enough, speaking of Europe, just a little fun trivia for all of you listeners out there, there's over 26,000 train stations just in Europe, right? Last year alone, I actually just asked this uh trivia question yesterday during our presentation here uh at our Railbookers Group summit. And the question was, how many people do they think traveled on trains last year alone in Europe? Now, this is all types of travelers. It could be travelers, it could be local Europeans, business folks, but the answer 1.1 billion with the B. You know, it just it just shows you it's a way of life. And uh we always say wherever the trains go, we can take the travel agent's clients there.

SPEAKER_05: 1:11:49

Well, it's really interesting because last season we did a two-part series on river cruising and then we did rail. And when we were highlighting that river cruising, which is an industry that gets a lot of buzz and attention and has done for the last decade, you know, it's a two billion dollar business, roughly. And and so when you look at the rail, it's over a hundred billion, 150 billion, depending on how you size it. But the size the size of the rail industry is massive compared to river cruising. And that number, because when Frank mentioned in our conversation just a moment ago that our listeners heard, and he said the US 500 stations, and then uh the Europe it was like you know 12,000 stations, the numbers are just like it it it's uh it it's incredible to think of the infrastructure that's there in comparison. So clearly Europe is such a top destination for people to travel, but there's more rail being built, there's more high-speed rail. And as you said, I mean the theme of this conference is the renaissance of rail. What are some of the the big takeaways that you want our global listeners to also understand about where Railbookers is headed in 2026 from a sales point of view?

SPEAKER_01: 1:12:46

Absolutely. Well, you you mentioned river cruises, Dan. You know, for us, 33% of our business is pre and post-cruise extensions. I mean, it is huge for us. And yes, as as Frank always says, you know, there's only there's only so many rivers in the world, but there's train tracks everywhere, and more and more are getting built. So just the the the opportunity with rail and you know, you think about river cruises 15 to 20 years ago, they they really weren't even something that was uh in the forefront of travel agents' minds, and now again, such a huge uh industry, a huge part of the travel industry, and we just have such a huge amount of pre and post-cruise extensions because many of the the the river cruise companies, and there's fantastic companies out there, if they offer any type of pre-opost extension, typically it's one, two, maybe three nights if uh in some cases, but typically it's only in the same port city where we could take clients as an example if a travel agent or a travel advisor has people uh going on a Rhine River cruise, for instance, Dan, right? And it starts or ends in Basel, Switzerland. Well, we could take it for Basel, Switzerland to Zurich, Zurich to Zermad, Zermad over to St. Maritz, St. Maritz down to Milan, Italy, and then they could fly home. And remember, when it comes to rail bookers, we pretty much book anything and everything for the travel advisor. Really, we are the travel advisor for the travel advisor. Pretty much with the exception of flights, we can book everything else for the advisor for their clients.

SPEAKER_05: 1:14:08

Yeah, and that's where I mean, I think that you know, train goes so well with the uh travel advisors, and that's where I think there's so much growth opportunity. And especially when more customers are coming into the consideration set. Obviously, you've got more retirees, you've got demographic factors uh moving in the right direction for the rail industry. So, yeah, I'm certainly bullish on this category and want to focus more on rail and our travel trends podcast in in 2026. I want to make sure, though, that any of our listeners can find out more information to work with you guys on the sales front to partner or collaborate with you. And given that you are so prolific on LinkedIn, I think that's probably one of the best ways to be able to do that. Yes. That's why I feel like I know you because I always see your uh great updates. But yes, um, tell us, please, Jim, what the best ways are for our listeners to be able to reach out to you or to connect with the sales team.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:54

Absolutely. Just contact, uh, give us a call. You know, it's probably the best way initially. I always say, reach out to, you know, if you're based in the UK or you're based in Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand. We have local staff, local phone numbers. Give us a call, and then from there, again, you'll connect with hopefully that favorite account executive. And then from there, you you can call, you can email. Uh, we always say we like to talk to you. And I'll leave you one other point, too: luxury rail vacations. Very, very popular, becoming more and more popular as we go on. And uh, funny enough, my wife and I were just on a uh luxury rail vacation, and uh, so many of the folks that were on the trip, when I had a chance to talk to them, many of them had traveled on river cruises, they had traveled on uh luxury cruise lines, and they had traveled on Rocky Mountaineer, another fantastic train operator, but they were looking for something different. So, folks, those are your same clients going on many of our luxury rail vacations as well. So uh again, from luxury to high speed to local to iconic, we can book any and all types of trains, the different seatings and sleeping accommodations, and pretty much again, almost everything else except for flights. So uh hope that helps.

SPEAKER_05: 1:16:00

That's fantastic. No, that helps a lot, Jim. It's a pleasure to meet you finally in person. Wonderful to be here at the conference. I obviously am excited for the gala this evening. I know we both need to now get into our costumes. I realize I do have one last question for you. Yes, of course. Um, because I'm sitting across from the gentleman who is very nicely adorned in his badges.

SPEAKER_01: 1:16:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_05: 1:16:19

And I brought this question up to Andy, and I've been staring at you this entire time, okay, thinking about what badges you have compared to what he had, because there's a number that stand out to me. You've got the Asta one that I can see. Yes. Um tell us for our listeners now, we're gonna make sure they're on our YouTube channel to see a clip and highlight of our conversation. Tell us about a couple of the special ones that you have from over the years at Rail Bookers conferences.

SPEAKER_01: 1:16:40

Oh, absolutely. Well, something I'm I'm really proud of is uh just recently I went on a luxury train, so I got a pin from one of the luxury train lines, one of many train lines that we're uh proud to say we partner with. And then I also have my three-year, my five-year, and my 10-year uh badge as well. And I know there is a 15-year, which I'll be hitting soon, and then 20 years, so yeah, it's I I know I'm uh creating lots of bling on my uh on my lanyard, so very excited.

SPEAKER_05: 1:17:08

Well, I'm thrilled to finally have my lanyard and have my first one here for the Global Summit, Las Vegas 2025. Oh, what do you know where we're gonna be next year? Uh you know something?

SPEAKER_01: 1:17:17

I do. Um more to come. More to come. I think that's probably the safe answer, just in case. But more to come.

SPEAKER_05: 1:17:27

So stay tuned. All right, we'll make sure we share that when the time is right. But real pleasure to meet you, Jim. Wish you every success in 2026.

SPEAKER_01: 1:17:33

Uh, thanks so much, Dan. Thanks, everyone.

SPEAKER_05: 1:17:36

Thanks so much for joining us on this special spotlight edition of Travel Trends and our focus on the team at Railbookers. I hope you enjoyed the conversation with the CEO Frank Marini and the opportunity to meet some of the team, Caitlin Birkenshaw, the VP of Marketing, Andrew Channel, the senior vice president of product, and then our last guest you just heard there, Jim Marini, the senior vice president of strategic partnerships. I certainly thoroughly enjoyed being at their conference, and it was incredible, as you heard me mention at the beginning, to be there for their celebration right after these recordings, as I got to know each of them and then see everyone on stage and this amazing company culture that both Frank and John Tavano have built. And the people that have come together to work at Railbookers are just truly extraordinary. So it was very wonderful to see so many old friends and industry colleagues and to see them in such a great place, so happy, and also to learn about the success of Railbookers and their growth, as you just heard, in 2025 and their plans for 2026. I learned a lot about new destinations and the partnerships, and I'm very excited to plan to join the Railbookers team at their conference in Vancouver in November of 2026. So thank you so much to all of our listeners for joining us. And thanks again to the Railbookers team for all your support and collaborations this year. And don't forget, you can find out more information about Railbookers at railbookers.com. Whether you're planning a trip for yourself and your family, or if you're interested in planning a trip for one of your guests, definitely reach out to one of your partners and hopefully you'll find a way to experience a destination around the world with railbookers in the near future. Thanks again for joining us for this special spotlight episode. Until next time, safe travels.