Andrés Spitzer took over as CEO of Civitatis on January 1, 2026, after leading product and technology at the tours and activities marketplace. In this conversation with PhocusWire’s Linda Fox, recorded in the PhocusWire Studio, he reflects on his first six months in the role. Conflict in the Middle East forced his team to change how it operates and shift demand to other markets. Spitzer names AI-driven discovery and trust as the biggest challenges facing the industry. Travelers have moved from searching Google to asking questions to asking agents to act for them. Activities lag far behind flights and hotels in technology maturity, and Spitzer explains what Civitatis must fix to be ready for agentic commerce. He also covers how millions of traveler reviews build trust, lessons he brought from Amazon and the company’s growth in Latin America, including its new partnership with Despegar.

Andr&eacute;s Spitzer took over as CEO of Civitatis on January 1, 2026, after leading product and technology at the tours and activities marketplace. In this conversation with PhocusWire&rsquo;s Linda Fox, recorded in the PhocusWire Studio, he reflects on his first six months in the role. Conflict in the Middle East forced his team to change how it operates and shift demand to other markets. Spitzer names AI-driven discovery and trust as the biggest challenges facing the industry. Travelers have moved from searching Google to asking questions to asking agents to act for them. Activities lag far behind flights and hotels in technology maturity, and Spitzer explains what Civitatis must fix to be ready for agentic commerce. He also covers how millions of traveler reviews build trust, lessons he brought from Amazon and the company&rsquo;s growth in Latin America, including its new partnership with Despegar.

A regular dissection of the news, issues and trends in travel and technology, featuring interviews with industry executives and entrepreneurs and hosted by PhocusWire editors.

A regular dissection of the news, issues and trends in travel and technology, featuring interviews with industry executives and entrepreneurs and hosted by PhocusWire editors.

In Phocus is a regular dissection of the news, issues and trends in travel and technology, featuring interviews with industry executives and entrepreneurs and hosted by PhocusWire editors.

In Phocus

Civitatis CEO Andrés Spitzer on his first six months in charge, AI discovery, trust, agentic commerce in activities and growth in Latin America.

CEO Spotlight: Andres Spitzer of Civitatis

Julie Cheetham is ten months into her role as CEO of Travalyst, the not-for-profit coalition of travel and technology companies founded by Prince Harry. In this conversation with PhocusWire’s Linda Fox, recorded in the PhocusWire Studio at Phocuswright Europe 2026, Cheetham argues that sustainability has not slipped down the corporate agenda despite global conflict and economic pressure. Instead, senior leaders now frame it around revenue, risk and efficiency. Hotels are already seeing climate change hit the bottom line.

Cheetham explains why credible data changes traveler behavior. The Travel Impact Model, built by the Travalyst coalition with Google, has surfaced aviation emissions data in more than 160 billion searches, and travelers pick the lower-impact option when price and routing are close. She also covers the rise in bookings at third-party certified properties, AI’s role in spreading tourists to lesser-known destinations and multimodal planning, and the push to consolidate competing certification schemes.

Julie Cheetham is ten months into her role as CEO of Travalyst, the not-for-profit coalition of travel and technology companies founded by Prince Harry. In this conversation with PhocusWire&rsquo;s Linda Fox, recorded in the PhocusWire Studio at Phocuswright Europe 2026, Cheetham argues that sustainability has not slipped down the corporate agenda despite global conflict and economic pressure. Instead, senior leaders now frame it around revenue, risk and efficiency. Hotels are already seeing climate change hit the bottom line.
Cheetham explains why credible data changes traveler behavior. The Travel Impact Model, built by the Travalyst coalition with Google, has surfaced aviation emissions data in more than 160 billion searches, and travelers pick the lower-impact option when price and routing are close. She also covers the rise in bookings at third-party certified properties, AI&rsquo;s role in spreading tourists to lesser-known destinations and multimodal planning, and the push to consolidate competing certification schemes.

Travalyst CEO Julie Cheetham explains how travel sustainability has become a conversation about revenue and risk, and why shared data is changing how travelers book.

CEO Spotlight: Julie Cheetham of Travalyst

Mews CEO Matthijs Welle sits down with PhocusWire's Linda Fox to explain an eventful year for the hospitality tech company. Six months after raising $300 million in Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, Mews cut 15% of its workforce. Welle says the two moves are unrelated. The restructuring aimed to build an AI-first organization where teams act quickly instead of waiting on meetings, and it created a new role: the product builder.

That shift is reshaping Mews' acquisition strategy. Welle splits deals into two types: property management systems, which Mews sunsets over time, and products folded into R&D. With in-house builders now creating products faster and cheaper, buying them makes less sense.

Welle also covers fragmentation in hospitality tech and why hoteliers want a single vendor, how AI turns Mews into one operating system, his working relationship with founder Richard Valtr and plans to win more large hotel brands.

Mews CEO Matthijs Welle sits down with PhocusWire's Linda Fox to explain an eventful year for the hospitality tech company. Six months after raising $300 million in Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation, Mews cut 15% of its workforce. Welle says the two moves are unrelated. The restructuring aimed to build an AI-first organization where teams act quickly instead of waiting on meetings, and it created a new role: the product builder.
That shift is reshaping Mews' acquisition strategy. Welle splits deals into two types: property management systems, which Mews sunsets over time, and products folded into R&amp;D. With in-house builders now creating products faster and cheaper, buying them makes less sense.
Welle also covers fragmentation in hospitality tech and why hoteliers want a single vendor, how AI turns Mews into one operating system, his working relationship with founder Richard Valtr and plans to win more large hotel brands.

Mews CEO Matthijs Welle explains the company's AI-driven reorg, its shifting acquisition strategy and its push to become hospitality's single operating system.

CEO Spotlight: Matthijs Welle of Mews

Hands In co-founder Samuel Flynn joins PhocusWire's Linda Fox in the PhocusWire Studio to explain how split payments differ from buy now, pay later. Flynn says Hands In targets insufficient funds at checkout, letting travelers combine payment methods and groups split costs across participants. He positions the company as a technology layer rather than a lender. He also predicts agentic AI will replace traditional checkout and discusses fragmentation, blockchain and fraud.

 

Hands In co-founder Samuel Flynn joins PhocusWire's Linda Fox in the PhocusWire Studio to explain how split payments differ from buy now, pay later. Flynn says Hands In targets insufficient funds at checkout, letting travelers combine payment methods and groups split costs across participants. He positions the company as a technology layer rather than a lender. He also predicts agentic AI will replace traditional checkout and discusses fragmentation, blockchain and fraud.
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Hands In's Samuel Flynn explains how split payments solve insufficient funds at checkout and why agentic AI will replace the checkout page.

CEO Spotlight: Andres Spitzer of Civitatis

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