The Travel Rockstars Podcast
Interviews with Travel Industry Rockstars. We talk to leading experts across the travel industry about their careers, their experiences, their views on technolgical and market developments. This show gives you the opportunity to get to know the movers and shakers of the travel industry more personally and benefit from the insights they share. So tune in.
All Episodes
Travel Rockstar - Martijn van der Voort
In this episode of the Travel Rockstar series, host Magnus Kunhardt talks to travel technology consultant Martijn van der Voort, whose path into the industry started almost by accident — a call centre job at Malev Hungarian Airlines, taken out of financial necessity after moving to Liverpool at 30. From there it was a fast climb through reservations, customer feedback and travel IT at CWT, a route Martijn traces back to jobs as varied as glass cutting and exhibition-stand building. He talks candidly about what keeps him in the industry — the people, and their refusal to let the status quo win — and about the family members and one unlikely music-industry connector who shaped how he thinks about resilience and purpose. The heart of the conversation lands on the pandemic, when he stepped up to lead a five-person team through the industry's toughest stretch, and on his belief that the smartphone, not the GDS, is travel technology's biggest achievement of the millennium. He's outspoken about agentic AI: convinced it will finally break travel's habit of thinking it "owns" the customer, but equally convinced most companies are automating broken processes rather than redesigning them. The episode closes with a lightning round covering Total Recall, a 17,000-record vinyl collection, a retirement plan in Luxor, and a nomination for the next Travel Rockstar: Bex Deadman of the Travel Risk Academy.
Travel Rockstar - Steve Clagg
In this episode of Travel Rockstar, host Magnus Kunhardt talks with Steve Clagg, who spent a decade leading corporate travel technology at Microsoft after an unconventional path through academia, software security, and Office 365 platform engineering. Steve traces how a personal observation — that travel wasn't represented as a data object in the Microsoft Graph — set him on a career-long hunt for gaps in the industry's technology stack. The conversation moves from the entrenched conservatism of GDS-era business models through to the two developments Steve considers the biggest achievements in travel tech since 2000: the shift from paper to electronic tickets, and the rise of language-model AI built on transformer architecture. Steve makes the case for interoperable, "one app to rule them all" travel experiences over walled-garden platforms, and offers concrete advice for newcomers on becoming technology stewards rather than travel-program operators. The episode closes on a candid discussion of AI's biggest blind spot — what happens when things go wrong — and a lighter quick-fire round covering Blade Runner, Black Sabbath, an elevator encounter with Bill Gates, and an admittedly intergalactic bucket list.
Partner Interview with Scott Millar
Turning Lost Credits into Real Value — with Scott Millar, Magnetech What happens to an airline ticket when a meeting gets cancelled? For most corporate travel programmes, the answer is: not enough. In this episode, Magnus Kunhardt sits down with Scott Millar, Director of Sales and Strategic Partnerships at Magnetech, to talk about one of the travel industry's quiet but costly problems — unused tickets and the open credits left on the table. Scott shares how Magnetech's OnTrack Plus connects directly to the GDS to track and manage ticket credits throughout their full lifecycle, and how a near decade-long integration with Umbrella Profiles means travel consultants always have the complete picture — right where they need it, right when they need it. They also get into the bigger forces reshaping the industry: data fragmentation, the shift to real-time corporate reporting, duty of care, and the question every travel tech company is asking right now — how do you adopt AI without losing what makes great travel management human?
Partner Interview with Melissa Driesbach
In this episode of The Travel Rockstars Podcast, I sit down with Melissa Driesbach, the Director of Strategic Sales and Partnerships at Prime Numbers Technology. We explore the transformative role of travel data, AI, and technology in enhancing corporate travel management. Melissa discusses how Prime Numbers has evolved from a benchmarking tool to a comprehensive platform that consolidates various data sources for real-time insights. We delve into the importance of actionable data in driving strategic business decisions and improving traveler experiences. Join us as we uncover the future of travel analytics and how companies can leverage these innovations for a competitive edge. Tune in for an insightful conversation that sheds light on the exciting developments shaping the travel tech landscape.