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The 10 most innovative travel and hospitality companies of 2023

Why Airbnb, Capital One, Outdoorsy, Atlas Obscura, and Discover Puerto Rico are some of the most exciting travel companies of the year.

The 10 most innovative travel and hospitality companies of 2023

BY Stirling Kelsolong read

Explore the full 2023 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 540 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact across 54 categories, including advertising, beauty, design, and more.

The best travel companies of 2023 are anticipating the changing desires of travelers. After what cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky calls a “near-death business experience” in 2020, Airbnb had its strongest year on record in 2022, taking in $8.4 billion in revenue and $1.9 billion in net income—its first profitable full year. It succeeded, says Chesky, by getting rid of distracting side projects and focusing on how to make its core product—home rentals—better for travelers and hosts alike. For travelers, that means being able to search for accommodations based on what they want to do, not simply where they want to go, a simple but profound change. For hosts, it means having access to Genius Bar–style support as they ease their way onto the platform for the first time. That effort helped the company add more than 900,000 new listings to the site last year.

Capital One similarly had a breakout year with its Venture X travel rewards card by focusing on the basics. It tapped the inventive travel-booking app Hopper to help it build a rewards-travel booking platform that you’ll actually want to use. The company is now layering on luxurious extras for cardholders, including airport lounges with food from chef José Andrés and a collection of hotels where travelers get additional benefits.

Anticipating what travelers want is at the heart of RV rental marketplace Outdoorsy‘s success. Founded in 2015, the company has spun the surge of interest in campers and RVs during the pandemic into $2 billion worth of transactions, while also spinning out a lucrative RV insurance product. It’s proving that the RV boom is more than a pandemic fad. Travel media company Atlas Obscura, meanwhile, has developed a deep well of content around unique and under-the-radar sites and destinations. As travelers’ appetites for this kind of content has grown, the company has given them more ways to consume it, from books and a hit podcast to small-group tours.

Puerto Rico has long been known for its enticing ad campaigns. But in 2022, the island’s destination marketing organization, Discover Puerto Rico, decided to eschew the traditional approach of showcasing beaches and resorts. Instead it channeled travelers’ growing desire for authenticity, even on a beach vacation. Puerto Rico’s latest advertising campaign, Live Boricua, focuses on the island’s people and distinct culture. The campaign is inspired by the island’s original name, given by the indigenous Taínos who inhabited it well before the Spanish arrived.

1. Airbnb

For redesigning its platform for the new era of travel

Though travel was back across the board in 2022, Airbnb outpaced expectations by doing what it does best: tweaking its platform in both small and substantial ways to anticipate the changing desires of travelers. In May 2022, in response to a fundamental shift created by remote and hybrid work, with guests traveling farther and staying longer, Airbnb unveiled its biggest change in a decade: an all-new way to search for accommodation by category. This had the added benefit of introducing travelers to new destinations and properties that might otherwise be overlooked. The same month, Airbnb also expanded its insurance product, AirCover, to cover guests. It includes a booking guarantee, check-in guarantee, get-what-you-booked guarantee, and a 24-hour safety line. For hosts, AirCover offers damage protection of up to $3 million. And in November, Airbnb refined its system for onboarding new hosts, making it easier for them to put their place online by allowing them to contact specialized support or match up with an experienced Superhost who can advise them on how to best list their properties. (The Superhost will get a bonus for the initial booking.) U.S. hosts can now get paid within 30 minutes, via a new Fast Pay option, and the company is anticipating growing interest in hosting with a recession on the horizon. Also notable: Airbnb’s nonprofit arm, Airbnb.org, stepped in when Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Just four days after that invasion, the nonprofit announced that it would offer free, temporary housing for up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. Before the end of the year, it had exceeded that goal.

Read more about Airbnb, honored as No. 3 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2023.

2. Capital One

For designing a travel-rewards credit card program that’s user friendly

When Capital One launched its new luxury credit card Venture X in 2021, it included traditional incentives like sign-up bonuses. But the credit card company focused primarily on customer experience by building a new travel portal that makes it easy to redeem points and book trips. Powered by Hopper, a multiyear Most Innovative Companies winner that’s best known for its price-predictive travel app, the Capital One Travel booking portal includes benefits like fare predictions, price alerts, and travel credit if a fare drops within 10 days of purchase. Capital One’s flagship lounge, built in DFW Airport in 2022, also rethinks the traditional concept: It serves travelers with long layovers—they can work out on Peloton bikes, take a nap in a relaxation room, or shower between flights—as well as those who are short on time, with cold-brew coffee and high-quality meals from a grab-and-go food section. Lounges in Denver, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles are also in the works. Capital One Landing, an additional lounge concept with tapas-like food from chef José Andrés, will open in 2023 at Reagan National in D.C. and New York City’s LaGuardia airport. Capital One Travel also unveiled a Premier Collection of luxury hotels and resorts—properties where card members get automatic upgrades, such as complimentary breakfast, $100 resort credits, and free Wi-Fi. Venture X is part of Capital One’s long-term plan to draw in more high-spending users—a strategy that’s particularly timely in an uncertain economy. As Capital One’s founder and CEO Richard Fairbank noted on a recent earnings call, in a troubled economy, these heavy spenders are “pound for pound, a more resilient group.”

3. Canary Technologies

For giving hotel guests mobile tools they’ll actually use

Canary Technologies helps hotels and resorts run smoothly thanks to behind-the-scenes tech solutions that improve everything from staff efficiency to guest communication. In 2022, Canary added a slew of services to its guest management system, starting with contactless check-in that doesn’t require guests to download hotels’ native apps, which are generally unpopular and see less than a 10% adoption rate. Instead, Canary turned its mobile-friendly check-in product into a web-based solution accessed through the browser. This all but eliminates lines at the lobby desk and frees up staff for other services. Canary also improved guest messaging options so that hotel professionals can communicate easily with guests via SMS or WhatsApp. Finally, it introduced digital tipping, which enables guests to scan QR codes (strategically distributed around a property) to tip housekeepers and other staff members in local currencies without needing cash. So far, the innovation has led to as much as a fivefold increase in tips, translating into higher wages and increased staff retention. In 2022, Canary added Best Western, Radisson, and Millennium to its already long list of clients that range from major hotel chains to independent properties across 75 countries. Canary now supports more than 20,000 hoteliers.

4. Outdoorsy

For removing the roadblocks to RV travel

This eight-year-old RV rental marketplace may be a familiar name, thanks to a surge of interest in RV roadtrips throughout the pandemic, but Outdoorsy’s recent milestone of $2 billion in transactions is largely thanks to Roamly, the company’s insurance arm. Launched in 2021 and expanded throughout 2022, Roamly is a new category of insurance specific to RVs, unique vehicles when it comes to their needs and risks on the road. While traditional insurance for RVs contained a commercial exclusion clause that could cause owners to lose coverage when renting out their vehicles, Roamly covers the owners who rent them out—and costs an average of 25% less than competing options. Outdoorsy has deepened Roamly into a general travel insurance product, including trip cancellation coverage for illness and reimbursement if a trip is cut short due to sickness or hospitalization. (It also introduced coverage for pets.) And it has marketed the product to both users of its rental marketplace and RV owners in general. At the same time, the company has been doubling down on its commitment to making RV travel more accessible to everyone by amassing a collection of RV campgrounds strategically close to national parks. The campgrounds, which will include fast electric vehicle charging stations (bringing much-needed hookups to rural areas), will debut as part of the Outdoorsy Destination Network in 2023. Fifteen camps across Colorado, California, Texas, and Tennessee are scheduled to open this year.

5. Discover Puerto Rico

For creating an ad campaign that’s distinctly local

This destination marketing organization’s 2022 advertising campaign made a conscious departure from the Caribbean’s typical selling points—oceans, beaches, and warm weather—and instead focused on the island’s people and distinct culture. The result was Live Boricua, a campaign based on Puerto Rico’s original name, given by the indigenous Taínos who inhabited the island well before the Spanish arrived. Today, it’s also a colloquial term for Puerto Ricans by birth or descent. Often vacation destinations will helicopter in top marketing teams from New York or L.A. to produce advertising materials, but DPR again looked inward. It hired three Boricua women to direct and photograph the campaign and turned to Puerto Ricans for every aspect of the multimedia production, from the music and the costumes to the highlighted foods and destinations. While Puerto Rico’s 2022 travel numbers no doubt received a post-Covid bump, all signs point to a successful endeavor: Total lodging revenue was up 56% from 2021 and hotel rates were also 57% higher. Of equal importance, Live Boricua has served as a source of pride for the island’s residents and wide diaspora and is a meaningful nod to Puerto Rico’s native history.

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6. Atlas Obscura

For telling conscientious travel stories across every medium

While other travel businesses shrank during the pandemic, Atlas Obscura expanded. Over the past several years, the company has grown from a travel website into a multimedia hub with podcasts, online classes, a book, and guided tours—all aimed at inspiring and educating people about the world by highlighting its unique places and wonders. As a result, 2022 was Atlas Obscura’s breakout year. The company sold twice as many small-group trips to 60-plus destinations than it sold pre-pandemic, helping to bump revenue to $20 million in 2022 from $9 million the year before. The company’s daily podcast nabbed the top spot in the travel section on Apple, with millions of monthly downloads. Atlas Obscura also created a custom content arm that harnesses its signature travel insights on behalf of business partners. Last year, it worked with Land Rover, the city of Los Angeles, and YouTube on various campaigns and travel guides. In addition, Atlas Obscura is working to untangle travel and travel writing from traditionally western viewpoints. The company undertook a “decolonization project,” reviewing more than 20,000 destination entries in its database to ensure that the entire history of each place is included. The company also committed to operating its trips with local guides and partners to ensure that residents, not transplants, are telling each destination’s stories.

7. Taos Ski Valley

For electrifying the ski industry

Located in New Mexico, Taos is a popular American ski resort and year-round adventure destination with more than 1,200 skiable acres. It’s also the world’s only certified B Corp ski resort, a designation that speaks to its mission to change the $375 billion ski industry by tackling problems such as ecological damage and community inequity. Over the last several years, Taos has invested $300 million into a range of projects, including solar power and electric vehicles. The company forged a partnership with the local electric utility to build the infrastructure to allow the resort’s chairlifts, gondolas, and other on-mountain mechanics to operate on 100% daytime solar energy, a milestone that it achieved in 2022. In doing so, Taos created a new energy resource for the entire community. Taos also advocated for snowcat manufacturers Kässbohrer and Taiga to make more energy-efficient vehicles, and plans to become the first resort in North America to deploy an all-electric snowcat for daily grooming when it receives its new vehicle in the coming months. Taos has invested millions more in high-efficiency snow guns and electric snowmobiles, and the resort received CarbonNeutral certification in 2022 from Climate Impact Partners. With these efforts, Taos has helped push the mega-resorts, major suppliers, and manufacturers in and around the ski industry to reimagine their businesses to be more sustainable. Lift revenue at Taos has increased 58% from 2019 through 2022, and resort-wide revenue has grown 42.3% from 2019 through 2022.

8. Delta Air Lines

For hyper-personalizing airport wayfinding

In 2022, Delta rolled out a parallel reality experience for its customers in Detroit Metropolitan Airport, part of a $12 billion, decade-long effort to simplify and customize its on-the-ground operations around the world. The display, which was created in partnership with Misapplied Sciences, is made up of a single screen that is capable of presenting unique itineraries and wayfinding information for up to 100 travelers. After passengers opt into the experience by scanning their boarding pass, multi-view pixel technology directs different-colored light to specific viewing zones, which allows multiple people looking at the same display to see personalized content, like gate or luggage carousel numbers. As travelers move around this designated area, an overhead sensor shifts their flight information to their new location. Once a passenger leaves the viewing zone, the screen no longer works for them, and their private information is deleted. The technology currently serves an average of 1,100-plus customers a day, and surveys show that customers who interact with the displays are happier and less stressed. Also in 2022, Delta completed a $4 billion remodel at New York’s LaGuardia airport. The $2.3 billion Delta Sky Way at Los Angeles International Airport is scheduled to be completed in 2023.

9. Kindred

For elevating home exchanges

The concept of home exchanges is not new, but Kindred is modernizing the business model by creating a members-only network that pads homeowners and renters with $100,000 in insurance and works behind the scenes to play matchmaker for high-quality swaps. It also sends hosts a box of essentials, such as sheets, towels, and lockboxes, to elevate and standardize the experience, and arranges cleaning services before and after stays. After its April 2022 launch, Kindred is growing its listings in 25 key U.S. cities. In the platform’s first three months, members booked 1,500 nights, and more than 7,000 people joined the wait list. Membership costs $300 annually, and swapper only cover the cost of cleaning and a service fee per trip. Still, Kindred members save an average of $1,600 on a week’s worth of accommodations. In 2023, the company plans to expand to other U.S. destinations, as well as to Canada and Europe.

10. Fora

For creating a modern travel agency

Fora, which launched in August 2021, is a new kind of travel agency that has been designed with entrepreneurs and part-time travel professionals in mind. The company takes a community approach to learning; advisors join online cohorts for seminars led by veteran agents on topics ranging from how to market themselves to destination education. Ultimately, new Fora advisors earn one of three levels of certification—certified, advanced, and pro—based on what they’ve learned and the booking milestones they’ve reached. Over the past year, Fora has been deepening its technology platform (something that is often lacking or outdated at traditional agencies), which makes it easy for agents to get in touch with other advisors, access management and booking tools, and market themselves on Fora’s website. The platform says that it pays its agents on commissions faster than any other agency, relieving a major pain point as advisors can often wait upwards of 90 days after a trip for compensation. Fora’s advisors pay $149 a quarter for this tech, training, and support (other agencies often charge more than $5,000 for training alone), as well as its built-in partnerships with travel suppliers. Notably, Fora is a part of Virtuoso—a conglomerate of hundreds of luxury hotels, tour outfitters, and cruise lines—and works with brands such as Four Seasons and Rosewood to offer travelers benefits at their properties. Fora has more than 850 agents (and a wait list of more than 50,000 people) who have booked over 15,000 trips.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stirling Kelso is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in over 30 publications including Travel + LeisureCondé Nast Traveler, Afar, and The New York Times. She’s a frequent contributor to Fast Company, covering travel and sustainability, among other topics More


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