Episode 7: “State-of-Play” Travel & the Importance of Human-Created Content with Travel + Leisure

I last saw Nina at ILTM in Cannes in December, and today we met in Santa Monica at Hotel Casa del Mar. Recording in a beautiful penthouse suite overlooking the Pacific, we settled into a thoughtful conversation that began with remarking on how, once you get into the travel industry, you never leave. Our discussion flows into an interesting point of view about her belief in human-created content, Travel + Leisure’s strategy in the content differentiation between Instagram and TikTok, as well as a few expert tips on pet-friendly hospitality.

Nina’s current position as the Senior Editorial Director at Travel + Leisure has provided incredible opportunities for her to travel the world and write about her experiences. Her day-to-day consists of overseeing the brand’s digital team, everything on website and social from daily breaking news to large tentpole campaigns. She knew she wanted two things when deciding what she wanted to do for a living: to travel and to write.

In the eight years that Nina has been at T+L, the print-digital relationship and the way content has gone back and forth has changed quite a bit. At present, the majority of print content goes online; however, there is a thoughtful process between print editors and digital editors to ensure that the content is presented in a way that is complementary to the medium. With the wide freelance network at T+L, the brand is able to call on experts stationed worldwide at any given time, which really lends legitimacy to each respective piece.

Something that has consistently come up in each Luxury Travel Innovator episode is the desire for human connection among the rise of AI innovation. This manifests itself at T+L a bit differently than with a hotelier in that there’s a desire to get to know the writer behind the words. A focus for Nina is to build up her internal editors’ brands, alongside T+L’s, to really show the world that they are travel experts. Incorporating influencers with really engaged audiences is another strategy T+L uses to connect with their audiences and inspire them to travel to places near and far.

“We celebrate travel. Let’s highlight places that are amazing and the positives of travel…the goal is to encourage people to get out and see the world.”

Nina is cognizant of trends and changes in the way people consume media. For example, shorter attention spans has influenced the incorporation of summary bullet points to the top of T+L articles. But the importance of human-made content remains a priority. Travel + Leisure has a very strong policy that they will not use AI to create content. However, they do still use it to streamline workflows. From her point of view, we should use AI tools to innovate and make things more efficient in service of interpersonal connection.

Within the social media landscape, Nina has learned the importance of differentiating between platforms. Gone are the early days of simply posting the same content on Instagram and TikTok. In order to grow audiences, it’s vital to package content differently, depending on where it’s being posted. TikTok audiences are typically younger and prefer face-to-camera and voiceovers, as an example.

Nina is truly the definition of a travel expert, and she was gracious enough to share some of her favorite destinations around the globe. The three places she returns to time and time again? Italy, Greece and Mexico, with the common themes between the three being really warm hospitality, varied landscapes and amazing food. When looking at consumers, she’s seeing guests prioritize experience-focused travel, whether it’s a local cooking class or going out with a guide to explore deeper into a destination. Her editor-in-chief, Jacqui Gifford, calls it a “state-of-play” type of travel. The idea is that everyone’s looking to just have fun and get more out of every trip. Activity-focus is not just for kids, but for adults too.

A recent experience that Nina shared was getting to take her dog, Cali (check out @travleswithcali on Instagram!), to Malibu Beach Inn, a perfect showcase of how beautiful, luxury hotels are adjusting to be pet-friendly. On top of leaving a welcome note and bottle of champagne for Nina, they also set up a welcome basket for Cali, complete with treats, a special bed and bottled water.

We ended with LTI’s signature rapid fire questions. Nina is very excited about her upcoming honeymoon, and since she and her husband couldn’t agree on one destination, they are going to two! Her husband wanted to go somewhere with an overwater bungalow, and Nina wanted to go somewhere she had never been before (a funny dilemma that can crop up when you work in the travel industry), so they picked Fiji and the Maldives this May and June, respectively. When looking back at the glamour of travel in the past, Nina reflects on how exciting it was to dress up to fly, especially when flying standby with her mom, who worked for United Airlines. For future innovation, Nina offered a new perspective on plane design. Rather than being divided by class, she’d like to see planes divided by activity or lifestyle—a section for business meetings, relaxation, a bar, etc. Also she’d love to see dependable WiFi to optimize workflow.

Thank you Nina for such a wonderful conversation, now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Youtube.