Rapid Fire with Eric DeLange of Reddit

As we look forward to The Phocuswright Conference, taking place November 18 through November 20 in San Diego, PhocusWire is highlighting a number of conference speakers in a series of Q&As. 

On Wednesday, November 19, Eric DeLange, industry director and U.S. head of finance and travel for Reddit, will be participating in an executive panel titled “Social Search, Viral Inspiration and the Future of Travel.”

Below, DeLange shares his top priorities, his thoughts on how Reddit is impacting travel and how he’s using artificial intelligence (AI) each day.

What are your top priorities this year at Reddit? 

My top priority is helping travel and financial services brands tap into the full potential of our Reddit communities.

Part of that is making sure my clients understand Reddit as a platform. Sounds simple, and yes we’ve been around for over 20 years, but there’s still a lot of mystery about what our platform is and what value their brands and business can get out of it.  

With 100,000+ communities and 110+ million daily active uniques, Reddit is where real people form communities, get answers, share ideas, discuss life and offer advice—that of course includes travel, one of our more endemic categories with communities like r/travel and r/travelhacks. 

The nature of our platform is anonymous and therefore trusted. You can discuss, ask and share things here that are hyper-personalized—like managing dietary restrictions in Southeast Asia, or tips for navigating airports with anxiety—that you might not be comfortable in other forums. It’s certainly not performative. And what brings these communities together is at the end of the day, it’s about the human and human connection. All of these core pillars are why travel is such a hot and growing conversation on the platform.

We have a lot of things coming up, which I’m excited for everyone to learn more about, like AI search. So my priority is to make sure everyone is as excited about Reddit as I am.

How do you see Reddit shaping the way travelers research, plan and share experiences?

We say here at Reddit that ‘Reddit conversations drive journeys.’ We are the internet’s most trusted word of mouth, engaging intent-driven travelers.

The saying goes that it’s not just about the destination but also the journey. At Reddit, it’s both destination, journey and the journey to the journey—Reddit has conversations on inspiration, planning and everything needed to get your journey started.

It's prime for decision-making. Before travelers hit "book," they’re hitting Reddit to ask real questions, get unfiltered advice and sanity-check what they see on more curated platforms. Whether it’s “hidden gems in Kyoto,” “travel insurance worth it?” or “what no one tells you about traveling solo,” Reddit provides nuanced answers from people with real experience. That peer-to-peer trust shapes decisions in a way no algorithm or influencer can replicate.

So I see Reddit to continue to be shaping the travel experience because we’ve already been doing it, and our conversations are prime to evolve with the community—fueled by what’s interesting and necessary to their journeys.

Do you believe the travel industry is innovative in how it engages with online communities?

I think there is an opportunity to lean into online communities more authentically. We’ve seen consumer expectations evolve—they’re media savvy and looking for something real, versus being marketed to. So when it comes to travel, brands can often focus on overly polished content and overlook the power of unfiltered dialogue happening on places like Reddit.

We’ve seen success with some of our brands engaging directly with Redditors, really immersing into the conversation, by using solutions like AMAs ["Ask me Anything"] or contextual campaigns. Kayak hosted an AMA with their chief scientist and SVP of technology to answer real travel questions directly from Redditors, and they also ran a Freeform ad to dispel a common misconception—that you should only use Kayak to search, not book.

American Airlines leaned into conversations when Delta announced changes to its loyalty program, using Reddit to break down their own rewards program in a simple, relatable way. These are great examples of how travel brands can show up authentically by addressing real questions and pain points where people are already talking.

But broadly, there’s room to continue to evolve from speaking at communities to joining the conversation with communities.

How are you personally using AI in your day-to-day work?

I’ve been enjoying using our recently launched Reddit Answers, an AI-powered conversational interface that allows Redditors to ask a question and receive answers sourced and linked to communities and posts. It’s been helpful to get deeper into the human conversations that are happening on the platform, which helps ensure I’m tapped into the conversations relevant to my categories and clients.

Who are you most looking forward to hearing speak at the conference and why?

My role at Reddit actually has me leading both travel and financial services verticals, so I’m particularly excited to hear from the finserv brands featured at the conference, like Chase Travel and Amex. 

These two verticals can sit in silos, but the reality is that for consumers, and especially Redditors, they’re deeply interconnected. Travel isn’t just about the destination—it’s about budgeting for trips, getting the best redemption on loyalty points, travel insurance. In fact, many of the travel conversations on Reddit happen in forums you might think are more traditionally finserv, like r/creditcards.

So I’m really curious to hear how financial brands are thinking about bridging finserv and travel more intentionally, and strategically upstream—I think this is going to be a big unlock for both industries, and I’m excited to see how these conversations evolve.