Rapid Fire with Sarosh Waghmar of Spotnana

As we look forward to The Phocuswright Conference, PhocusWire is highlighting a number of conference speakers in a series of Q&As.

On November 19, Sarosh Waghmar, founder and chief product officer of Spotnana, will be participating in an executive panel. The session is titled “Business Travel’s Next Move.”

Below, Waghmar discusses what he’s working on, what he would change about the travel industry and how he is using artificial intelligence (AI).

What are you working on currently that excites you?

Spotnana is building an open platform for the travel industry with a modern system of record—a single source of truth that finally unlocks true automation, personalization and intelligence. By fixing the data at its core, we can empower every single part of the travel ecosystem to innovate freely and provide the seamless, connected journeys travelers have always deserved.

Over the past year, we’ve made tremendous progress on automated workflows and servicing capabilities. We hope to become the platform of choice for anyone who wants to offer the benefits of modern travel infrastructure to their customers, including TMCs, financial institutions and technology companies building AI-centric travel tools.

If you could change one thing about the industry overnight, what would it be?

If I could change one thing overnight, it would be to shift to a conversational, AI-centric user experience for travelers to book their trips. Today’s form-based user experiences are static and clunky. Travelers should be able to use natural language to interface with an AI companion that understands their preferences, booking history and calendar. And that AI companion should have expert knowledge of every local market, so it can provide excellent recommendations for where to stay and what to do.

When we look back in five years time, what will be the biggest impact of AI?

In five years, the biggest impact of AI on the travel industry will be its role as a powerful tool for travel agents. I don’t believe AI will replace agents. It will optimize the work they do. AI will significantly enhance agent efficiency by automating manual workflows, enabling them to focus on high-value interactions with travelers such as handling complex or high-touch requests. I started my career as a travel agent, and at my core, I still think of myself as a travel agent, so I feel strongly that the expertise and personal touch of knowledgeable agents will continue to enhance traveler experiences.

How are you personally using AI in your day-to-day work and how do you wish you could use AI in the future?

Spotnana currently uses AI for a number of different needs and is rapidly adding support for more use cases. Our approach to AI is to focus on highly practical, high-value applications, including virtual travel agents and automated disruption handling. Our R&D teams use a variety of AI coding tools like Cursor, Claude and GitHub Copilot daily to boost productivity and innovation. The goal is to have AI play a major role in our development process.

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

I am grateful to be speaking alongside so many visionary leaders at The Phocuswright Conference this year. I am looking forward to hearing Robert Buckman from Amadeus discuss innovation and the next era of distribution. The next generation of airline and hotel systems will allow travel providers to craft personalized offers tailored to the individual traveler. I’m excited to hear Robert’s thoughts on the future of distribution and how offers and orders will support modern retailing experiences.