On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2025. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Steven ↗
In their words
Technology is the one limiter of scale. If you don't have that foundation, if you're relying on legacy tech — which I think is still very prevalent in a lot of the big travel companies — then it's very difficult to scale.
They're going to be buyers, both of those groups. Some of them are going to do it to further thrive, like Expedia and Booking, and I think others will do it in an attempt to survive.
It is fiercely competitive, and you've got to find ways to compete and find ways to maximize margin on every turn.
Around the web ×1
Quick answers
Who is Steven de Blois?
A Toronto travel-technology executive. He ran StudentUniverse, Flight Centre Travel Group's student booking platform, as global managing director across its four markets — the US, Canada, Australia and the UK — after close to seven years at Expedia in product management, four years at Air Canada in corporate strategy and ecommerce, and two years running Umapped. His own LinkedIn profile lists eBay as his current employer; no title is public there, so none is claimed here.
What did he say limits scale in travel?
Technology. On TechTO's December 2025 travel panel he argued that the legacy stacks still running much of the big travel industry are the ceiling on growth: without a modern foundation a company cannot scale, and fixing it takes continuous investment that not everyone is willing to make.
What did he expect AI to change in travel?
Personalization, finally. He said travel has always had a weak signal to work from — people travel a few times a year — but that crunching more data would let some companies deliver genuinely more relevant results. He also expected the largest online travel agencies to get bigger and to become buyers, some to grow and some to survive.