“We might think nice, shiny gadgets, underneath the old architecture is still the same”

Let’s have some trust in the future, says Paul Sies, Journey Mentor’s new CEO.

Paul seems like a man who means business. The business at hand – ‘selling’ Journey Mentor’s simple high-tech proposition to the markets and a travel industry more inured to complexity. 

In a 35-year career, he has been instrumental in turning around challenged airlines, sorting out hospitality companies and launching new airlines. 

So, a Gordon Ramsey of travel? 

He laughs and says, actually, that’s not a bad analogy. Paul became President and Chief Executive Officer in April. 

“Journey Mentor has a small but very intelligent, very experienced team, it’s amazingly clever what they are doing,” he says, via Zoom from his home in Cyprus. 

“The proof of the pudding? Now we need to convince the market this is the future.”

Journey Mentor aims to change industry paradigms with its disruptive white label, travel tech solutions for small-medium sized airlines, agents, travel management companies (TMCs), Airports, Tourist Offices and the entire travel ecosystem. 

“For me, it’s quite specific. When I started in aviation, I was working with the same systems that are still being used today,” Paul says. 

“We might think nice shiny gadgets but underneath the architecture is still the same old architecture, a lot of procedures are the same and many of the players are the very same people who had the industry in their hands 50 years ago.”

He believes Journey Mentor is one of the first to offer a real alternative. 

As well as making the industry more profitable and sustainable, smaller players, in, say, countries of less developed tourism, can benefit. 

“By lowering the threshold of distribution, widening the scope and getting the product out there in the market, you can facilitate accommodation, car and tour-providers and others to do better sales, rather than spending millions on subsidies.”

growth and competition

For an industry seeking new solutions to difficult distribution problems, the time may indeed be ripe. 

“The industry has the opportunity now to grow but needs the ability to facilitate that,” he says.

Current high-profile challenges include supply chain issues rippling through the industry. 

Paul believes the problems will be resolved in time but OEMs need to sort out production, factories and infrastructure.

He has also seen first-hand the problems for Airlines and Hotels. Legacy systems like Revenue Management Systems (RMS) have challenges in getting products out effectively at the right price and against the right cost. This is something Journey Mentor has solved, he says. 

RMS work by predicting demand based on the past but struggle to function since the pandemic, and do not offer transparency as the travel behaviour of people has changed significantly.

“This did not matter so much when people went into a travel agent and could not see what everyone else was charging,” he says. 

“These days we all know what everybody is charging. So now it’s important to know what the competition is doing twenty-four-seven.

“If you say, my airline has better timings and better products so I can be 10 per cent more expensive than the competition, and if you want to continually be so, you need the means to do this twenty-four-seven.

“You can do so with a simpler and more affordable set-up. That is what we are doing. Within a split second you can see what the competition is doing and react accordingly. Either using AI driven business rules or by using the brainpower and experience of the analyst, they will be able to automate the majority of the changes needed to stay ahead of competition.”

a lifeline for Malta

Paul went into aviation by accident, intending it to be an interim before returning to studies. He met entrepreneur Hans Noorlander and they started BASE Airlines, that became one of the Netherlands’ biggest regional airlines.

He went on the work for carriers including BA, Virgin Express, BMI, and as what he describes as an active, hands-on consultant and interim manager.

He says struggling airlines mostly have three issues: production, the utilisation of the fleet (maximising the use of resources) or the passenger, distribution footprint and pricing mix. 

“Ninety-nine per cent of the time, it is one or more of these aspects. In some airlines, this involves a multitude of aspects.”

Paul ran Center Parcs Europe for a while before deciding “aviation was more interesting”.

As CEO of Cyprus Airways before joining Journey Mentor, he made the airline an important player in the Cypriot market – offering year-round connectivity.  

One of his proudest career moments was when as Chief Commercial Officer for Air Malta he played a key role in the island’s survival during the pandemic. 

Air Malta faced bankruptcy in 2017. Paul successfully transformed it from a legacy to a hybrid business model and a return to profit. Covid-19 struck. 

“Every single airline stopped flying and as an island, Malta was cut off from the world. We produced a Lifeline Strategy, where a minimal fleet was allowed to fly,” he says. 

“It kept Malta in touch with the outside world, and allowed in supplies and essential travel needs. We took Air Malta from bankruptcy to profitability and kept it going through Covid.”

Another highlight was working with Richard Branson on Virgin, one of the first low-cost airlines. “It was very exciting to do things differently and we created it successfully against expectations.”

trust in the future

Disastrous as it was, the Covid pandemic has had one benefit for the industry Paul says. 

Airlines and travel providers had time and the need to re-think – how to work smarter, bring costs down and be less dependent on monopolies like the Global Distribution System (GDS) for distribution. 

“Then AI came round the corner and gave a fantastic push. 

“Now there is a completely new landscape evolving. I’ve seen airlines trying to get out of the grip of the GDS, so Journey Mentor is fantastic because it provides the ingredients that make this possible and at the same time deliver a richer product to the passenger.”

UK-born Paul, who speaks four European languages, is a keen traveller. He and his family have also lived in a multitude of countries, including Cyprus, Malta, Belgium, France, Germany, Tunisia, Cameroon and Egypt. 

“I work a lot, too much I’m told by my family – but travel’s an opportunity of the job.” 

When pushed, he says Dubai, the Maldives and the UK are his favourites – but everywhere he has been has had aspects to admire.

Perhaps this love of travel is what guides his belief the industry should work better for consumers. 

Journey Mentor’s TripMentor, for example, enables customers to swap to better deals on cars, hotels, flights etc even after all is booked and paid for. This ensures the consumer always gets the best price, even after she/he has booked the trip. This is unique in the industry. 

LoyaltyMentor is designed to benefit both customer and provider.  “There has never been one system for the whole travel process before,” he says. Airlines have loyalty systems, and some hotels, however no-one provides a loyalty product that rewards the passenger for every part of her / his trip regardless which brands are used in the trip. So no need to take difficult connections and stay in hotels that are not what you really want just to get your rewards, now you can use any airline, hotel, car rental company and accumulate rewards. 

What are his ambitions for himself and the future of travel?

“I would like to be part of an industrial revolution,” he says. 

This means making the industry more efficient “spending money well and one that treats the customer better. An industry that enjoys decent margins it can use to create a different hence better service.”

Despite current industrial challenges, he is optimistic about the future.

“I’ve seen several cycles, from where the industry feels it’s at rock bottom and we’re all going bankrupt, to ‘the sky’s the limit’. Let’s have some trust in the future.

“Humanity is not a species that wants to sit in one place anymore. Travel is not something people will let go.”