From evolving booking patterns and rising demand for experiential travel to navigating geopolitical uncertainty and airline capacity challenges, he outlines how RezLive.com is empowering travel agents with smarter tools, broader inventory, and deeper insights to thrive in an increasingly competitive and fast-moving global travel marketplace.
Jaal Shah, Founder – RezLive.com, Group Managing Director – Travel Designer Group, speaks on the rapid transformation of global B2B travel distribution in an era defined by technology, data, and shifting traveller expectations. In this exclusive interaction, he shares how AI, automation, real-time inventory, and digital adoption are redefining the role of travel partners worldwide.
As the driving force behind RezLive.com, how do you view the evolution of the global B2B travel distribution landscape over the past few years?
Over the last few years, B2B travel distribution has moved from being largely transactional to deeply technology-led and insight-driven. The traditional model of static contracts and manual processes has given way to dynamic connectivity, real-time pricing, and highly curated content. Today, travel partners expect speed, reliability, and intelligence in every search and every booking.
From RezLive.com’s perspective, we’ve seen three big shifts: consolidation of supply, rising expectations on service and support, and the need for smarter technology rather than just more inventory. Our journey from an India-born brand to a global B2B player present in 60+ countries and serving tens of thousands of travel partners has been built on understanding these shifts early and aligning our platform, product, and people accordingly.
Innovation is reshaping travel distribution—how is RezLive.com leveraging technology to stay ahead in a competitive marketplace?
For us, technology is not a support function—it is the core of our value proposition. RezLive.com has always positioned itself as a tech-first B2B platform that simplifies complexity for our partners. We invest continuously in our proprietary technology stack to ensure faster search responses, more accurate availability, and a seamless booking experience across devices and markets.
We are also very focused on intelligent features rather than just cosmetic upgrades. Whether it is a smarter match, better product segmentation, or more intuitive dashboards for agents, the goal is to help our partners sell better, not just book faster. That mindset—of co-creating value with our partners—is what keeps us ahead in a very competitive landscape.
Could you share some of the recent technological advancements or product innovations introduced by Rezlive.com?
In recent times, we have strengthened both our breadth of content and the depth of our technology. On the product side, we have significantly expanded our hotel inventory, especially across Asia-Pacific, the USA and Europe, giving our partners a wider choice in key leisure and business destinations. We have also enhanced our transfer inventory with directly contracted airport–hotel–airport options across major Indian cities and key global hubs, which helps agents build more complete itineraries from a single platform.
On the technology side, we’ve worked on improving our booking engine performance, user interface, and overall platform scalability. Faster loading times, cleaner workflows, and better post-booking tools have been a big focus. In parallel, we continue to deepen our integrations with hotels, DMCs, and global suppliers to secure more exclusive deals and dynamic rates for our partners.
How important is AI and data analytics in enhancing customer experience and operational efficiency within your platform?
AI and data analytics are becoming central to how we design the future of Rezlive.com. At scale, B2B travel is all about making sense of huge volumes of data—rates, availability, booking patterns, seasonality, and partner behaviour. AI helps us convert that data into actionable intelligence. On the travel partner experience side, AI allows us to surface more relevant options, optimise sorting and filtering, and personalise recommendations for different types of agents and markets. On the operational side, data analytics helps us forecast demand, identify gaps in inventory, monitor the performance of suppliers, and proactively address issues before they impact partners.
We see AI not as a buzzword, but as a practical tool to make the platform faster, smarter, and more intuitive for our partners.
What role do automation and real-time inventory play in improving service delivery to your travel partners?
Automation and real-time inventory are absolutely critical in today’s environment. Our partners are servicing end customers who are well-informed, time-sensitive, and often comparing multiple options in real time. If our platform cannot respond quickly and accurately, we are not adding value. Through deep API connectivity and automated workflows, Rezlive.com ensures that availability, pricing, and booking confirmations are as close to real-time as possible. This reduces manual intervention, minimises errors, and significantly cuts down response times. For agents, this translates into higher conversion, fewer post-booking issues, and more confidence in selling from our platform.
Automation also extends to back-office processes—reconfirmation, amendments, cancellations, and support workflows—so that our teams can focus on complex cases while routine tasks are handled efficiently by the system.
How do you foresee emerging technologies like blockchain or predictive analytics impacting the future of travel distribution?
Emerging technologies will gradually reshape the foundations of B2B travel distribution. Predictive analytics is already playing a role in demand forecasting, dynamic pricing, and inventory optimisation. As models become more sophisticated, we will see even more precise recommendations on what to sell, when to sell, and at what price. Blockchain, on the other hand, has potential in areas like contract management, payment security, and traceability of transactions. While adoption in mainstream B2B travel is still at an early stage, the principles of transparency, trust, and immutability that blockchain brings are very relevant to our industry.
At RezLive.com, our approach is pragmatic: we closely track these technologies, experiment where it makes sense, and integrate them when they can deliver tangible value to our partners rather than just being a talking point.
How would you describe the current global travel market scenario, especially in the present war scenario in the Middle East? How are geopolitical factors, economic fluctuations, and airline capacity influencing the travel trade today?
The global travel market today is a mix of strong underlying demand and heightened external volatility. On one hand, we see a very resilient appetite for travel—both leisure and business—across most regions. On the other hand, geopolitical tensions, including the ongoing conflict in parts of the Middle East, as well as economic uncertainties and airline capacity constraints, are creating pockets of disruption. Geopolitical issues can impact specific corridors, lead to rerouting, or temporarily dampen demand for certain destinations. Economic fluctuations and currency movements affect affordability and booking behaviour, especially for long-haul travel. Airline capacity and fare levels continue to influence how and when people travel.
For a B2B platform like Rezlive.com, this means we must stay agile—diversifying destination offerings, strengthening alternative routes and markets, and ensuring our partners have enough options to redirect demand when needed. The key is to provide stability and reliability in an otherwise uncertain environment.
Have you observed any significant shifts in booking patterns, traveller preferences, or destination demand?
Yes, several clear shifts have emerged. Booking windows have become more polarised—some travellers are booking much closer to departure due to uncertainty, while others, especially for long-haul or complex itineraries, are planning well in advance to secure better fares and availability. We also see a strong tilt towards experiential travel—travellers are looking for more than just a hotel stay; they want curated experiences, unique stays, and activities that reflect local culture. Secondary and emerging destinations are gaining traction as travellers look beyond the traditional hotspots, partly to avoid overcrowding and partly driven by social media discovery.
There is also a noticeable rise in premium and luxury segments among certain customer profiles, even as value-conscious travel remains strong in other segments. This diversity in demand is exactly why a broad and well-structured inventory is so important for us.
What trends are you observing among Indian travel agents and tour operators in terms of demand and expectations?
Indian travel agents and tour operators have become far more tech-savvy and strategic in their approach. They are looking for platforms that offer not just rates, but reliability, support, and tools that help them differentiate in a competitive market.
Demand-wise, we see strong interest in short-haul destinations in Asia and, of course, local inbound, as well as sustained growth in long-haul markets like the USA and Europe. In terms of expectations, Indian partners want faster responses, better margins, localised support, and access to exclusive deals. They also expect their B2B partners to be consultative—sharing insights, trends, and solutions rather than just acting as a supplier. At Rezlive.com, we have shaped our product and service model around exactly these expectations.
What role does digital adoption play in accelerating growth within the Indian travel trade ecosystem?
Digital adoption is a key growth multiplier for the Indian travel trade. Agencies that embrace online booking tools, automation, and data-driven decision-making are able to scale faster, manage more volume with the same resources, and deliver a more consistent experience to their customers. For many Indian agents, moving from manual or semi-manual processes to a platform like Rezlive.com has meant better productivity, fewer errors, and the ability to compete with larger players. Digital tools also open up access to global inventory, dynamic pricing, and real-time confirmations, which are essential in today’s market.
We see ourselves as an enabler of this digital transformation—providing a robust, user-friendly platform, strong training and support, and continuous innovation so that our Indian partners can grow confidently and sustainably.
Are there specific destinations or segments (luxury, experiential, MICE, etc.) seeing higher traction from Indian travellers?
From the Indian market, we are seeing strong traction across multiple segments. Short-haul leisure destinations in Southeast Asia continue to perform very well, driven by connectivity, visa facilitation, and value. The USA and Europe remain aspirational and strong, especially for families, couples, and group travel. In terms of segments, luxury and premium travel are clearly on the rise among certain customer groups, with demand for high-end hotels, villas, and curated experiences. Experiential travel—wellness, adventure, culinary, and culture-focused trips—is also gaining momentum. MICE is another important segment, with corporates and incentive groups increasingly looking at diverse destinations and more creative program designs.
Our role at Rezlive.com is to ensure that our platform reflects these trends—by expanding inventory in high-demand destinations, strengthening our offerings in luxury and experiential segments, and supporting our partners with the right tools to package and sell these experiences effectively.
