Travel Massive São Paulo and Grabr Take the Stage

On July 12th, São Paulo Travel Massive and Grabr came together at the Campus São Paulo, a space by Google, which is already one of the “Campus’” spaces with the most members in the world!

São Paulo Travel Massive hosted a special event for all their members sponsored by the San Francisco-based shopping and travel startup, Grabr!

There was a fantastic group of travel industry professionals in attendance from travel bloggers to startups.

What went on at the Campus São Paulo? 

Grabr participated in our panel, and afterwards, gave an introductory presentation about Grabr and officially launched in São Paulo on the night of our event. After the presentation, Grabr provided celebratory snacks and drinks for all Travel Massive participants.

During the event, we held a travel tech panel with four panelists:

• Caio Martins: Co-Founder of Dubbi, a social network of travelers focused on exchanging travel itineraries and experiences
• Alexandre Cordeiro: GM at Trend Tech, a technology company at Grupo Trend 
• Priscila Moraes: Online Marketing Executive at VisitBritain 
• Christina Morgan: Sr. Mgr. Brand Activation at Grabr

Deb Waldmann of the Segredos de Londres blog moderated, and Polyana introduced the event. The panel talked about how different travel companies use technology in their day-to-day operations. They also discussed tendencies in travel tech and learned a bit about how influencers are interwoven into these technologies. Panelists also stressed how the industry as a whole needs to work better together in order to advance technologically – together.

Big data 

Caio Martins from dubbi, a Brazilian start-up, told the audience how dubbi is applying big data technology to better understand travelers’ needs and create new communication channels. 

Impact of bloggers in travel media 

The impact of travel bloggers vs. traditional journalism was also discussed, and all panellists agreed that bloggers have become influencers, since they are specialists in the subject on which they blog. Two of the panelists, Priscila Moraes from VisitBritain and Christina Morgan from Grabr, work with both journalists from traditional media outlets and travel bloggers with satisfactory results. 

What’s next in tech 

Alexandre Cordeiro from TrendTech highlighted the importance of keeping up to date with the latest technology trends in order to meet more demanding customers. Priscila from Visit Britain mentioned that technology and online underlie VisitBritain’s way of working from management systems to apps and mentioned Steller as one of the apps they are currently looking at.

Grabr working with media and bloggers

After the panel of experts, Christina from Grabr introduced the brand, and then Grabr officially launched the company here in São Paulo!  

What is Grabr anyways? 

Grabr is a global shopping and traveling community that connects shoppers with travelers who will bring them items from around the world. Shoppers get access to items not available locally while travelers earn some cash by using the extra room in their luggage.

Grabr’s vision is bring the world to everyone by creating a community of travelers and shoppers. They were recently named “Startup of the Year” by Eye for Travel 2016.

So, how did the evening go? 

The event was a success!

We had 83 participants altogether, and from our feedback survey, over 80% considered the event more than satisfactory (if not amazing!)

A huge thanks goes out to Cozinha Saravá for providing great snacks during the event. Don’t forget to take a look at these awesome candid shots from our Travel Massive members who attended the evening festivities. 

Photos are by Alessandra Fratus, a new Travel Massive São Paulo member, photographer, and travel blogger.

Polyana de Oliveira is Brazilian born and American raised. She is living in São Paulo and working in digital marketing. Polyana launched an international digital marketing agency geared towards the travel industry, called Viare Marketing. She also works with incoming tourism in Brazil through her company Brazil Vibes. Polyana is the São Paulo Travel Massive chapter leader. 

Deb Waldmann was raised in Brazil with a global soul, and has lived and worked in over 10 countries and speaks 5 languages fluently (and can survive in another few). Out of her love for London, where she lived for 7 years, she founded Segredos de Londres travel blog, specialising in London insider tips in Portuguese. The blog motto is: *Multiplying the love for London since 2011*