How I Helped Maya Travel AI Open New B2B Pipelines in Only 30 Days: A Case Study

Quick snapshot

In just 30+ days:

• Reached 97 targeted travel brands and operators via LinkedIn and direct outreach

• Sent 244 messages and opened 13 conversations (cca 5% reply rate)

• Created 7 warm leads in key markets (UAE, Southern Europe, selected European niches)

• Booked 2 discovery calls and 1 priority deal now in the closing phase

• Ran a LinkedIn Live with 208+ registrants and strong comment activity

• Published 7+ LinkedIn posts, 4 LinkedIn Pulse articles, 2 LinkedIn newsletters, 2 Beehiiv newsletters, 1 YouTube replay, 2 TikTok shorts, and 1 website blog, all pointing back to Maya

Maya got: warm introductions, real conversations, and visible positioning as “human-centred AI” for travel brands.

The client and the challenge

Maya Travel AI helps tour operators, DMCs, and travel brands:

• answer guests 24/7 in multiple languages

• capture more enquiries from existing website traffic

• route leads to human teams

The challenge:

• Many tools talk about “AI for travel”, but very few show clear, simple outcomes

• Maya needed real conversations with the right operators, not more noise

• The team also wanted credible visibility in front of decision-makers, not random traffic

My role was to act as a bridge between Maya and travel brands by:

• using my tourism network for targeted outreach

• building a value-first promo flow around a LinkedIn Live with co-founder Benjamin Manzi

• keeping all lead attribution clean and transparent through our referral setup

Goals of the pilot

For this 30-day pilot, we agreed to:

1.Outreach

• Use my LinkedIn network (travel brands, DMCs, agencies)

•  Open conversations with a small, relevant group (quality over volume)

•  Move good fits into calls or intro emails with Maya

2. Promo package

•  Position Maya in my content as a practical way to
“Turn traffic into bookings with 24/7 multilingual AI”

•  Use LinkedIn Live, newsletters, and short-form content to build trust

•  Keep everything no-hype, concrete, and measurable

What I did: Outreach to my network

Audience and setup

•  Channels: targeted outreach + LinkedIn conversations

•  Audience: 97 first-degree LinkedIn contacts
– tour operators
– DMCs
– niche agencies and experience providers

• Period: late October – early November 2025

• Region focus: UAE, Southern Europe, UK, wider Europe

Message flow (value-first)

I used my own short, value-first outreach system (details kept internal):

•  Step 1: Offer a practical AI conversion resource

•  Step 2: Send the resource with one focused question on enquiries and after-hours replies

•  Step 3: Share a short example of how an AI assistant can help and ask if they want to explore further

I reported back to Maya on:

•  who engaged

•  who wanted more

•  who was a fit for an intro or call

Outreach performance

• cca 100 contacts in campaign

• 244 messages delivered

•  13 replies ( cca 5% reply rate, aligned with B2B cold→warm benchmarks)

•  7 warm leads identified

•  2 discovery calls already completed

•  1 lead asked directly for Maya’s contact details

Warm leads (anonymised)

To protect everyone in the pipeline, prospects are anonymised here:

1. Focused operator in Dubai

2. Full-service travel agency in Dubai

3. Experience provider in Portugal

4. Specialist travel and business network (UK)

5. Independent travel consultant in Italy

6. Niche UK trip planner

7. Entrepreneur with a strong referral network

All of these contacts sit in my internal referral tracker, so any future outcomes can be traced back to this campaign.

What I did: Promo package and LinkedIn Live

The second pillar was the promo and content flow built around a LinkedIn Live with Ben.

Core asset ➝  LinkedIn Live with Maya

Event title:
How Travel Brands Turn Traffic into Bookings with 24/7 Multilingual AI

•  Host: Ivan Ivanovic – AI Tourism Innovator

•  Guest: Benjamin Manzi – Co-founder, Maya Travel AI

•  Format: 30 minutes + Q&A

• Registrants: 208+ via LinkedIn

We covered:

•  Why do many travel brands already have enough traffic but weak conversion

•  How AI can reply within seconds in multiple languages and still feel personal

•  Three “conversion plays” most operators can test in about two weeks

The live session:

•  explained where travel brands lose bookings

•  showed how a human-like assistant can help

•  invited viewers to DM me for a free AI conversion resource and, if relevant, an intro to Maya

All interest from the Live followed one simple rule:
viewers talk to me first → if there’s a fit, I introduce them to Maya.

Supporting content: LinkedIn posts

To support the Live and keep Maya visible, I ran a structured sequence of posts.

Highlights:

• Pre-event hook posts

– “Most travel brands already have the traffic…” (problem framing)

– “Visibility before the trade show doors open” (trade-show angle)

• Direct event promo posts

– Clear invites to the Live with co-founder

– Short, benefit-driven explanations of what people would learn

•  Event-day post

•  Strong engagement:

▪︎ 25+ reactions

▪︎  34 comments

▪︎  10 reposts

▪︎  This was the most visible LinkedIn asset in the campaign.

• Post-event recap and thought leadership

– “When AI actually feels human, travel brands buy it.”

– “How a travel tech founder cut booking drop-offs by 20%.”

These posts:

▪︎  Kept Maya’s message in front of 5,000+ LinkedIn connections in my tourism network

▪︎  Brought in more DM requests for the resource and replied

▪︎  Reinforced Maya as a practical, human-centred AI tool for travel brands

Long-form content: LinkedIn Pulse articles

I wrote several LinkedIn articles tied to the Live and Maya’s positioning:

1. What Travel Brands Gain from Smart Tools

– Why small fixes in enquiry flows often beat full website rebuilds

– Invitation to join the Live session with Ben

2. AI That Serves Like a Human ➝ What Travel Brands Should Really Look For

– Simple checklist for travel brands evaluating AI tools:

– serves like a team member

– context before conversation

– the operator remains in control

– Maya was used as a practical example

What TravelTech Buyers Actually Want From AI Tools

– Core idea: “AI is not the product, the experience is.”

– Shared lessons from the Live on how buyers decide which tools to adopt

These articles gave Maya a deeper positioning with:

▪︎ travel founders

▪︎ marketing leads

▪︎  product and growth people in tourism

Newsletters: LinkedIn & Beehiiv

LinkedIn newsletter 

I used my LinkedIn newsletter (800+ tourism and travel-tech subscribers) to:

• Announce the Live with Maya

• Recap the key insights after the event

• Share the YouTube replay link

This brought Maya’s story directly into the inboxes of:

• Tour operators

• DMCs

• Travel-tech leaders are already following my work

Beehiiv newsletter  “What Travel Brands Gain from Smart Tools”

• Open rate around 31%

• Click-through rate around 12.5%

Top clicks went to:

• LinkedIn Live event

• Co-founder’s LinkedIn profile

• The Maya company page

Beehiiv newsletter “The One AI Strategy Travel Brands Must Use to Win Big in 2025”

• Open rate around 34%

• Click-through rate around 11%

Core message:

• “Automation is not the winning strategy. Real connection is.”

• Maya is used as the main example of context-aware, human-like AI.

Both Beehiiv editions showed:

• strong engagement for a focused B2B list

• clean traffic going to Maya-related assets (event, profiles, replay)

Evergreen assets: YouTube, TikTok, blog

YouTube replay

Title:
How Travel Brands Turn Traffic into Bookings with 24/7 Multilingual AI

• 30-minute replay of the LinkedIn Live

• Hosted on my YouTube channel

• Linked to:

– a free AI conversion resource

– my newsletter

– my “book a call” page

This acts as a permanent proof piece for Maya: easy to send to future leads, partners, and events.

TikTok shorts

I cut two shorts from the Live and published them to TikTok (and repurposed them to Reels/Shorts elsewhere):

1. How a Travel Tech Founder Cut Booking Drop-Offs by 20%

– 65 seconds

– 874 views

2. When AI Actually Feels Human, Travel Brands Buy It

– 53 seconds

– 1,930 views

– Total play time: 2h 55m+

– Avg watch time: 5.4 s

These clips were simple awareness pieces that pointed back to the full episode and Maya’s main message.

Website blog article

On my own site, I published:

• Fixing Travel Tech Sales with AI-Powered Client Flows

This piece breaks down:

• What other travel-tech founders can learn from Maya’s sales wins

• Why demos should mirror real guest experiences, not feature tours

• How to structure flows for the client’s day-to-day reality

This shows that:

• I understand travel-tech sales, not only content

• Maya is an example of a product that aligns with that thinking

Results in 30 days

Across all channels, the collaboration delivered:

Outreach

• cca 100 handpicked contacts

• 244 messages

• 13 replies (≈5%)

• 7 warm leads

• 2 discovery calls

• 1 direct request for Maya’s contact details

Promo & visibility

• LinkedIn Live: 208+ registrants, strong comment volume

• LinkedIn posts: consistent engagement from travel founders, DMCs, and marketers

• LinkedIn newsletter: exposure to 800+ subscribers in tourism and travel tech

• Beehiiv: 30%+ open rates, 11–12% CTR, clean clicks to Maya assets

• YouTube: one core replay available for all future outreach

• TikTok: two shorts with 874 and 1,930 views

• Website blog: travel-tech-focused angle that strengthens positioning

The goal was not “going viral”.

The goal was real, warm conversations with the right people, and that’s what this pilot produced.

What Maya said

“Working with Ivan over these 30+ days has been productive and well-structured. Beyond the LinkedIn Live and content support, what stood out was his outreach effort: he activated his network, created warm introductions, and opened conversations in markets that matter for us, especially the UAE and Europe.

The visibility across his channels (LinkedIn, newsletter, and YouTube) gave Maya a broader reach, and the workflow was always transparent and easy to follow.

Overall, it was a focused collaboration, and we appreciated the consistency throughout the pilot.”

Benjamin Manzi, Co-Founder & COO, Maya Travel AI

Key takeaways for travel-tech companies

From this Maya Travel AI pilot, three points stand out:

1. Small, focused outreach beats massive lists

– Under 100 contacts.

– Real replies, real leads, real calls.

2. Message and proof matter more than features

– “Turn traffic into bookings with 24/7 multilingual AI.”

– “AI that actually feels human.”

– Simple offers with practical resources and short examples.

2. One partner, many channels

– Outreach, live events, newsletters, shorts, and blog all pulled in the same direction.

– Lead attribution stayed clear and fair through a simple referral workflow.

What happens next

Based on the first month’s results, Maya Travel AI and I agreed to continue working together.

The warm pipeline, outreach system, and content stack are already in place.

The next step is to close current opportunities, open new ones in priority regions, and build deeper case studies as new results come in.

If you run a travel-tech company and want similar results, you can reach out to me, and we can design a focused 30-90-day collaboration around your product.

Book a call:
https://ai-tourism-innovator.com/book-a-call/