Ep. 32 - How to travel kindly, with Jessica Blotter.

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The “Leading the Way” entrepreneurship series continues with our fourth and final guest. Jessica Blotter is joining me today to talk about what she’s built, why she built it, and what she’s learned along the way.

Jessica is the founder of Kind Traveler, the first socially conscious, give and get hotel booking platform. Over 130 hotels are enrolled in the booking engine. On the consumer side, when you book with Kind Traveler, you unlock exclusive hotel rates, inclusive of a $10 donation to a charity of your choice to benefit people, animals, and the environment. 100% of the donations are given to charity. You’ll be surprised at how far $10 can go, and the impact you can have, by traveling kindly.

On episode 32, you’ll learn:

What $10 can do for people, animals, and the environment.
How Sonoma and Tahoe are leading the charge, close to home.
The inextricable link between the pandemic and climate change.
Jessica's advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.

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I loved chatting with Jessica today. My key takeaways were:

1. The pandemic and climate change are clearly linked, and the ways that we as humans have adapted is a strong indicator of what we are capable of—this is the kind of human effort that’s needed—to curb climate change and bring the environment back into balance.

2. One of the ways the tourism industry can get involved in sustainability is by joining Kind Traveler, the worlds first give and get booking engine, where hotels are partnered with their own neighborhoods to give $10 from every room night booked through Kind Traveler to a local charity. And when it comes to the bottom line, Jessie points out that conscious travelers are willing to spend 10% more on their travel to know they’re making a positive impact on the destination, making this program a win-win-win.

3. Jessica’s advice to entrepreneurs is to look at what lights you up, but also what gets you down. If you’re having an emotional response to something you think you can’t change, that might be where your true passion lies.

As always, keep sharing your stories.