Travel & AI & Us…
In Chinese, "crisis" juxtaposes two characters: danger and opportunity. The story of a reckoning — how TOOGO turned AI into a fresh start.
The word "crisis" in Chinese is represented by juxtaposing two characters: danger and opportunity. In every crisis there's the possibility of changing, of opening up to something else, of understanding its causes and trying to draw the consequences. As if there were no opportunity without danger, and no danger without opportunity.
Late 2024
The end of 2024 was very special for TOOGO: just as "the best year ever" was taking shape, we became aware, paradoxically, of our fragility…
A serious and painful audit was carried out with our clients, and it can be summed up in a few gems:
- TOOGO is has been, the screens are medieval;
- TOOGO, you need a PhD to get it.
Above all, we then realised that the "IAm the future" train was leaving the station without us, and that we were left sitting on the platform, complaining that things were better before. At the same time, we learned that two big long-standing clients were investing in a young new competitor, Odys, founded by a former TOOGO user — which, several months later, would be bought by… Evaneos.
Early 2025
So 2025 began with a fireworks display of hassles and, for me, an unexpected and tense taking-back of the keys to the TOOGO truck in a very trying climate. And we started to question everything, to bring AI into our daily work, determined not to end the year at the dump.
Isn't intelligence said to measure the ability to adapt to one's environment and to survive?
So we discovered Stéphane Amarsy (newsletter Métamorphoses), read Yann Le Cun ("When the machine learns"), Maxime Fournes (AI predictions), and also the transitioners ("There won't be enough electricity to sustain the AI bubble, which is going to burst"), talked with Arnaud Desmarest, listened to AI podcasts — and we set up a dedicated group, with Thomas Loubert (Togezer, Serendip), Pierre Ligonie (TOOGO R&D) and Jedi Kea. Each with their own lens, and we share. Then we converted the whole TOOGO team, and recruited a young French engineer dedicated to the topic. It was brutal. Today, the TOOGO team is (back) out in front.
Every revolution is first ridiculous, then dangerous, then obvious.
The examples are many: climate change, the blockchain and its corollaries (cryptocurrencies, asset tokenisation, web3…) and today, artificial intelligence.
Eight months on, I like to think it was better to be late, and not to have invested in "bedbank" connections or in "no-code" — in short, that it was better not to be right too early. The pioneers of 2024 were quickly made to look dated by the dazzling progress of AI, too fast for our regulations and precautionary principles. We're dependent on the behemoths and on geopolitical stakes.
The topics of 2024 will be swept away by AI agents, that's our conviction. ChatGPT-5's Agent mode, a game changer?
During 2025
Our AI agent Raymundo improves every day…
So if you feel left behind, a piece of advice: take the next train. It's arriving, in fact.
Techniques always precede changes in societies. A technology appears and evolves; it transforms society, which transforms it in return.
AI is an ambivalent technology — neither good, nor bad, nor even neutral.
Better to deal with change before it deals with you! — Stéphane Amarsy
We changed our methods, our tools, our organisation. For the first time in 15 years, we're meeting deadlines — or better still, we're ahead of schedule. It's strange. It's thanks to our adaptability, to AI and to the trade.
June 2025 — Raymundo
The release of our AI assistant Raymundo, which we keep on training.
September 2025 — the new quote
The best trip builder worldwide, ever. I'll buy a good Parisian dinner for anyone who shows me better — or TOOGO for free. That's a commitment.
October 2025 — the TravelGuide app
The merger of a "your trip" portal with the travel book.
November 2025 — the new CRM
Which will be the best on the market.
December 2025 — the new Task manager
It's Christmas: a powerful Task manager, connected to your cloud office suite, and full of automations (TOOGO is approved on Zapier).
In principle, and gradually, our screens will move from a "medieval" style to a post-modern one — a guaranteed unique style.
2026…
If all goes well, Raymundo will be your AI agent, able to use TOOGO with simple voice commands, and even to talk with the AI agents of bedbanks, suppliers, TOs…
Launch of a pro YouTube channel, "Travel & Tech & Us": Sébastien Masson, our head of "user-contento," would make a great host, wouldn't he?
Our price is the most competitive on the market, once our competitors' asterisks are added in. It's the price of our independence — and of yours. About €1,500 per year per user, all included. Simple is good. It includes the first year of subscription free, free training and implementation, and membership of the Travel & Tech & Us club, which we intend to grow.
Our team is made up 50% of former inbound-agency managers who ran on TOOGO. We know your trade. Our slogan is a truth:
The tool for inbound agencies, designed by them, for extraordinary journeys.
TOOGO has changed its mission
From sole supplier of the TOOGO software, we're becoming a long-term technology partner. In 2025 we launched training included in the subscription, AI & automation workshops, and audits at our clients' premises. After 15 years in the trade, I think the most worthwhile thing for everyone is an audit followed by ad-hoc developments.
Commercially, our current clients are enough for us: it's more about retaining them over the long term than acquiring new ones. For more than 15 years, we've grown by word of mouth; we're going to keep on that path.
Internally, we changed the question. Instead of "What should we do to make it work commercially?", we asked ourselves: "Tomorrow, I'm taking over the management of the Terra Brazil inbound agency. What do I need? What do I want?" And we started building this ideal tool for us. Then ChatGPT-type AI quickly appears, in its inbound-trade application, as a nice gadget — yet a pioneer of an ongoing revolution in the trade.
A demo? fabrice@toogonet.com
AI & technology training & consulting: fabrice@agence-serendip.com