🚫 OTAs Suck ✅ Building a Book Direct, Decentralized, Open-OTA ➜ 🚀 Operators Get Direct Bookings ✈️ Travelers Get Rewards for Booking Direct 💰 Anyone Who Refers Travelers Owns Them & the Revenue Stream They Generate.

🐥 I'm a startup founder, launching a direct booking travel platform for the AI agent era.

Why? Today, Online Travel Agent (OTA) commissions are draining 10's of billions of dollars out of the travel ecosystem. They enrich "Big Tech" and "Big Travel", at the expense of everyone else. I know because I helped them do it. For years I was a super-affiliate of Expedia and other big OTAs. I fed $100m+ in hotel bookings to the OTAs, generating $10m in commissions, but adding little of value to the ecosystem.

Now, I'm building a new travel distribution platform and protocol that enables travelers and their AI agents bypass the OTA middlemen and book direct.

👇 Want to be notified when we launch? Leave a comment in the featured post below titled "AI-powered community", or reach out and connect! 

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Previously...

🐣 I co-founded a venture studio. We launched 3 notable ventures:
 
1️⃣ 3Genius International. Network of travel booking websites. $100M+ in bookings and $10M+ in gross profit.

2️⃣ Moola.com. Multiplayer game. Grew virally to 450k community members, $7.6M economy. PCWorld's “Best Places to Waste Time on the Web”.
 
3️⃣ Locationary. Local data and community platform. Rewarded users for crowdsourcing local business data (eg. like for Apple Maps). $4.5M in funding. Acquired by Apple.

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🧠 Current Interests: AI, community, machine learning, travel, fintech, loyalty rewards, web3 / tokens / blockchain, creator & influencer economy, social commerce, marketplaces, network effects.

Arlen Ritchie

Techstars Mentor | Ex Morgan Stanley Product | GTM and Enablement Consultant | DAD startup | 🇿🇦 🇺🇸

I help professionals, entrepreneurs, and teams thrive through change—especially the kind accelerated by AI.

At Mali Insights, we specialize in making advanced tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity actionable for small businesses and growth-stage teams. Our work spans technical enablement, go-to-market strategy, and cross-cultural business expansion—built on the belief that change management is as much about people as it is about tools.

I’ve built frameworks that help sales teams become strategic partners, enabled founders to enter new markets, and trained teams to evolve from tactical execution to strategic momentum. I also serve on Neumont College’s Industry Advisory Board, where I help shape how technical education meets industry needs—because tomorrow’s talent needs tools and context. 

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PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT: To develop strengths of unique people in my networks, by using empathy to tailor a sense of connections vital in innovative ideation.  
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Personal Professional Pillars:

Collaboration | Communication | Community
@siyamali on Twitter and my driver's license.

🌍Global Citizen: Born in South Africa, Living in America

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Arlen Ritchie

Siya Mali

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