"If you're spending £2,000 per night on a hotel, you deserve to speak to a human," says Albin Eriksson Lippe, co-founder of AI-powered travel platform Holiwise and one of TTG's 30 Under 30 for 2026.

Holiwise uses AI to automate the time-consuming work of sourcing availability, rates and recommendations, while keeping an agent at the centre of every customer interaction.

It first launched as a "destination inspiration" platform, allowing travellers to describe their ideal holiday – as specific as a "family trip to southern Europe with temperatures between 23C and 27C", Eriksson Lippe explains – and receive tailored destination and hotel recommendations.

Meet the TTG 30 Under 30 Class of 2026

While customers valued the concept, Eriksson Lippe and his team realised inspiration was only one part of the booking journey.

"We didn't realise the importance of human relationships and personal touch in travel," Eriksson Lippe says. "We were trying to build a chatbot that customers would interact with, but it just wasn't working."

Now, every Holiwise customer speaks to a travel agent, while AI works behind the scenes through internal sales tools that help them source and build itineraries far more quickly.

"We're building the middle ground," he says. "We're using AI to automate a lot of the things traditional travel agencies have been doing for a very long time, giving customers that level of service but with the speed and efficiency of an OTA."

'It was soul-crushing'

Eriksson Lippe met fellow Holiwise co-founder Kristian Lexeklint while they were at high school; they went on to attend the University of Warwick together and later shared a flat. Both went into finance – Kristian joining Barclays while Eriksson Lippe spent five years at Goldman Sachs in London – before deciding to build a company together.

Leaving the security of investment banking wasn't without doubts, Eriksson Lippe admits. "There were times when we weren't making any money in the beginning," he admits. "And that's soul-crushing when you've left a stable career."

But the autonomy of entrepreneurship "always appealed" to the young founder. "You wake up every day building your own future and destiny – that's what I like about it," he says. 

Holiwise has grown by 24% month-on-month, on average, over the past year. A self-confessed perfectionist, Eriksson Lippe credits a former Goldman Sachs manager with teaching him the value of the "80/20 rule" – getting work to a high enough standard quickly rather than chasing perfection.

"As a founder, you need to do things quickly and move on," he says. "You can't spend hours on every single detail."

'The biggest risk is not taking one'

Over the next five years, Eriksson Lippe wants Holiwise to automate more of the repetitive work behind complex travel enquiries while allowing advisors to spend more time with customers, growing the company to unicorn status.

As one of TTG's 30 Under 30, Eriksson Lippe says he's looking forward to learning from peers across an industry he came to from finance. "The programme is invaluable," he says. "There are so many talented people, and getting access to those networks and learning from them is incredibly useful."

So, what's his advice for others hoping to make a similar leap before they turn 30? "I think the biggest risk is actually not taking the risk," he says. "In 30 years' time, I can't imagine regretting trying. But I can definitely imagine regretting not taking the chance."