Travee Joins the VIR – Joining the Conversation in Digital Travel
With Travee, we are building a new way to discover and experience travel: personal, dynamic, and available right in the moment. Travel today is more fragmented than ever — spread across countless tools, tabs, and providers. That is exactly where we come in: with an AI-powered travel companion that connects inspiration, planning, and on-the-ground orientation into a single coherent experience. To keep developing this approach, it is essential for us to be deeply connected — not only on the technology side, but also within the industry itself.
That is why we are pleased to announce that Travee is now a member of the Verband Internet Reisevertrieb (VIR), Germany's leading association for digital travel distribution. Travee is one of eight new start-ups admitted to the association in April 2026 — a clear sign that the digital travel industry is in a particularly dynamic phase and is actively opening up to new impulses.
About the VIR
The Verband Internet Reisevertrieb e.V. has been the central voice of Germany's digital travel industry for more than two decades. It brings together the key players of the online travel market — from established platforms and travel agencies to technology providers and innovative start-ups. Its mission is to represent the industry's interests towards politics, media, and consumers, and to actively shape the digital transformation of travel.
Among the VIR's best-known activities are the annual VIR Innovation Days — running in 2026 under the theme "Vision 2030" —, the established VIR Data & Fakten market study, the industry-wide impulse4travel Manifest 2030, and the Travel Start-up Nights, which celebrate their tenth anniversary this year. The VIR is also actively involved in cross-industry initiatives such as Chain4Travel, OTDS, and KlimaLink, advocating for open standards, sustainable tourism, and a vibrant digital travel marketplace.
Building on an existing connection
Travee's relationship with the VIR did not start with this membership. Back in 2024, we stood on the stage of the TIC & VIR Travel Start-up Night in Berlin and finished in second place. Even then we experienced how valuable direct exchange with experienced industry players is — and how much substance lies in feedback that comes from people who have been working in the travel market for years.
With this membership, we turn that one-off encounter into a continuous dialogue.
Why now
Travel is changing fundamentally. Personalization, AI-powered assistance, and new modes of interaction are reshaping what travelers expect from digital products. We are convinced that the next generation of travel offerings will no longer consist only of search, comparison, and booking. It will be defined by continuous companionship — from the first spark of inspiration through planning to navigation and discovery on the ground.
With Travee, we want to make travel not only easier to plan, but richer to experience. In this phase, being closely connected to the industry matters more than ever: it ensures that new solutions across the customer journey do not emerge in silos, but through real partnerships and an honest understanding of how the existing ecosystem actually works.
What we expect from this membership
"For us, the VIR is more than an industry association — it is a sounding board. We want to understand where the travel industry actually stands today, and we want to help shape where it is going."
— Conrad Mildenstrey, Travee
In concrete terms, we expect three things: insights into the topics that currently move established providers, platforms, and trade groups; partnerships with players who share our vision of a continuously accompanied journey, or who meaningfully complement it; and impulses that help us develop Travee closer to the real needs of travelers, travel agents, and industry partners.
We are looking forward to the dialogue and the collaboration — and to working alongside the VIR and its members on the future of digital travel.
Learn more about the association: v-i-r.de