Turo’s Tim Rossanis on Rethinking Mobility for the Next Era of Travel

Skift Take Travelers are demanding more flexibility, personalization, and control across the journey. Turo’s Tim Rossanis sees mobility as a pilot for how travel companies can respond by building around traveler intent rather than legacy processes. This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner. Across travel, some of the most established business models are being tested by new technology, shifting consumer expectations, and a growing emphasis on the full journey rather than any standalone reservation. Skift Research finds that consumer expectations around personalization have outpaced what many travel brands can deliver, with travelers now expecting to be recognized and understood in real time. Car rental offers one clear example of how that gap is playing out. The category has traditionally been organized around standardized inventory, fixed processes, and clearly defined boundaries. Tim Rossanis, Turo’s senior vice president for the U.S., sees the broader mobility landscape evolving in ways that could offer lessons for travel companies facing similar pressure to rethink how their products are discovered, delivered, and connected to the rest of the journey. Skift Studio sat down with Rossanis to discuss why understanding traveler intent matters more than simply offering more options, how established category boundaries are beginning to blur, and what AI could mean for mobility and the next generation of travel businesses. tim Rossanis, senior vice president, U.S., Turo Skift Studio: As you look across travel today, what shifts in consumer behavior or expectations do you think will have the greatest impact on the industry over the next several years? Tim Rossanis: I think one of the biggest shifts we’re going to see is that consumers expect convenience, flexibility, personalization, and access in every part of the travel experience. They want more choice and less friction, and they’re looking for products and experiences that fit their specific needs rather than being limited by traditional models. That’s exactly what we’re seeing in mobility. Travelers want more ways to access the right vehicle for their trip, whether that means a specific make and model, a more convenient pickup experience, or a more flexible alternative to car ownership. Turo is reinventing the traditional rental process, putting the person before the process and rethinking an experience that has traditionally been built around fixed locations, generic inventory, and rigid processes. Giving travelers the freedom to choose the exact vehicle they want, have it delivered to the starting point of their journey, and rent it for as long as they need is a more natural fit for how people travel today. The future of rental is less about adapting travelers to the model and more about adapting the model to the traveler. As traveler expectations continue to evolve, where do you think travel companies still have the most work to do? In my opinion, the industry still has a lot of room to shift away from simply offering options toward truly understanding intent. Consumers may be presented with dozens of choices, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the experience feels personalized. True personalization is about understanding the context behind a decision and helping someone find what actually works for them. In mobility, that could mean recognizing that a traveler isn’t simply looking for an SUV, but needs a vehicle with enough room for a family. Technology, particularly AI, has the potential to make that possible by allowing people to describe what they need in natural language before surfacing relevant, bookable options. Where search and discovery used to feel like a chore, it’s beginning to feel more like a conversation. A lot of travel companies talk about personalization but still deliver segmentation. What would genuine personalization in ground transportation look like? Genuine personalization in ground transportation starts with more meaningful control over the experience, not simply choosing a vehicle category and hoping it’s available when you get to the rental counter. A car can and should be much more than simply a means of getting from A to B. So many of my best memories from childhood and parenthood come from road trips, and the promise of getting the vehicle you booked “or similar” doesn’t really cut it when you’re spending hours in a car trying to turn a mundane drive into a magical journey for your kids. Ultimately, genuine personalization is about giving the traveler control rather than trying to predict what everyone in a certain segment wants. Travel companies have traditionally competed within categories: airlines against airlines, hotels against hotels, rental companies against rental companies. As travelers think about the journey as a whole, are those boundaries starting to disappear? Absolutely. Travelers don’t experience their trip in categories. They experience it as one journey. That’s creating more opportunities for companies to think beyond their traditional category and solve for the broader travel experience. In mobility, the question isn’t simply how to make renting a car better. It’s how to make getting from the start of a trip to the end easier and more enjoyable. I think the companies that will be most successful are those that focus less on defending category boundaries and more on removing friction across the journey. Agentic AI is getting closer to researching, booking, and managing entire trips. What could that mean for companies that sit within one part of a traveler’s journey? Agentic AI is fundamentally changing how travelers discover and book travel. Instead of navigating filters and comparing options themselves, consumers will be able to describe what they need and let AI reason through the tradeoffs. That means companies like Turo have to move beyond keyword-based discovery and make their inventory machine-readable, so a request like, “I need a car for a family ski trip with three kids, a dog, and a tight budget,” can translate into a relevant, bookable vehicle. The goal isn’t simply to surface a category of car, but to understand the traveler’s intent and match them with the specific vehicle that best fits their trip. As agentic commerce evolves, the companies that can translate complex consumer needs into real, bookable options will be the ones AI agents can confidently recommend. Ultimately, AI won’t eliminate the need for great marketplaces. It will raise the bar for relevance. What’s one assumption most established travel companies operate on today that you think will look obviously wrong in 10 years? Convenience will no longer be a premium feature. It will be the baseline. For decades, the travel industry has been built around fixed processes, locations, and inventory, requiring consumers to adapt to how it operates. But as technology, marketplaces, and AI make travel more personalized and on-demand, that dynamic is changing. Ultimately, the next generation of travel companies won’t compete simply on inventory or price. They’ll compete on how seamlessly they can adapt to the traveler. Convenience, flexibility, and personalization will move from differentiators to table stakes, and the companies that rethink their models around those expectations will help define the future of travel. Learn more about Turo’s approach to the future of car rental and mobility at Turo.com. This sponsored content was created collaboratively by Turo and Skift Studio.