OutRival Launches Travel Vertical, Appoints Jeff Herzfeld to Lead Industry Growth

MIAMI, Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- OutRival, the leader in warm outbound and creator of AI-powered Digital Workers, today announced the launch of its dedicated Travel vertical and the appointment of Jeff Herzfeld as Head of Travel.

OutRival is a Series B AI company that builds voice agents and Digital Workers for enterprise operations. Having raised more than $50 million to date, the company serves customers across insurance, financial services, higher education, and other complex, regulated industries. With the launch of its Travel vertical, OutRival is bringing its proven platform to help cruise lines, hotels, resorts, tour operators, travel agencies, and other travel brands drive revenue, increase operational capacity, and strengthen customer relationships at scale.

The expansion brings OutRival's Digital Workers to one of the world's most relationship-driven industries, helping travel companies create meaningful customer conversations at a scale no human team can match.

Herzfeld brings more than 20 years of commercial leadership experience across Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Group, MSC Cruises, Virgin Voyages, and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. Throughout his career, he has led large-scale sales operations, customer experience, contact center, and technology transformation initiatives supporting millions of guest interactions.

As Head of Travel, Herzfeld will lead OutRival's travel strategy, partnerships, and go-to-market efforts, helping travel brands transform warm outbound from a staffing challenge into a competitive advantage.

"Travel companies already have many of the customers they are looking for—they simply can't reach all of them," said Herzfeld. "Every year, millions of warm opportunities go untouched because no human team can consistently follow up with everyone. OutRival changes that. Our Digital Workers help ensure no lead is left behind, turning aged leads into fresh revenue while building stronger customer relationships."

OutRival's Digital Workers proactively engage customers across voice, SMS, voicemail, email, and chat, supporting the customer journey from first inquiry to lifelong customer. Unlike reactive AI agents that primarily respond to inbound requests, OutRival's Digital Workers initiate conversations, re-engage dormant opportunities, and work toward clearly defined commercial objectives.

To date, OutRival's Digital Workers have handled more than 11 million outbound conversations and completed more than 36 million data-entry tasks, representing work no human team had to perform. The platform can be deployed in as little as two weeks and integrates with existing CRM and operational systems.

"The next generation of travel companies will not win simply because they have more agents. They will win because they remember every customer," said Timur Meyster, Co-Founder and President of OutRival. "An inquiry is not just a lead. It is a real person with a need that a company is positioned to solve. Our mission is to help travel brands build relationships at a scale that was never possible before. Jeff understands both the technology and the realities of running these operations, making him the ideal person to lead our travel business."

OutRival's Travel solutions are designed to support use cases including aged-lead reactivation, outbound sales, abandoned-booking recovery, reservation assistance, customer service, loyalty engagement, pre-arrival communications, and post-travel follow-up.

The company's approach emphasizes measurable business outcomes rather than capability alone. Digital Workers can be aligned to specific commercial objectives, including contact rates, transfer rates, conversion, and revenue per conversation.

"Travel runs some of the largest outbound operations in the world," said Ruben Harris, Co-Founder and CEO of OutRival. "Speed to lead matters, but speed to conversion is what drives growth. Our Digital Workers don't just answer calls—they carry objectives, they carry quotas, and they generate measurable revenue. Jeff has spent his career building organizations around those metrics, and he will help our travel partners move them."

The launch of OutRival's Travel vertical reflects the company's broader belief that customer engagement is shifting from something organizations staff to something they promise: always on, available across channels, and capable of remembering where every customer conversation left off.

About OutRival
OutRival is the leader in warm outbound, building AI-powered Digital Workers that proactively engage customers across voice, SMS, voicemail, email, and chat. Customized to each organization's industry, brand voice, systems, and business objectives, OutRival helps organizations convert more customers, increase operational capacity, and build lasting customer relationships from first inquiry to lifelong engagement. For more information, visit www.outrival.com.

SOURCE OutRival, Inc.