Rome2Rio Case Study

From Vision to Vibe to Value, in a Day

How We Ran 80 People at Rome2Rio Through a Whole-Company Vibe-a-thon

Travel TechnologyOne DayWhole-Company AI Adoption
80
People, One Room
40+
Ideas → Prototypes
1
Full-Day Offsite
Ben Hogan presenting at the Rome2Rio whole-company Vibe-a-thon
01

The Challenge

Pockets of brilliance. Whole teams still on the sidelines.

In early 2026, Rome2Rio was impatient to see strategic AI wins. They had pockets of excellent AI adoption, but some teams were still too stretched to take the leap.
Early Adopters, Moving FastSome
Too Stretched to StartMany

Uneven Momentum

A few teams racing ahead while others hadn't found the time to begin

Confidence Gap

Non-technical staff unsure that "building with AI" was really for them

From Ideas to Shipped

Turning enthusiasm into real, deployed, usable tools, not just slideware

So we designed an end-to-end program that took everyone in the company from ideation, to vibe coding, to deployment, and turned it into an engaging full-day offsite.

02

Our Approach

Shape the teams and ideas before the day even starts.

Pairing
01

Engineers + Subject-Matter Experts

We paired engineers with subject-matter experts, which kept the teams small, focused and self-contained, each able to move from problem to prototype without waiting on anyone else.

Impact

Balanced teams that owned both the problem and the build

Platform
02

Idea Capture, Voting & Team Formation

We built a custom platform (idea capture, an AI chatbot, voting and team formation) loaded with context to help participants shape ideas into opportunities aligned with Rome2Rio's strategic priorities, and form balanced teams around each one.

Impact

Ideas and teams well-formed and ready to go by the time the day began

Agent Skills
03

Deploy Straight, On-Brand, In Their Cloud

We provided "agent skills" and taught participants to use them to deploy each app straight into the client's private cloud, applying Rome2Rio's brand guidelines along the way, so every prototype looked good, was secure, and was shareable.

Impact

Working tools that could be used and iterated on well after the event

Facilitation
04

Expert Facilitation in the Room

The combination of our platform and expert facilitation was the difference. Facilitators moved through the room keeping teams unblocked, energised and shipping, turning a full day into real momentum rather than a one-off buzz.

Impact

Every team reached a working prototype. No one left behind.

03

What Got Built

Over 40 refined ideas. Real, usable, deployed tools.

New Product Features and Working Operational Tools

Over 40 refined ideas turned into prototypes, and some into valuable, usable, deployed tools. Some teams built new product features, others built working operational tools their teams could start using straight away.

Product

New customer-facing features prototyped and demoed on the day

Operations

Internal tools that make everyday work meaningfully faster

Deployed & reusable

Shipped into the private cloud, on-brand, ready to keep iterating on

Real Reactions From the Day

"Amazing. Can we ship it? Serious question."

— Vanessa D'Souza, Director of Finance

"This is sick!"

— James Breen, Senior Software Engineer

"[This] will actually make such a huge difference to our ability to move fast."

— Yolanta Rado, Senior Data Operations Manager

04

The Secret Sauce

Platform plus facilitation, and a real jump in confidence.

We provided "agent skills" and taught participants how to use them to deploy each app straight into the client's private cloud, with their brand guidelines applied. That meant every prototype looked good, was secure, was shareable, and could be used and iterated on after the event.

The biggest win, though, was confidence. Non-technical people left feeling: "I can actually do this."

A huge thank you to the team at Rome2Rio for their enthusiasm, and to Austin Ley, Vanessa and Temara for making the event happen.

"Skills are sick and can be really varied."

— Tomas M, Software Engineer

"The use of public developed skills is like the next version of open source code. It's amazing."

— Cameron Brown, Software Engineer

Amazing. Can we ship it? Serious question.

Vanessa D'Souza

Director of Finance, Rome2Rio

05

Now Available for Your Team

Take your team from Vision to Vibe to Value, in a single day, on the same platform and facilitation Rome2Rio ran.

The demos are day one, not the deliverable. Programs run 30, 60 or 90 days beyond the event, with every build tracked to adoption and value, and the biggest bets taken through security, architecture and eval reviews into production. Lasting change, not a sugar high.

Get started today → Your team's workspace, ready in under a minute.

Ready to run your own Vibe-a-thon?

Let's talk about whether this format fits your team, your constraints and the work worth shipping next.

  • ✓ Ideation to deployed tools in one day
  • ✓ Balanced teams, shaped before you start
  • ✓ Prototypes shipped to your private cloud, on-brand
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