A partner interview with Dennis Zimon, co-founder and CEO of Passolution, conducted by Magnus Kunhardt for Midoco.
An insurance broker who really only knew that he wanted to start his own business—and an exhibition booth that fell on his head at his first industry conference. That’s how the story of Passolution begins. Nearly nine years later, the Cologne-based company provides travel agencies and tour operators in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and far beyond with entry requirements for all nationalities—in 21 languages and directly integrated into Midoco and Umbrella. In this interview, Dennis explains why a dynamic link is worth more than any PDF, why one should still be cautious about AI-generated answers to entry questions, and why travel is the new status symbol today.
I don’t actually come from the travel industry. To be honest, after graduating from high school, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. I then went the traditional route and completed an apprenticeship at an insurance company, later pursued a dual degree program, and worked in field sales. But there was one thing I knew relatively early on: I wanted to start my own business. I kept coming up with ideas and tried to get a foothold somewhere.
Then came Passolution. I built the company together with my current business partner, whom I met through mutual friends. He comes from the tourism industry and worked for a long time as a freelancer for well-known companies. He needed someone who could sell, and I needed someone who could build technical solutions—a great match that still works today.
The Package Travel Directive provided the impetus. With my background in insurance, it made sense for me to delve into these legal issues. In the process, we discovered a gap: entry requirements weren’t really being covered in depth back then. We founded the company in 2017.
I’ll never forget those early days. We had a booth for the first time at the DRV conference in Ras Al Khaimah. Nobody knew me; hardly anyone had heard of us. After the presentations, everyone was at the buffet; it was windy—and then our booth fell on my head. Nothing happened—it was just cardboard, after all. But suddenly, everyone knew who I was. I couldn’t have come up with a better icebreaker.
Today I can say: I love our industry. The way we interact with each other, the events, the products—and I’ve been traveling myself since I was a kid. As of today, I can’t imagine working anywhere else.
Anyone in Europe who sells a package tour must, among many other obligations, inform their customers about entry requirements. That doesn’t just mean, “You need a passport.” It’s about whether a visa is required and, if so, which one; which vaccinations are mandatory; how long the passport must remain valid beyond the trip; and what other specific requirements there are.
The real challenge is that this has to be done not just for Germans, but for people of all nationalities. That’s exactly what we’ve built. In our database, you’ll find not only what a German customer needs for their trip, but also what a French, Polish, American, Chinese, or Chilean customer needs. We offer this in 21 languages. Our strongest markets are Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, but we also have customers in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Australia—and we recently received an inquiry from New Zealand. Theoretically, you can use our service anywhere in the world.
We update the information daily. Fortunately, things don’t change every day for Germans. But with so many nationalities, destinations, and islands, each with their own rules, we make a change somewhere almost every day. Our sources are official agencies—the equivalent of Germany’s Federal Foreign Office exists in other countries in various forms. An external partner compiles a daily report for us; the information is processed semi-automatically and entered into our system. We’re also experimenting a lot with AI agents. However, they’re not yet as reliable as they should be.
This is also a reminder to our colleagues: Be cautious when relying on AI responses to entry questions. In the past, people who Googled “ESTA” often didn’t land on the official site at first. At best, you end up paying more; at worst, you get something that won’t even let you enter the country. Many AI bots work the same way: they take whatever they find first. Only when you follow up do you get the correct answer. In the medium term, AI will be a great help—but not yet.
It’s fundamentally important that the information reaches the customer before booking. That’s why we’re integrated into the standard booking systems and mid-office providers. Many also include the information with the booking documents.
The pandemic has greatly increased travelers’ need for information. We’re now featured on a wide range of websites and have significantly expanded our system infrastructure. The focus has shifted: away from “I include the information in the quote for my customer, and that’s the end of it” toward “I guide them through the process and continue to support them even after booking.”
Especially with cruises and long-haul trips, there’s often a long gap between booking and departure, and a lot is happening right now. Conflicts are causing uncertainty; many countries are reintroducing online procedures and entry forms—partly because destinations have learned to generate revenue this way. Customers need to be aware of these changes so they don’t face any unpleasant surprises upon arrival.
Here’s an example of just how sensitive this issue is: For Mauritius, the German Foreign Office specified a six-month passport validity period, while local authorities only require the passport to be valid beyond the duration of the trip. We had this verified by local contacts and the embassy—no one could figure out where the information came from. Naturally, this kind of thing causes uncertainty for travelers, and we need to provide clarification. Given our volume—last year we handled around 44 million inquiries—we encounter such cases time and again. By the way, I once saw someone standing in line at the airport holding a printout of our information. That made me very proud of my team.
The integration is very similar in both systems. There are two options: The entry information is sent to the customer as a PDF or as a link to our website. Both are generated by the system and sent out with the travel documents.
What I really like is that we’ve implemented the link feature in both Midoco and Umbrella. Whether you’re legally required to notify customers of subsequent changes is currently a gray area—we discuss this once a year in our legal webinar with Dr. Vogel from ADVANT Beiten. With the link, this happens automatically. The customer can save the information to their digital wallet and receives a push notification on their cell phone if anything changes. Alternatively, they can provide their email address.
Of course, some customers want their documents printed out—that depends on the target audience—and we have to accommodate that. But if there’s another way to handle it, the link is the better option. Especially since there’s talk of an amendment to the Package Travel Directive that will address the issue of informing customers about changes. In that case, our joint solution already covers that. There’s certainly still room for improvement here and there—it would be strange if there weren’t. But we’ve created something really cool that lets us provide great support to our mutual customers.
There are many challenges: conflicts, technology, AI, cashback, and price pressure. And ultimately, the question: How will our customers continue to be able to afford their vacations in the coming years?
In our world, two topics in particular keep us busy. The first is AI—though I’d rather call it a technological revolution. Everyone is introducing and using AI. What I find exciting is whether we’ll break away from existing patterns. We have system landscapes that have been in place for many years, and their big advantage is that they run extremely reliably. Our product is extremely complex—something many people aren’t even aware of. Then someone from outside comes along and asks why we don’t do everything under one roof. The German market operates differently than many others, but this has evolved historically and has its reasons. I’m curious to see how the new will blend with the old. On top of that, there are acquisitions and mergers—a lot is happening behind the scenes right now, and the next three to five years will be exciting.
The second topic is global events. We’ve established a kind of crisis management system that allows companies to identify which of their customers are affected by a conflict, an earthquake, or another event. This is a very sensitive issue: you have to carefully weigh what you communicate and which rights and obligations currently apply.
What saddens me is that things could be so much better. What we do is wonderful. We connect people and cultures and open eyes. In the past, the car was the status symbol; today, it’s the journey you’ve taken. That makes it all the more sad that in many places, people no longer feel safe.
After the pandemic, I went to Paris with my significant other—we were among the first foreign tourists there. People were incredibly happy that we were there. We often forget how many livelihoods depend on travel. This period in particular has shown how important it is that we do everything we can to ensure that travel remains as possible in the future as it has been until now.