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Category Archives: Travel Innovation Summit 2010
Company Name: Gekko
Official Website: http://www.gekko.com/
What do they do? Gekko is a “hotel recommendation engine,” through which you can then book the hotels the site recommends to you. Searches are based on a hotel users like – anywhere in the world – and the results display hotels similar to that one in the city a user is traveling to. At present, there are 130,000 hotels in 184 countries available through Gekko. If users join the Gekko community they can save favorite hotels and recommendations, and share them with friends and others in the Gekko community.
Are they a business-to-business (B2B) company, or business-to-consumer (B2C)? B2C
Founder(s): Dutch internet entrepreneur Dino van Es founded Gekko and remains on the board, and the company is based in Amsterdam.
Date Founded: 2009
Presentation Notes: Gekko inserts text links for hotels into content, so when a user reads about a particular trip and sees the hotel name is a link they can hover over it and get a pop-up window. Within that pop-up window they can find out more about the hotel, including rate, photos, maps, reviews, availability, and they can even book the hotel right from within that pop-up window. It’s good for the content provider because it means users will never have to leave their site in order to complete a transaction (for which they will get a portion of the revenue). The idea is to “close the gap between inspiration and transaction,” so users don’t have to copy/paste information they find on one site into a search engine on another site. Users can also save the hotel via Facebook Connect so they can compare hotels side-by-side and book later if they want to.
Why should/shouldn’t travelers care? Fewer steps between finding information in an article/story that makes someone want to book a trip and actually booking the trip is a good thing. Personally, I wonder how many users will understand how to get to the pop-up window information? Will the non-tech-savvy web user even notice those links?
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Company Name: EChannelSearch
Official Website: http://www.e-channel.com.au/
What do they do? Pay-per-click and SEO agency.
Are they a business-to-business (B2B) company, or business-to-consumer (B2C)? B2B
Presentation Notes:
Millions of people use search to find millions of products, and advertisers can customize ads for certain keywords. But, EChannel asks, what if you could customize an ad for every single product you offer, creating thousands of different ads for thousands of different keyword combinations? The company claims to offer ” the power of a thousand search engine marketers at the click of a button.”
Why should/shouldn’t travelers care?
Maybe you’ll notice that ads you come across on the internet seem more relevant to what you were searching for. Maybe you won’t. If you’re anything like me, you’ll just continue to ignore text ads altogether.
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Company Name: FlyMuch
Official Website: http://flymuch.com/
What do they do? FlyMuch is a browser add-on that enhances the experience of shopping for travel and makes it easier to compare deals.
Are they a business-to-business (B2B) company, or business-to-consumer (B2C)? B2C
Date Founded: 2010 (in beta)
Presentation Notes:
The average traveler spends 29 days and 12 internet sessions looking for travel before booking. FlyMuch is a browser add-on that offers personalized and goetargeted info based on your search that can help you find deals and reviews that are relevant, without you having to leave the site you are on. The add-on only engages on travel sites, you can close or minimize it, and when you leave and go to another travel website, it comes with you. You can also enter your loyalty info and it will show your mileage balance and help you find deals in your rewards program. The program also shows recent deals from a given provider so you can see if you are getting the best price, and it shows online reviews so you know you are making the right choice.
Why should/shouldn’t travelers care?
The idea of finding everything you need to book your trip, all in one place, without needing to visit dozens of different sites is appealing. But do users really want a browser add-on following them around and popping up when they’re trying to browse the web?
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Company Name: GroundLink
Official Website: http://www.groundlink.com/
What do they do? GroundLink is an aggregator of more than 45,000 independent ground transportation vendors – including limousines, taxis, vans, shuttles, buses, car rental, and ride-sharing. Customers can rate services after use to help GroundLink offer more tailored search results to future customers. The B2C component of GroundLink’s product line is an iPhone app.
Are they a business-to-business (B2B) company, or business-to-consumer (B2C)? B2B and B2C
Founder(s): Alex Mashinsky is the founder, CEO, and Director of GroundLink. Mashinsky previously founded several other companies, including Arbinet-telexchange.
Date Founded: 2003
Presentation Notes: GroundLink is a ground transportation aggregator, giving travelers all options for ground transport between any two points in the world – including limos, taxis, shuttles, coaches, and even armored cars. They’re global, in 172 countries, and in most places they only need one hour advance notice in order to book transportation. Because individual drivers/companies will deal with GroundLink regularly, they’re less likely to try to cheat them with “tourist prices” (as some taxi drivers are notorious for doing) – so the idea is you’re going to get a better deal than if you tried to haggle with a driver you’d never see again. There’s an iPhone app that allows booking in real-time, an online version, and a phone booking option. Users are shown all potential options for a route – one that the system thinks is best suited to you, and then all the others below that.
Why should/shouldn’t travelers care? For travelers who want to organize everything in advance, or who hate the idea of haggling, or who might be afraid of dealing with some city’s famously dodgy cab drivers, booking ground transport before leaving home (or through an intermediary while on the road) sounds appealing. It’s not completely clear (at least to me) why drivers and companies would sign up with GroundLink if they stand a better chance of haggling in real-time with travelers (and potentially charging them more).
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Company Name: SilverRail Technologies
Official Website: http://www.silverrailtech.com/
What do they do?
Consolidate passenger rail content from around the world into a single integrated technology platform that removes the complexity of selling rail — expanding global distribution at less cost.
Are they a business-to-business (B2B) company, or business-to-consumer (B2C)? B2B
Founder(s):
Prior to founding SilverRail in 2009, Aaron Gowell built one of the largest travel technology and distribution companies in the US: National Leisure Group (NLG), a $1 Billion ecommerce leader in vacations & cruise. Will Phillipson helped build NLG’s dynamic packaging technology/product, which powers 20 brands — like Orbitz.com — and integrates global distribution for more than 2,000 suppliers.
Date Founded: 2009
Presentation Notes:
In Europe, if the distance is less than four hours by train, train generally owns 60% of the market over flying. $200 billion was invested in rail last year, making it the fastest-growing travel segment. SilverRail aggregates rail from around the world to sell on websites, allowing consumers to then book rail (or rail with hotel or air) directly through those online travel booking engines. Consumers can also book directly through SilverRail’s B2C site, Quno.com.
Why should/shouldn’t travelers care?
It’s always been tricky to figure out rail options without checking each individual train company’s website. It can be even harder to navigate that site, and some make it downright impossible to pay online. So it’s no surprise that 60% of train tickets are still purchased at the station. If SilverRail can make the ticket-buying process simpler, it could be a valuable tool for travelers.
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