Travel Industry

Here are eight more innovative firms selected by PhocusWright to present during the Travel Innovation Summit:

View from a featured property on The Society

The Society of Leisure Enthusiasts has the “largest online network of hand-selected vacation rental homes around the globe.” A quick search revealed beautiful homes for rent, the starting price was $500 or more per night but the homes appeared well worth the price. The homes ranged from beautiful to outright fantastic. They examine each property to ensure a quality experience and promise you can rent a vacation rental home in confidence from them. If you are looking for a unique and impressive vacation rental, search here.

Travelbeen Home Page

Travelbeen™ is “a social search engine for travel.”  They are collating  and indexing travel websites.   Users can determine how popular a site is based on the number of bookmarks it received. Bookmarking can be done within the site or or on travel websites that have signed up for the service.  Over 15,000 travel companies are already included and our next target is 200,000.  Officially launched on November 11th November, 2008 by Ed Whiting and Gene Campbell, both from New Zealand, the site is still in beta.

TravelMuse

TravelMuse “combines original editorial content and destination city guides with powerful planning tools.”We reviewed TravelMuse when it launched, you can find more information about it here.

Itinerary Sample

TripChill bills themselves as an automated travel agent and offer an itinerary management feature, a gadget to find out about travel conditions and allows you to tell contacts your travel plans have changed.  It seems designed for the road warrior rather than a mom going to take her kids to meet Grandma. If you are planning a long trip with several stops, hotels, flights etc it may be worth a try.

An itinerary management service

TripIt launched to great fanfare a year ago. It offers assistance with managing itineraries.  It is easy to use, and efficient.  Once again, a good choice for complex trips.

TripJane --not available for viewing

TripJane was not available for review.  I registered for a beta invitation and i hope they let me have a sneak peek.

Triporati--

Triporati offers “a personalized recommendation powered by expert travel advice.” I entered a number of options and it returned many possible trips around the world to consider.  They offer expert advice, a wide selection, are experienced travelers, good writers with a good travel blog, too. Take a look.

Itinerary Planner

TripSketch, “makes strategic recommendations for any journey.” They have reviewed the attractions and services in major destinations and  collected logistical details–allowing you to create the ideal itinerary (e.g. make sure that restaurant is open on Monday).  I really liked the San Francisco recommendations, but they had nothing for Hollywood, I was hoping for a restaurant recommendation while at PhocusWright. Cool planning tool, they just need data.