Travel Industry

Despite the steady diet of doom and gloom about:  travel, online travel, start-ups and the economy in general, there is some good news for online travel start-ups.  For good teams solving real problems with stable investors, demonstrating a credible way to generate revenue and gaining some traction on customer adoption, there has been funding available to hit their next set of business milestones.  Rumors indicate (Yapta & PlanetEye) and facts reveal (VibeAgent) that at least three travel start-ups have received financing in the last few months.

Vibeagent recently received $3M in funding

In November, Vibeagent a hotel search engine announced they received $3M in Series A investment capital from a group of executive investors. This follows an angel round from Trip Davis of TRX, Inc. Davis also participated in the Series A investment round and sits on their board.

Rumors abound that two other companies, Yapta and PlanetEye, also just received bridge financing from their existing investors.

PlanetEye is rumored to have received a funding round

PlanetEye, a beautiful site with stunning photography and well-written content offers travelers the opportunity to discover new places to go and stay. Their “Travel Pack” allows travel planners to clip photos, hotels and restaurants during their search process to facilitate their trip planning. The site succeeds in delivering inspirational travel options and delivering a better way to organize online travel plans.

Yapta has also been said to have received funding

Yapta offers a simple interface to:  find the best flights, track prices, receive price drop alerts and help you get refunds if necessary.  They say the average Yapta member saves $227.00.  This is compelling information during a time when everyone wants to save money.  They recently announced a frequent flyer award tracking program for those travelers who want to get the most flights using the lowest amount of frequent flyer points. Yapta seems poised to succeed in this economy.

These three companies received funding despite the tough economic times.  Why? Because people may travel less, but they will continue to travel. After all, the millions of people who are still employed dream of escaping the cold, taking their kids to Grandma, finding new adventures or just relaxing.

What lessons might we draw from these recent financings? First, stable, experienced investors are critical for internal bridge fundraising or to support follow-on external fundraising. Second, travel companies with lead generation business models are well positioned as online travel agencies and suppliers will continue to buy leads to fill their (increasingly empty) rooms and seats.  Third, running lean is not just good for business; it’s also boosts investor confidence that the team is scrappy enough to succeed.

What does the future hold for funding of online travel companies? It is true as Jeremy Liew suggested in a recent post that angel investing may be less than in previous years, but VCs do have existing capital to invest in promising firms. Look for bigger funding rounds for start-ups with strong customer traction because VCs will flock to quality and VCs will want to offer enough funding to insure success during the recession. Why will they look for customer traction rather than revenue growth? Because monetization for online lead generation businesses is relatively simple, but cost-effectively growing customer usage is a challenge.

Bottom line: Start-ups need to be solving real problems, be scrappy and be even more focused on customer acquisition, but there is funding available for those that can deliver.

Related Posts:

How bad is It for a start-ups seeking funding

Good a time as any for start-ups

VC confidence level takes third-quarter hit

I am constantly wondering what is happening in the travel industry.  I want to stay informed about trends, mergers, acquisitions, closings, deals and general industry news. I rely on industry periodicals like Travel Weekly and HotelMarketing and I look to the blogs.  Here is a list of my favorites from my “reader.”

Elliott.org offers travel information to protect consumers

1. Elliott.org–Written by Christopher Elliott, the blog’s purpose is to inform consumers about their rights, but it also informs me of travel industry trends. His writing is clean, crisp and witty.  Besides the blog, his site also features videos, his columns, and some great headlines like, “Repent, for the end is near! Hotel industry faces its doom.“  A quick scan of the home page will give you an overview of consumer issues and industry trends.  I think his invitation to sign up for an RSS is one of the most intriguing I have seen:

“They don’t want you to click here …Otherwise you might become the travel industry’s worst nightmare: an informed consumer. All the more reason to sign up for my RSS feed or daily e-mail updates. You’ll get the latest travel insights, tips and commentaries.”

T4 by Stephen Joyce

2. T4 Travel & Tourism, Technology & Trends is written by Stephen Joyce, a travel and tourism technology consultant and founder of Rezgo. It  offers a sweeping view of the travel industry and social media and as he says, “share with you some of my experiences as an innovator in this new world of connectivity and build connections for all tourism related businesses both large and small.  He covers industry events, offers site reviews and insights into the industry’s future.  Because he is both a consultant, a blogger and an entrepreneur, he offers a breadth of information on travel. Well worth following.

Jens Thraenhart

3. Tourism Internet Marketing Jens is a rising force in the travel industry and this description from his blog describes him well, “Jens Thraenhart is a globaI tourism and hotel strategist, with a focus on leveraging new media and emerging technologies, who has been marketing travel online since 1995.” He seems to be everywhere, doing all sorts of wonderful things.  I suggest you follow his Tourism Internet Marketing blog because that may be the best way to keep track of him and stay up-to-date on the industry. Claude Benard and Chris Clarke also contribute to this dynamic blog. Of note, Jens also seems to be good at identifying the new start-ups worth watching.

4.  The B.O.O.T- I discovered this blog just before he wrote about our private beta launch.  Tim writes from an insider perspective, (he works at Orbitz) and offers insights into all aspects of the travel industry or as he describes it, “puts the boot into the highs and lows of the online travel business (with an Australasian/Asian bias) with some blogging about consuming and loving travel thrown in.”  His recent post about twitter and the war on Mumbai is just one example of hst style and his insightful blogging.  He does need a logo though.

T-List member invitation

5.  Tips From the T-list–this is the best source of travel info:

“Tips from the T-List brings together the collective intelligence of dozens of influential travel industry bloggers from around the World. The blogs and the authors that are represented in this community are recognized online resources; they are the people the industry turns to for advice, recommendations, tips, and insider knowledge. By sharing their experience with you, these authors are providing you with an opportunity to embrace e-tourism in a new way. Our hope is that this community will provide inspiration and insights that help e-tourism efforts flourish.” They know who they are. Become a member now! UpTake is.

FareCompare

6. Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com says he discusses helpful travel tips but he really keeps me up to date on the airline industry’s ups and downs.  His short posts feature witty imagery, flowing copy and snippets of helpful information.  Airline news at its best.  Good examples of the type of information include recent posts about Virgin Airs thwarted attempts to get a gate or two at O’Hare and a post about airline scales being out of whack.

Hotel I Tour

7. Claude Benard from Hotel I Tour was one of the first bloggers I met via blogging. He has been very helpful to UpTake. He also covers the gamut of industry news including: etourism, travel 2.0, tourism, the hotel industry and travel technology. I especially like his interviews, analysis and tips & tips sections. You may be familiar with Claude, he  previously wrote for Les Explorers. He knows travel and offers a European perspective to the travel blogosphere.

Happy Hotelier

8.  Happy Hotelier is written by the happy hotelier himself, owner of the luxury hotel, Haagschesuites. This isn’t so much about the travel industry news nuts and bolts, but it is an entertaining blog celebrating travel written from a hotel owner’s perspective. As he say, “a Happy Hotelier with a keen interest in new developments in luxury travel, luxury hotels, luxury B&B’s, architecture, design, travel- and hotel gadgets, guest satisfaction, web design and web promotion of travel sites and hotel- and accommodation sites.” I think his blogroll is one of the best in the industry.  He is tapped into the travel and social media world.  He exemplifies how to promote a hotel through social media.  Based on his blog posts, I would bet his hotel offers an incredible experience.

Tourism Tide, a new favorite

9. Tourism Tide This is a recent favorite. I met Phil Caines at PhocusWright, he works at Rezgo, and discovered his blog. Phil describes his blog, “Tracking the ways consumers and businesses interact with Internet based travel technology. This blog is focused on marketing innovations, interviews and new wave (2.0+) solutions within the Tourism and Travel Industry. My favorite title is ‘All Hail the Google Overlords” maybe because that is how I feel about the awesome Google. It is a good post, too.

Travolution for another take on travel

10. Travolution is an great travel information site.  Their blog offers “More content from the Travolution team, including random commentary, interesting stuff we’ve seen elsewhere and our usual sideways look at the travel industry.”  I especially like the irreverent tone.  I usually stop by the site for news, too. The blog and the site are worth tracking.

11. Finally, just a reminder there are a couple of news sources you must subscribe to via email. I rely them on daily for up to date news on the travel industry, they are  Hotel internet Marketing and Travel Weekly.  Sometimes a good old fashioned news source is just what I need for blog fodder.

I realize I have missed some of the top blogs.  I hope you will send me some of your favorites.  We will add them to our blog roll, to our blog widget and I will add them to my reader.

"Passports With Purpose" supports Heifer International

Online travel bloggers want to give back some joy this holiday season and they made it really easy to support a great cause, Heifer International.  Heifer International is one of my favorite causes ever. Through this non-profit, for just a few dollars, you and I can transform lives and remove them from the worst poverty.  Here is a quick overview from Heifer International–take a few moments to soak in what they want to accomplish, because what they want to do is a good, good thing:

One goat can end hunger for a family

Heifer envisions…
A world of communities living together in peace and equitably sharing the resources of a healthy planet. (just sit for a minute and think about that statement, it is a thing of great beauty)

Heifer International supports hundreds of communities worldwide

Heifer’s mission is…
To work with communities to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth.   I can embrace this mission with every part of me–the best of humanity in one sentence)

Give a little bit to help in a big way

Heifer’s strategy is…
To “pass on the gift.” As people share their animals’ offspring with others – along with their knowledge, resources, and skills – an expanding network of hope, dignity, and self-reliance is created that reaches around the globe.  (an expanding network of hope…just feels good reading that)

A donation means passing happiness onto hundreds of people across communities

Heifer’s History
This simple idea of giving families a source of food rather than short-term relief caught on and has continued for over 60 years. Today, millions of families in 128 countries have been given the gifts of self-reliance and hope.

So how can you help? Just pull out your credit card and participate in your favorite travel bloggers’ new fundraiser:

What: Passports with Purpose – a fundraiser to benefit Heifer International.
Who: The brainchild of Debbie Dubrow of DeliciousBaby, Pam Mandel of Nerd’s Eye View, Michelle Duffy of WanderMom and Beth Whitman of Wanderlust and Lipstick. And an amazing ensemble of TravelBloggers!
When: December 1st- December 29th
How:

• Browse through the list of prizes
• Choose which ones you’d like to win for you or someone else
• Click on the FirstGiving link
• Buy one or more $10 raffle tickets for each prize you want by December 29th (11:59 pm PST)

I suggest you pull out your credit card (yes, do it now, so you don’t forget, I already reminded you once) and go wild!  Give them away as Hannukah, Kwanzaa and Christmas presents.  It is a  great corporate gift (do you really want that scarf with a company logo or do you want to feed a family this year). How about a stocking stuffer? Or just participate to feel really, really good about something you did this holiday season.

Go ahead, enter, either way you win.

UpTake donated a $100 American Express gift certificate to the event.  You can have a little splurge, have a little more fun on your next trip or finish up  your holiday shopping.  Good luck.

Please pass this on…

All photos courtesy of Heifer International.

People who have a healthy skepticism about Twitter, like my wife, have the impression that people on Twitter talk about mundane topics like “I ate a slice of pizza for lunch.”  But in fact, those of us on Twitter know that there is no more popular topic on Twitter…than Twitter itself.

I shared on Twitter that we were planning to use the @UpTake twitter account more in the future.  Many of us at UpTake are already personally on Twitter:  @yenlee @patjenkins @elliottng and others.  But I was hoping to have @UpTake be a shared account between Pat, Steve Yu, and me for more focused Travel Industry information and discussion.

An interesting and spirited conversation then ensued about the corporate use of Twitter with a number of people in the Travel (and general) Social Media space, including:  @NitinK of Software Abstraction Blog, @StephenJoyce of Rezgo, SEKeener of BootsNAll, @ToddLucier of TourismKeys.ca, @nerdseyeview of NerdsEyeView, @chadcat of ZoomProspector, and @chinkerfly (who worked with me on my CNReviews China blog).  This is what is so cool about Twitter…an instant water-cooler discussion with some incredible people distributed across the world.  And yes, like a real water-cooler discussion, plenty of free advice emerged.

Todd Lucier of TourismKeys.ca

@ToddLucier’s initial tweet reaction to us starting an @UpTake twitter account was a little negative: “Elliot, surely this place is more about people and their ideas than corporate brands.” Todd went further and on a post argued that people should use their own personal name consistently across all Web 2.0 platforms so as to build a consistent Web 2.0 personal brand.

Stephen Joyce of Rezgo and Travel & Tourism Technology Trends Blog

@StephenJoyce weighed in with a tweet that people agreed with:  “I think you and Pat have more impact on the Uptake brand then an Uptake twitter feed. You, Yen, and Pat are the human element.” I totally agree with this, but we also expect to build UpTake into a leading online travel company that transcends individual people.  Also, our corporate culture is totally allergic to the “cult of personality” (perhaps because Yen is Canadian, Stephen and Todd).  So how do you add that personal touch in a way that transcends one person, even the founders?

Sean Keener of BootsNAll Network

Sean Keener tweeted that “Look @ history of goog SERPs as indicator 4 twitter” and then elaborated his idea in a nice video-post on his blog and YouTube:

Sean points out that person-to-person marketing is always the most effective way to get your message out, and that as founder of BootsNAll he has been doing it in independent travel for the last 10 years.  “Nothing beats meeting someone, shaking their hand, and talking about something they love.” Couldn’t agree more.

More great links and resources

I received some great links from Sean, Nitin and others:

1. Search Engine Guide – Jennifer Laycock – Great Examples of Corporate Twitter Use
2. Fast Wonder Blog – Dawn Foster – Using Twitter for Brands or Corporate Identities
3. How to Change The World – Guy Kawasaki – How to Use Twitter as a Twool
4. Web Strategy – Jeremiah Owyang – Why Brands Are Unsuccessful in Twitter
5. Horse Pig Cow – Tara Hunt – Tweeting for Companies 101

These are incredible resources!  A great example of Twitter serving as a social computer.

What’s UpTake going to do?

Well for one, we’re not going to overthink it.  We’re just going to do our best to develop a shared UpTake account that highlights interesting stuff related to the Travel Industry, Travel Technology, Search, and happenings at UpTake.  We’re all going to keep our personal accounts and keep using them as we all want to individually.  And we’re going to heed the advice provided above on keeping it personal and enjoying the process of building relationships with people who care about the same things we do.  That’s it for now!

ICANN crosses over to the Dark Side

To add to the already significant hit from a cratering economy, companies might be required to shell out millions more to protect their brand name from cybersquatters and fly-by-night operators. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which oversees the internet, is actively trying to push through implementation of generic top-level domains (gTLDs) by next year.

There are currently 21 gTLDs (not counting country-code TLDs) such as .org, .info and .biz. ICANN is seeking a radical expansion and commercialization of gTLDs. Anyone with $185k will be able to apply to operate a gTLD. While its a very vast subject with hydra headed ramifications for everyone who has anything to do with the internet, let’s limit the discussion to hotels.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Marriott International is considering acquiring the rights for Marriott.nyc, Marriott.travel and Marriott.vacations, in addition to .marriott. Oh, and let’s not forget .hotel. The article adds that a typical company would be required to buy up rights for about 200 of these, which pushes the cost to about $2 million. This is on top of the amounts that companies already spend for country level domains (.ca, .cn, .uk, .us, etc), typos and spelling variations (harbor, harbour, and so on).

If you don’t spend the money, and somebody else takes over, that’s a whole different mess altogether. Worst part is that there’s no positive aspect. The money spent is basically a protection racket. Web traffic is likley to be neglible to most of these domains, even with extensive marketing, so what most companies end up doing is to use a 301 re-direct to their main .com domain.

ICANN, of course, is desperate to push it through, and in fact, they just held a week-long meeting in Cairo, where the 1000 delegates in attendance provided feedback about the gTLD draft proposal, which is open for public comments until Dec 8.

Obviously you won’t find a hotel which supports the gTLD implementation, but a whole bunch are vocally opposing it, and even preparing for it. The Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse (CADNA) just announced the addition of InterContinental Hotels Group to its membership. CADNA has a neat calculator which tells you how much your company could be losing from cybersquatting. Bet that calculator will go off the charts if the new gTLDs become available.

The good thing here is that ICANN’s gTLD push is connected to two other highly pressing issues - One is the internationalized domain names (IDN)  project, which weaves in non-Roman character languages. IDN when combined with gTLD will really radically alter the way the internet is used across the world. The second issue is ICANN’s upcoming agreement review with the US Commerce Department next September. ICANN wants to be independent of the U.S. government, so that it can pursue its ‘global vision’.

The point here is that gTLD, IDN and the agreement split all put together represent a threat to the U.S. dominance of the internet, not to mention that its a body blow for furthering the use of English on the internet. End of the day, the decision becomes a political one. And we all know what that means. Kicking the can down the road and maintaining the status quo.

Photo by Joi via flickr (creative commons).

UpTake selected as one of ten semantic web application to watch

Read/Write/Web discussed semantic applications yesterday in a blog post by Richard McManus and highlighted ten applications to watch-UpTake was one of them.  We are celebrating in our corner of the world.  We were selected along with nine other companies:

1. UpTake

2. Freebase

3. Powerset

4. Adaptive Blue

5. Twine

6.  Hakia

7.  Talis

8.  TrueKnowledge

9. TripIt

10.  Spock

As Richard concluded, “it’s an exciting sector right now, because Semantic Web and Web 2.0 technologies alike are being used to create new semantic applications. One gets the feeling we’re only at the beginning of this trend.”

If you are looking for more information about UpTake’s work, I recommend About UpTake and another post on RWW about our launch in May, it offers a description of our ontology.

Go semantic.

photo courtesy: uselessnano

Tim Hughes (Twitter: @timothychughes) of The BOOT – The Business of Online Travel – posted a highly personal account of his experience watching the Mumbai terrorist events unfold.  His wife’s cousin and family were long-term residents at the Trident Oberoi hotel. His wife’s cousin (mom) and children were trapped in the hotel for 36 hours hiding from the terrorists.

From old media to new media – getting the information he needed

Tim started tracking the news using old media–the BBC and CNN–but found himself moving to Twitter:

By the end of the second day I had my eyes glued to Twitter under the search tag #mumbai and more generally searching Twitter for any mention on the word Oberoi. Towards the end of the siege these twitter feeds updated themselves with nearly a tweet a second. People from all around the world were tweeting with the important (”am watching pictures of commandos storming the hotel”), the emotional (”thoughts are with all those in Mumbai”), the practical (”here is the direct line to the Oberoi Mumbai staff”), the wishful (”heard a rumour that it was all over, is that true?”) and of course the useless (”here is a link to [an unrelated] video”). Meanwhile my other screen was alternating between live web streaming of NDTV (local news) and CNN-IBN (CNN’s partnership in India). Live professional feeds on one screen and live citizens on the other.

This kept me so up to date that I actually saw the live footage (as it happened) of my cousin and her family stepping out of the hotel and towards the buses. My cheers of glee brought work colleagues rushing into my office as I jabbed at the screen screaming “That’s them!!! That’s them!!!

Twitter was also my primary source of information in the early hours of the attack.  I (Twitter: @elliottng) follow about 1200 people on Twitter and started to see tweets tagged #mumbai with news of the event.  Associated Press also recounted the rapid flow of information on Twitter:

Twitter users, who simply tagged their comments “mumbai,” traded information at a rate of 50-100 posts a minute in messages that were sometimes wrong, often fragmented, but always instant.

The lightning-quick updates of the attacks that killed 174 people read like a sketchy but urgent blow-by-blow account of the siege, providing further evidence of a sea change in how people gather their information in an increasingly Internet-savvy world.

“‘Emergency’ can some one check if there bomb blast of some shootout in oberoi hotel of anywhere in Mumbai ? I am at inox inside,” a user named Puneet wrote on Twitter, a popular “microblogging” Web site, shortly after the violence began.

“I just heard what sounded like a bomb blast! I hope I am wrong,” krazyfrog, a user in Mumbai, wrote soon after.

“People stay where you are. We’re under attack,” wrote Whizzkidd, also in the city.

Unfortunately, as Shel Israel related, Twitter also exposed the hatred and evil that poisons some people’s thinking.

Twitter delivers Situational Awareness

I write this post because I noticed that Travel technology blogger Alex Bainbridge (blog, Twitter: @alexbainbridge) just joined Twitter today (and sheepishly blogged about it), and I wanted to congratulate him for joining the party–its far from being too late and just getting started.  I encouraged Alex to follow 100 travel industry people (with a focus on his existing friends in the blogosphere and Real Life) and aim for about 100 people following him back to start with.  This forms a good platform for getting situational awareness in the specific field of focus.  I also saw that Guillaume Thevenot of Hotel Blogs was complaining of Twitter overuse by Travolution (I totally disagree) and I encourage him to give it another chance, maybe by following more than 24 people!  And if someone is livetweeting a conference and you’re not interested, try the Twitter utility called TwitterSnooze that lets you unfollow and automatically refollow after time is up.

With that basic platform, the next step is to discover, over time, a more diverse group of people to follow.  This further creates even greater situational awareness of the world as your followers increase.  With Mumbai, I heard about the news quickly because I follow @arjunram, an entrepreneur based in Bangalore, who started tweeting and retweeting news about the attack almost in real-time.

I’m hopeful that the Travel blogosphere can benefit from Twitter in the situational awareness that it can deliver to each of us.  Yes it is distracting and “noisy,” and not good for people at risk of Adult Onset ADD (yikes).  But in the difficult times that the Travel industry is facing, this situational awareness could deliver the information each of us need to make the right decisions for our companies and ourselves.