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	<title>Travel &amp; Tourism Technology Trends</title>
	
	<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com</link>
	<description>Reviews &amp; commentary on travel technology today and tomorrow</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 20:13:37 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>If I was going to start a travel and tourism business…</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2013/05/if-i-was-going-to-start-a-travel-and-tourism-business.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2013/05/if-i-was-going-to-start-a-travel-and-tourism-business.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 20:13:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Zito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Travel Research]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trends]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1464</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[These are the first things I would do. I would start researching and educating myself as much as I could about the type of travel business I had interest in starting. I’d spend 1 month reading and learning, gathering informational resources, connecting with people and companies that could help me. Here is a list to get your started. I’ve curated the list so I am bias to these resources as I’ve visited all of them and find them valuable. Also in full disclosure I am the publisher of some listed here. If you have a resource, free or paid and it is not on the list, please email and I will add it. Free resources: T4 Blog – Travel &#38; Tourism Technology Trends &#8211; Well you here already so make sure you bookmark this web page and come back every 30-days as I’ll be updating the list. TravelStartups.co blog. Inspiring CEOs, founder and entrepreneurs to build great travel companies. Travel Startup Founder Series, short podcasts direct from travel founders telling their story in how they started their travel company. Interviews include Steve Kaufer, co-founder of TripAdvisor and more. Open Travel – An association for learning about travel distribution and the technology now being used to build out the next generation of online travel companies. Small Fish Big Ocean – A free forum helping specialist tour operators and activity providers with e-commerce. You can post questions about travel startups here and many people will give you answers. You can download a free ebook titled, 55 Travel ecommerce tips. SECRETS of the online travel business. FREE 30-page report will provide you with insight about how the travel industry works, who makes money and how. Tnooz –A must read news site dedicated to travel and tourism with a bias towards technology travel startups. Many travel entrepreneurs and travel insiders post commentary to published articles. Eye For Travel – Travel industry news and conferences. If you can afford it, try to attend at least one Eye For Travel conference per year. LinkedIn – Join LinkedIn, join two groups that are relevant to the business idea you want to start. Start requesting connections with up to 100 people that are involved in the travel business that may be able to help you. Tourism Starter Kit  - A massive amount of information about starting a travel business. The kit is meant for Australian businesses but you can learn here. Paid Resources: How To Start A Travel Business. The Travel Startup Series, 106 pages by Matt Zito in e-book and Amazon Kindle. $24.95 Travel Business Academy – A members only website that teaches entrepreneurs how to start a travel business, includes 5 online start up, business development and marketing modules. Price from $97-$249 lifetime membership. Start Your Own Travel Business and More.  A book published by Entrepreneur Press, $19.95.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2013/05/if-i-was-going-to-start-a-travel-and-tourism-business.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Promoting Your Tour / Activity Business Using LinkedIn’s Company Pages</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2013/04/promoting-your-tour-activity-business-using-linkedins-company-pages.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2013/04/promoting-your-tour-activity-business-using-linkedins-company-pages.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:13:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tips]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On September 6th, 2012, LinkedIn announced huge changes to Company Page design and user experience, which completely changes the way we view the platform as a marketing tool. “For companies, this means a more powerful way to build relationships with your target audience on LinkedIn,” said Mike Grishaver from LinkedIn&#8217;s Product Management team. This all sounds great, doesn&#8217;t it? The question is: are you prepared to optimize your own Company Page once these changes roll out to you? Download the Step-by-Step Guide to LinkedIn&#8217;s New Company Pages to learn what&#8217;s changed and how you can leverage these updates to drive traffic and leads, grow reach, increase product awareness, and optimize for search. In this step-by-step guide, you will learn: What LinkedIn Company Pages are Why you should use them for marketing your tour business What&#8217;s different about the new LinkedIn Company Pages How to successfully optimize your company&#8217;s page for results Remember that even though LinkedIn is primarily a business to business social network, everyone on LinkedIn has a life outside of work.  Making sure you access potential customers at home and at work can make a difference in your online marketing.  Download this handy guide and make the most of LinkedIn for your tourism business. DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE NOW]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2013/04/promoting-your-tour-activity-business-using-linkedins-company-pages.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Sell and distribute your tour and activity inventory through the Owned Inventory Merchant Model.</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2013/03/sell-and-distribute-your-tour-and-activity-inventory-through-the-owned-inventory-merchant-model.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2013/03/sell-and-distribute-your-tour-and-activity-inventory-through-the-owned-inventory-merchant-model.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:24:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Zito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Basics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Introduction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tourism On-line Marketing Series]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trends]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1449</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Owned Inventory Merchant Model is an inventory acquisition model and a contracting strategy used by travel wholesalers to acquire hotel room inventory.  In a nutshell the wholesaler pre-pays or guarantees cash upfront for inventory, better pricing and more favorable terms and conditions. Tour and activity providers can leverage the same strategy to their advantage by flipping the conversation with wholesalers and distributors that want to distribute your tour and activity on a free-sell basis, meaning they want to sell your inventory first then pay for it after they sell it by requesting that the wholesaler and distributor pay for your inventory first then sell it after. I’ve been consulting with travel startups for the last three years mainly OTA’s and tour operators and I’ve been amazed by the myth surrounding the idea of acquiring inventory by pre-buying it. When I talk to OTA startups about the idea they just cringe. I get this crazy look, like why in the heck would I want to do that when I can just get the inventory via an XML feed from a 3rd party or the hotel direct without having to pay for it upfront. I am sure you see the advantages for your tour and activity business in receiving money upfront for your inventory but how can you convince a wholesaler, distributor or any travel business that approaches you about distributing and selling your inventory to pay up first. Here is a quick how to that you can implement next time the phone rings or an email comes in from a distributor requesting to resell and or distribute your inventory on the free-sell model. Ask the wholesaler/distributor their monthly gross revenues. If they won’t share with you then tell them you’ll sign an NDA if needed and to do business with your company you require details about their business to make a sound business decision. If the wholesaler or distributor is small or is a startup that is fine, you just want to know what they are ringing, so you can make an offer to the wholesaler/distributor that makes sense for both parties. It has to be a win-win deal. Ask how many tour and activity providers they are representing. Determine an amount of inventory that you would sell at a discount if you got money upfront. Let’s say they are doing $2,000,000 a month and have 250 tour and activity providers, so on average $8,000 a month per activity provider. Give the wholesaler/distributor a discount on your inventory if they pay $1,000 a month pre-pay the 1st of every month. Balance due net 30 days or balance due when their client completes your trip, tour or itinerary. Tell the wholesaler/distributor that you are interested in working with their company over the long-term, that you start the relationship with a low risk investment upfront for a small amount of inventory, then you build up going forward. Try to be flexible but make them commit to some form of a monthly investment. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2013/03/sell-and-distribute-your-tour-and-activity-inventory-through-the-owned-inventory-merchant-model.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
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		<title>Who should hold the bag in terms of API integration?</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/12/who-should-hold-the-bag-in-terms-of-api-integration.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/12/who-should-hold-the-bag-in-terms-of-api-integration.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 08 Dec 2012 00:15:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Booking Engines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel Innovations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[APIs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[booking engine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tour distribution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tour reservation system]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1443</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In my most recent Tnooz post titled &#8220;Putting the supplier cart before the distributor horse in travel&#8221; I discussed how creating open inbound APIs could help to foster connectivity between supply and distribution and encourage those who are not using online systems to adopt them in order to open up distribution opportunities.  In addition to this discussion I also wanted to share my thoughts on who should and should not be holding the bag in terms of the costs of the API integration. Over the years, I&#8217;ve been directly involved in the integration of dozens of APIs from providers in and out of the travel space.  I&#8217;ve worked with over 50 payment gateway APIs, integrated hotel, air, and package booking APIs, mapping, geoip, messaging, and currency APIs.  Twenty of those gateways and several of the other dedicated service APIs are now integrated into Rezgo for the purposes of processing payments or providing added functionality for our Rezgo customers.  Needless to say, I&#8217;ve seen some really good, well documented APIs, and I&#8217;ve seen some of the most ridiculous excuses for APIs.  What all of them have in common, however, is a philosophy of connectedness.  You can&#8217;t after all claim to be open to connect if you don&#8217;t actually have a method for connecting. For the most part, though, payment gateway, currency conversion, and geoip APIs all do fairly straightforward processes.  They are relatively simple in design and provide a very simple (specific) response.  In the case of travel, the APIs tend to become quite complex.  Selling travel is a complex process, so it&#8217;s not hard to fathom that the APIs associated with selling travel are also complex.  As a result, they also tend to be top heavy.  By this I mean that only the upper echelons of the travel industry have APIs.  The large OTAs, GDSes, CRS, and PMS providers tend to have APIs but the small providers tend not to have them (or even know what they are).  The outcome is that there are APIs for distribution but no APIs for accessing supply. But do the small suppliers require APIs for the purposes of selling direct to customers?  Although most would argue no, I would argue that YES, a good API is required for the purposes of selling direct.  Why? Because a solid API allows for rapid development of third party tools that can aid in the direct selling process.  In the case of Rezgo, for example, all our front-end interfaces including the white label, vendor/affiliate booking engine, WordPress plugin, opensource PHP booking engine, and the new mobile interface are built on top of our XML API.  Our API processes over a million XML requests and responses a day.  The majority (95%) are for direct to supplier sales.  We also have a number of Rezgo suppliers who have customized their interfaces on top of the XML API or integrated legacy reservation systems with their Rezgo system to manage real-time availability. When it comes to connecting to a distribution channel, however, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/12/who-should-hold-the-bag-in-terms-of-api-integration.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>A mobile booking platform is the next big opportunity in the $27B Tour &amp; Activity Market.</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/11/a-mobile-booking-platform-is-the-next-big-opportunity-in-the-27b-tour-activity-market.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/11/a-mobile-booking-platform-is-the-next-big-opportunity-in-the-27b-tour-activity-market.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:38:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Zito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Booking Engines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel Innovations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Trends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile bookings]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1437</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In a recent article I wrote at Tnooz, I discuss a big entrepreneurial opportunity I see in the tour and activity market by selling 1-day activities to in-destination travelers via a mobile only booking app. This would be a pure transactional business via traveler’s mobile devices, one that I am very familiar with having successfully built and sold a youth-based ski travel agency or OTA, where we sold ski packages direct to consumers online. Why I am so excited about the opportunity is that the current in-destination traveler purchasing behavior aligns perfectly with the needs of the travel supplier to sell their services direct to the traveler. I learned the hard way as an entrepreneur in a former venture, that it is very difficult to change customer and or consumer buying behavior. You can hit the jackpot if your product or service fulfills immediate demand. Feel free to post a comment about what you think. Matt Zito is an Internet travel business consultant and entrepreneur. Matt works with CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs to help start and grow travel businesses. The Travel Business Academy is a professional online course that helps entrepreneurs start a travel business.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/11/a-mobile-booking-platform-is-the-next-big-opportunity-in-the-27b-tour-activity-market.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>Distribution Strategies and the ATDW</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/10/distribution-strategies-and-the-atdw.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/10/distribution-strategies-and-the-atdw.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Oct 2012 17:43:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Destinations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DMS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Long Tail of Travel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1423</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In my latest Tnooz post titled &#8220;Australian distribution strategy could be template for other tourism boards&#8221; I talk about the opportunity that national tourism boards have to engage with small businesses in their countries.  Although I know there are countries out there other than Australia that have developed a national tourism strategy, none that I know of, have been as committed to making it work. I&#8217;m a big believer in evolution when it comes to the status quo.  Although the idea of wholesale revolution is intriguing when it comes to technology or specific (generally small scale) verticals, DMOs are not going to go away any time soon and the value that they can bring often goes under appreciated.  I think DMOs like Tourism Australia and its regional partners have a role to play in developing best practices and fostering a culture of excellence in service delivery.  Not to mention, a strong and unified brand voice has more reach then the collective yells of myriad small operators. I hope you take the time to read the post and detail and please leave your comments.  Am I on the right track or do you think DMOs won&#8217;t be able to get their act together? Read the post here: Australian distribution strategy could be template for other tourism boards]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/10/distribution-strategies-and-the-atdw.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>What happened to the good old fashioned hello?</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/08/what-happened-to-the-good-old-fashioned-hello.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/08/what-happened-to-the-good-old-fashioned-hello.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Aug 2012 04:35:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1417</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In this day and age, when customer service seems to be outsourced to the farthest reaches of the planet, is it not surprising that people expect that your &#8220;customer support team &#8220;will be nothing more than a veiled attempt to placate their need to speak to a live person. I think that most technology companies have done themselves a disservice by reducing their customers to nothing more than annoyances to be shuffled off to the perpetual hold line or the inevitable voicemail box.  Sure there are costs involved in having people staff telephone call centers and speak to people one on one, but have these companies ever considered that maybe, just maybe if they spent more time making their service easier to understand or a little more user friendly, that they wouldn&#8217;t have to spend so much time on the phone. Lets face it, picking up a phone, calling a toll-free or long distance number and waiting on hold is a chore.  It&#8217;s so much easier just sending an email or submitting a help request on a website, so when someone actually takes the time to pick up the phone and call, shouldn&#8217;t the company at least acknowledge that and put someone competent to make decisions on the line? At Rezgo we spend a lot of time tweaking the system to make things simple for our members.  We also produce a lot of tutorial videos, write a lot of content, and publish a lot of support articles.  The reason for all this is to make sure that our members have access to helpful content 24 hours a day.  During office hours though, we&#8217;ve made the commitment to answer every call.  It doesn&#8217;t always happen but for the most part, we&#8217;re pretty good about picking up the phone and talking to people.  Heck, we even responded to a help request on Facebook and told the person to call our office for assistance.  From what I have experienced, most tech companies just shuffle you off to a help desk application. Although I have no doubt that our customer service approach is a reflection of our core values, it also has a lot to do with our business model.  As a transaction fee based system, we only generate revenue when our customers are successful at generating bookings.  Our motivation therefore, is to ensure our customers are happy and generating bookings.  It&#8217;s like the old Vidal Sassoon slogan &#8220;If you don&#8217;t look good, we don&#8217;t look good.&#8221; What we have learned over the years is that if you treat your customers like a burden, they will become a burden.  If you treat your customers like people, help them succeed by using your service, and treat them with respect, they will be your ally.  So, if you&#8217;re considering that convoluted phone tree with the many extensions and cheesy hold music, maybe just try picking up the phone and saying &#8220;Hello&#8221;.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/08/what-happened-to-the-good-old-fashioned-hello.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Credit Card Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/06/credit-card-safety-is-everyones-responsibility.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/06/credit-card-safety-is-everyones-responsibility.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jun 2012 04:15:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tips]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1406</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week I wrote a post on Tnooz about PCI compliance and credit card safety.  The reason for this post was to draw some much needed attention to the importance of server security.  The bottom line is that everyone from the small operator to the massive hosting provider is responsible in part for the safety of the data that is stored, displayed , or transmitted by them. What surprised me the most, however, is that so many businesses don&#8217;t take credit card safety seriously until something happens.  You don&#8217;t have to look much further than the recent compromise at LinkedIn to learn that 6.5 million passwords were hacked.  If a well funded public company can&#8217;t secure their user data, how are small businesses expected to do it.  The answer is that their service providers need to take responsibility for security their customers&#8217; customers. Have a read of the article and let me know what you think.  Are you taking adequate precautions with your e-commerce site to ensure your customer credit card information is safe? You can find the article on Tnooz.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/06/credit-card-safety-is-everyones-responsibility.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Payments in Travel and Tourism are a Real Challenge</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/06/payments-in-travel-and-tourism-are-a-real-challenge.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/06/payments-in-travel-and-tourism-are-a-real-challenge.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 03 Jun 2012 03:42:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Stephen Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Payment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel Innovations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travel Research]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1396</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One the biggest challenges I see working with tour and activity operators everyday is the challenge of payments.  In order to move this cash laden, on site dependent business sector into one where advanced bookings and electronic distribution is the norm, we need to face this challenge in earnest.  In my latest post on Tnooz titled &#8220;The Good, the Bad, &#038; the Ugly of Tourism Payments&#8221; I look at some of the challenges and some of the opportunities in payments for the tourism sector. In my opinion, there is a lot of opportunity in the SME payments sector.  Innovators like Stripe, Braintree, and Square are excellent examples of finding credit card payments solutions for small business, the issue is that these systems are only available to merchants in the U.S.  The greater challenge, and opportunity, exists in finding solutions for small businesses in emerging markets, those in Asia, South America, and Africa.  The innovator who provides a quality solution for small business in those markets will do very well. Take a read of my latest post and let me know what you think.  Leave your comments on Tnooz, or feel free to leave them here too.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/06/payments-in-travel-and-tourism-are-a-real-challenge.html/feed</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>How do you start a travel business that becomes a $500M company?</title>
		<link>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/04/how-do-you-start-a-travel-business-that-becomes-a-500m-company.html</link>
		<comments>http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/2012/04/how-do-you-start-a-travel-business-that-becomes-a-500m-company.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:41:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Matt Zito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[start up]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel start ups]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://tourismtechnology.rezgo.com/?p=1389</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As the founder of the Travel Business Academy, a professional program that teaches entrepreneurs globally how to start a travel business, I am always searching for stories about successful travel entrepreneurs that I can share with our members. Travelzoo is in the news lately, with rumors surrounding an impending sale of the company, so I did a little research online to see what the story was behind the company and how it got started. At the Travel Business Academy we teach entrepreneurs to create one-of-a-kind travel businesses. First, your start up must offer something unique that no one else is offering. We call this the unique-selling-proposition or USP. Second the consumer or business buying your travel service or product must truly want it. The story behind Travelzoo and how solo entrepreneur Ralph Bartel built Travelzoo into a $500M company. Ralph Bartel’s Travelzoo travel website, launched in the late 1990’s during the Yahoo and Netscape .com days, listing special travel discounts and last minute travel deals. Bartel launched the company with a killer USP. He offered 7 million free shares in a Bahamian holding company. As you can guess, the subscribers came rushing to his doorstep. He quickly built 700,000 subscribers, 1.5 million web site hits per day to the website generating $3,000 in daily ad revenue. [1] At the time Ralph was going up against multi-million dollar travel companies that were running similar travel websites. The key differentiator was the lure of a free stock share for subscribing. The .com craze was a wild time and the populist theme was that people all around were getting rich starting Internet businesses. What Ralph was offering was the opportunity for the average person to participate in the .com craze to acquire his or her share of Internet riches. The USP was the idea that by subscribing maybe you to could get rich like everyone else. The interesting thing here was that this had nothing to do with travel. The Travelzoo website and promoting travel deals was just an avenue for people to get what they really wanted, which was the chance to think that they might get rich by being a part of this new travel website. The free stock shares were obvious a gimmick to build a large subscriber base. The hard part was building a business and selling travel deals and offers that people really wanted to buy. Well it worked. Ralph Bartel successfully executed on his travel deal publishing business and today his company is worth close to $500M. I am not recommending that your travel start up offer free shares as I think that would be very challenging today, although there are bills in the U.S Congress and the Senate, that aim to make it much easier for entrepreneurs to sell stock as a start up. I am advising all travel start-ups that you better have a killer USP when launching and have a travel service or product that people want to buy or it will be hard [...]]]></description>
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