Blog homeMost existing travel companies start as product vendors and then, if they have one eye towards the web, look to build a community however Travellerspoint are going the other way. They are a traveller community that takes online bookings.
However, that wouldn’t be much of a story. What is interesting is how they have merged the benefits of having a web based community with online bookings.
Take a look at this conventional short description of a hotel. Note that below the details it mentions that one other community member will be there on the same dates you are:
On the confirmation page you can see details of who the other member is.
There are plenty of opportunities to opt out of this “social booking” system (indeed it is opt in to begin with).
Sam Daams, from Travellerspoint, describes the niche that they are aiming for:
Social bookings is a concept tailored towards independent travellers, much like those who in the past years have posted thousands of requests on our Travel Companions forum to meet up with other travellers heading to the same destination on the same dates. There are actually millions of posts like this around the web where entire sites have arisen just to cater for arranging travel companions before leaving home
We see conversions increasing based on this functionality
Is this new?
I *think* it is.
I do remember back in 2002 looking at a corporate self booking tool where, within the context of a large organisation (tens of thousands of employees) you could pick your flight seat and choose to sit next to (or as far away from) someone who works in the same company. Either great for networking or terrible - depending upon how you feel about it.
Conclusion
I think this is a great example of understanding your users and creating innovative functionality that addresses a key pain point. The Travellerspoint forums are full of “meet up” requests and this helps service that need. Not sure it will be found on the Hilton website anytime soon though!
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Thanks for the great writeup! Just wanted to point out it’s only been set up now in our budget accommodation area, so mostly hostels, budget hotels and the like. Like you I doubt it will suit the higher class hotels, but sites like Dopplr might prove me wrong on how popular it could be there too. It’s actually still in beta (click my name for direct link), but working 100% correctly