Blog homeI have been watching a whole bunch of new web startups in the travel sector that are founded by people from outside the travel industry.
I wish to support any web startup, unless they compete with me, in which case I will respectfully acknowledge them - but probably not help them that much. (I am not a charity!) Actually I don’t talk to competitors that much - the last time was at the Travel Technology Show (London, February) where one who had a nearby stand suggested I was destroying the price point that tour operator reservation systems are sold at…. well yes - that is the plan. Sorry about that. We are not doing too bad a job either, with more bookings going through our system in the first 2 days of June 08 than the entire of December 07.
But, hey, you don’t read this blog to have me witter on about my own stuff (although I reserve the right to do so about once a month!)….. so lets talk about someone else’s company.
Offbeat Guides
David Sifry, founder of blog search engine Technorati, has founded a new company based around the principle of personalised travel guides.
You know what, I could write a great review here….. as it looks like a nice system - but frankly I can’t see the point - as Techcrunch have already written a summary - See Techcrunch summary - and I hate writing posts that just rehashes stuff other people have already written.
In a few words, the principle is that the customer, after handing over 25 USD and a bit of information about their forthcoming trip, receives, via FedEx, a printed book containing all the live destination information - such as maps showing their hotel, events, restaurant reviews etc.
I like the idea…… but there is a big but coming…… I am not sure consumers are going to buy into this as a separate, direct, purchase. Some will of course…. but it may be a struggle to get wide coverage. Travel is just too diverse a market to cover.
However, consumers will absolutely buy into this if it forms part of the transaction with the travel company they are booking through - for example airlines, OTAs, tour operators etc.
I know the concept of a personalised guide is popular - indeed I have project managed a couple of “Ticket book” projects for leading UK travel companies. These dynamically printed booklets contain pre-departure information, coupons to use at airports, flight information, meet & greet information (at the destination) etc… These projects haven’t been cheap to implement as there are few printers who can print personalised documents at volume…. but they do provide amazing opportunities for ancillary sales. That is about as much as I can say as I, as usual, am NDA’d to the hilt.
Yes Alex, but what point are you making?
Anyway, the point I am making, is that often when new web entrants come into the travel industry from outside, they tend to head straight for the consumer.
I am now fairly convinced that this is a strategic error. The market for immediate revenue for someone like Offbeat Guides is with existing travel companies - not in building up direct consumer sales. I know how much these “Ticket book” projects cost….. and Offbeat Guides could basically replicate that at a fraction of the cost - hence make it affordable to many smaller and medium sized travel companies.
I put this point to David Sifry (CEO of Offbeat guides) and he replied that they are very interested in B2B opportunities…….. so if you are a travel company and you have investigated creating personalised pre-departure booklets but discounted the concept as a result of cost….. he is probably a great person to talk to.
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I don’t believe this will work either, but for a somewhat different reason. People just aren’t going to fork over that cash for content they can get for free online, especially not in a day and age when printers at home are getting better and better. I also suspect someone is going to come out and do something exactly the same (or similar enough), with a price point around the 0 mark and it’ll be tough going from then on.
Last but not least, copyrighted content is always going to be an issue with any kind of automatic system. So the possibilities an individual has to go and copy/paste that copyrighted info themselves is going to be far greater than any kind of serious online automated setup can aim to hit. A good combination would be a ’seeded book’ with non copyrighted content and then the option for the user to add copyrighted content via some kind of toolbar plug in or copy/paste. Slightly less control visually, but at least the customer gets what they want.
Anyway, I think it’s going to be rough going as entry barrier is barely there. But we’ll see; I’ve been wrong before!
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your comment. At the price point they are at (25 USD - I am sure lower for a volume sale to a travel website) - these offer interesting value.
If the booklet had personalised ancillary promotions (like car hire related to destination, travel insurance etc) it wouldn’t take much for the travel company (who would pay for the booklet to be printed) to earn back the upfront cost of printing. Also there will be plenty of advertising opportunities…..
i.e. it may be “free” to the consumer
Why don’t you guys do this? Would be a good one for you!
Cheers. Alex
We actually had a similar idea a while ago, although not fleshed out at all. We probably will do something along these lines at some stage, but it’s just not high up on the priority list for 08 (darn 24 hours in a day thing
).
I agree with your assessment regarding these having more value for a business at point of sale. That’s why I’m pretty sure that just as a B2C model it’s a tough sell. Your idea is much better. I own an offline travel biz as well, and if we could create these and add in our own ads it would make it interesting. On the other hand, how hard is it to go over to wikitravel, upcoming etc. and do a copy/paste and clean it up? Then you leave a blank page or 4 and this is personalized. Surely if I’m going to be making a few hundred books it starts getting interesting?
In any case, it’s going to be an interesting one to watch!
Yet another start-up promising “accurate” and “up-to-date” travel info on places they’ve never ever been to … sigh.
Would disagree with Sam, people will pay for content they can get for free online. Around 90% of the content we sell in the Travelfish Guides is available for free on the Travelfish site, yet that doesn’t deter people from buying them. While we are selling the information, what we’re really selling is the convenience of having all the information wrapped up into a neat package that the reader can buy, download and print-off in few clicks. I assume that’s what Sifry is trying to push, but his problem will be on the content side.
Yes B2B works — we’ve supplied cut-down guides to tour companies (most don’t want detailed accommodation listings as the pax don’t get to choose where they stay — can you imagine the arguments with the tour-leader… “but I want to stay here, it sounds nicer!”) and the companies then supply the Guides to their pax free of charge as a part of their package.
Stuart, good to catch you here! I guess I need to be clearer in my comments
I think the price point here is where the difference lies. At 25 USD it seems awful near a LP guidebook to be a guide composed of free open source content automatically generated from around the web… your price point and product makes a lot more sense because you have a niche and can focus on it.
Sam, agreed — also nearing the US$25 mark are things like the Wikitravel Press, who are asking almost ten quid for a Singapore guide… be interesting to hear how they’re going, as I assume Sifry is planning to pillage Wiki copy for his new toy.