NB: This is a viewpoint from Drew Meyers, co-founder of Oh Hey World.
There has been a lot of money thrown at the online travel industry over the years, often coming with a label that talks about making the travel experience better.
Yet no one has reached that holy grail of travel. Not even close.
When you look at the top travel sites by traffic, there is TripAdvisor -- and a bunch of hotel and airline booking sites (top US sites for June).
But even TripAdvisor moved into the hotel search game, since that's where all the money in the industry is made. It's my belief the fact that the top sites are all booking sites is not going to stay that way forever.
There has to be a reason travel startups continue to get funded. It's because there is a multi-billion dollar opportunity sitting out there for someone. Someone will figure out a way to bring the entire travel experience together in a way no has even imagined yet.
That brand will have the opportunity to be the authoritative brand people think of when they hear the word "travel".
Right now, Expedia is the closest thing - but all they really do is help you book a flight. The rest of the travel experience is a fragmented mess. The experience every single traveler on the entire planet wants is pretty simple, at least in my mind.
They want a BEST FRIEND with great local knowledge of the city they are visiting.
What does a best friend provide?
- A friendly face to greet you at the airport.
- A ride from the airport.
- Free accommodation.
- Answers to your questions within seconds. No need for TripAdvisor, as they already know fun things to do/see.
- Someone to explore the city with.
- An "in" to experiences with other interesting people in the city - usually their friends. It should go without saying that you're likely to get along pretty well with your best friends' friends.
- Access to a car.
- Great conversation.
How do you put that entire experience into the palm of your hand, in any city in the world? Whoever does that, is going to be the one that conquers the travel vertical.
Of course, that's where the rubber meets the road. There are thousands of destinations all over the globe, each with different languages, cultures, prices, activities, and ways of doing business.
Each destination needs a community, and localized content covering a wide variety of price ranges and interests.
What's needed is massive, massive scale in terms of both users and content.
Any takers?
NB: This is a viewpoint from Drew Meyers, co-founder of Oh Hey World.
NB2: Holy grail image via Shutterstock.