TLabs Showcase on travel startups featuring Chile-based LetMeGo, a web marketplace where accommodation providers and vacation rental owners bid for business.
Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?
LetMeGo is a revolutionary new online marketplace where travellers tell us what they want, and hotels, bed & breakfasts, and vacation rentals compete for their business.
Hosts can see other quotes for any itinerary they’ve been invited to bid for, and can adjust their quotes accordingly, in real time. Travellers choose the quote they like best based on features, location, and price.
It is co-founded by:
- Alexander Torrenegra - Co-founder & CEO. In 1994, Alexander started studying Automation Engineering at Universidad de la Salle, but after two years he left school to focus full time on his business. A serial entrepreneur whose work in information technology dates back to the mid-1990s, Alex has founded numerous successful ventures, including Torrenegra Labs, the parent company of LetMeGo, as well as Voice123, the world's premier online voice talent marketplace.
- Leonardo Suarez - Co-founder & Vice President, BizOps. Before co-founding LetMeGo, Leonardo's experience included stints in Colombia's plastics and publishing industries, as well as co-founding Element Group, Ltd, a consulting company focusing on new media ventures. In his role as Business Development and Venture Manager with Torrenegra Labs, the parent company of LetMeGo, Leonardo is consistently focused on "what's next", developing opportunities for future endeavors and analyzing their viability through market research and strategic analysis.
- Andro Lindsay - Co-founder & Vice President, Spanish Markets. Andro holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Universidad Federico Santa María and a diploma in Airlines Business Management from the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez. His previous experience includes management of a variety of projects and departments in companies like Metrogas and LAN Airlines. He is a passionate traveller, who enjoys time spent with nature, as well as whatever other pleasant surprises life has to offer.
- Sérgio Rebelo – Co-founder & Vice President, Portuguese Markets. Sérgio's education includes electronics engineering as well as a degree in Computer Science. He has held a variety of positions in software development and project management, leading teams and fostering innovation at Nokia Siemens Networks, along with positions at Multipessoal and Siemens. Sérgio divides his free time between pursuing his hobbies, and spending time playing with his daughter.
What financial support did you have to launch the business?Torrenegra Labs (parent company of LetMeGo) was founded in 2000 by Alexander. It provides financial, operational and administrative support to each of its affiliated companies, allowing each team to focus on the development, improvement, and profitability of its core business.
For nearly a decade, Torrenegra Labs has been dedicated to serial entrepreneurship, creating new ventures that make others' lives better through cutting-edge technology and a focus on best-in-class customer service. Notable ventures include Voice123 and VivaReal.
What problem are you trying to solve?
We strongly believe that travellers deserve more control over their bookings. We also believe they deserve to have a great personalised service in one place. In that one place they should find all kinds of accommodations they could possibly need for any kind of trip.
Moreover, we believe that all small lodgings deserve better tools to compete with the big guys and show their uniqueness to the world.
If you love great deals and hate hassles. LetMeGo is where you'll find the perfect lodging at the perfect price for each trip.
Describe the business, core products and services?
LetMeGo is THE place where you can find and book ALL kinds of lodgings: a five star hotel, a luxury castle, a great B&B, a nice apartment, a dome, a boat, an island, etc. If you can sleep in it or on it, we have it. ;)
LetMeGo also has two different ways to book an accommodation. You can book lodgings instantly all around the globe, or you can allow them to compete for your stay accordingly with your trip plans and receive great personalised offers from them.
In our system, each lodging has their own mini site with great high-resolution pictures, maps, very complete information of the place, and the closest points of interest. The site even accesses a wide Google Street View window where travellers can preview the surroundings.
And from the host point of view, they can list their properties for free in just 20 minutes utilising our savvy tech platform and create an immediate multilingual global exposure.
LetMeGo offers a 120% Happiness Guarantee with real human assistance. We boast the most generous Referral Program in the industry, where people easily earn money just for referring hosts and travellers to our sites. Under this programme, people earn 5% of bookings that their referrals make for the following years.
Who are your key customers and users at launch?
So far we have more than 25,000 hosts and thousands of travellers distributed in more than 120 countries.
Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?
Nope.
What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?
LetMeGo charges a very small commission to the lodging just after a successful booking has been completed. We are also actively exploring alliances with some partners who would like to use our technologies under a white label model.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
Strengths:
- Semitransparent bidding process. LetMeGo brings the reverse-auction model to the lodging industry, which has been tremendously successful for businesses as varied as alibaba.com and elance.com. By allowing travellers to choose lodgings from which they wish to receive quotes, and by allowing both travellers and lodging managers to compare those bids in real time, LetMeGo advances unprecedented clarity and efficiency to the process of choosing a lodging.
- Access to all lodging types. Our users can receive bids from any type of lodging they choose: from hotels to vacation rentals, from apartment buildings to B&Bs. All lodgings, from large chains to individual owner-operated businesses, compete on a level playing field.
- Focus. Unlike many online sites, LetMeGo is focused exclusively on perfecting one aspect of the travel experience; therefore, no flights, no car rentals. All of the company’s resources are devoted to providing a best-in-class lodging marketplace.
- Technology. Other travel and lodging sites have depended on outdated standards used only by hotels. Our systems were designed so that lodgings of all types, anywhere in the world, would be able to take full advantage of their features.
Weaknesses:
- One of our great challenge as a marketplace is to reach a critical mass of lodging all around the globe in order to be able to successfully fulfil any required itinerary.
Opportunities:
- A unique reverse auction business model (focused on a much more personalized booking experience) mix with the traditional "BookNow" where rates are available to book immediately, provide a tremendous range of flexibility for both travellers and host.
Threats:
- It is a very competitive industry.
Who advised you your idea isn't going to be successful and why didn't you listen to them?Well, many people… some friends, ex-colleagues, etc. But there is also a bunch of visionaries and unconditional people who believe in us 120%. Of course, the last group is the wisest one.
What is your success metric 12 months from now?
We want to be known for two things.
- Known as the one travel marketplace where travellers can experience being a real and happy human being, finding unique deals for them, in all kinds of accommodations around the globe.
- Known as the place where hosts can really explore all the potential of their properties, making people happy, and doing good business in the process.
NB: TLabs Showcase is part of the wider TLabs project from Tnooz.