Unlike Summit – which showcased startups in the travel technology section – Launch at The Phocuswright Conference showcased new offerings from already-established companies like Xplorie, Sift Science (which took home the People’s Choice Award) and Layer. Rather than a Shark Tank-style setup – where the startups were subjected to a battery of questions from a four-person panel of industry experts – the Launch subjected the established companies to an American Idol-style lineup of 10 judges who provided various types of feedback into both the positives and the negatives of the company’s offerings.
So, who were the top five companies from Launch at The Phocuswright Conference?
5. Roomer
Touting itself as a “travel reseller platform” that specifically caters to the hotel industry, Gon Ben David – Roomer’s co-founder and CEO – boasts that his platform “turned a cancelation into a reservation,” pairing people who are looking to cancel their hotel reservation with people who are looking for a great room at a great price. While online travel agencies such as this one, and hotel chains, have traditionally been at loggerheads, Ben David – and Roomer – earned a solid six thumbs up out of a possible 10 from the judges, who admitted that he offered a valuable service (though they weren’t clear on how, precisely, his platform could be monetized in his favor).
4. Hipmunk
Thanks to its partnership with Concur, Hipmunk prides itself on being specifically tailored “for small businesses that are not yet ready for a travel management company.” While it did draw some fire from the judges – who claim that “there’s a reason that unmanaged business travel is call unmanaged” – it walked away from the table with a solid eight thumbs up out of a possible 10.
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3. Affirm
Statistically speaking, the average millennial doesn’t own a credit card, let alone use one to pay for big-ticket purchases such as all-inclusive vacations. That’s where Affirm comes in: it absorbs both the cost of the big-ticket, all-inclusive vacation, and the potential capability for fraud (in other words, it takes the proverbial “hit” on any potential chargeback) by paying out the third-party provider for the entire cost of the vacation while also extending a temporary line of credit to the qualified consumer. Affirm earned a near-perfect score, with nine out of the 10 judges lauding their commitment to engaging the millennial audience.
2. AirHelp
As a passenger, you may – or may not – be aware that you’re entitled to a series of rights, and that you have recourse in the event any air travel carrier should violate or otherwise not honor them. AirHelp, the industry leader in air passenger redress, allows its users to get compensated for flight delays, cancelations and overbooking from up to three years ago. What’s more, it boasts having helped more than three million passengers obtain compensation for their grievances. When it first started out, it took a 25% fee from each passenger, but during Launch at The Phocuswright Conference, AirHelp announced that it would be able to offer services for about $5 per passenger. It’s this one-two punch dedicated to consumer satisfaction that earned a perfect 10 score from the judges.
1. SiftScience
The winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Launch at The Phocuswright Conference, SiftScience was different from all of the other companies at the presentation, in that its services reached across different industries to provide results. The company prides itself on using machine learning to build trust between itself and the companies that commission services, and SiftScience's specialty is in fighting both fraud and account takeover and abuse. "Fraud is like a cancer in travel industry, and it's great that SiftScience challenges that problem,” says Philip Wolf, Phocuswright’s founder. SiftScience’s mission statement involves making this “future world” much safer, and given its perfect score from the judges and the award it won, it looks like the company is well on its way.