TLabs Showcase on travel startups featuring US-based PointHub, a new service to allow consumers to manage and use loyalty points to buy flights and accommodation.
Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?
PointHub’s founding team is comprised of:
- Justin Byers, formerly of Shopzilla and Blackline Systems; BS from Cornell University.
- James Baez-Silva, formerly of Blackline Systems; BS and MS from University of Michigan.
- Richard Lao, formerly of SBE Hotel Group; BA from UCLA.
- Ryan Eberhard, formerly of MyLife; BS and MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.
What financial support did you have to launch the business?We are self-funded and have not yet taken on any outside investment.
What problem are you trying to solve?
Everyone can relate to the time-consuming frustration of redeeming their frequent flyer miles and loyalty points.
US businesses, ranging from airlines to big box retailers, issue $48 billion in loyalty points every year, yet the consumer experience of using these points is difficult as indicated by the fact that they lose $16 billion annually in unused frequent flyer miles and reward points.
PointHub, a loyalty program shopping and management destination, gives people an easy answer to the age old question: "Can I use my points when making travel plans?"
Describe the business, core products and services?
PointHub lets you shop for airline tickets and hotels with loyalty points.
Our innovative, proprietary Cash vs. Points Recommendation Engine displays qualified, real-time, side-by-side comparisons between purchase price and reward points for airlines and hotels.
After eliminating blackout periods and cross-referencing factors such as redemption fees, point expiration risk, and travel preferences, PointHub provides "best value" travel recommendations that can actually be booked using cash or points.
PointHub also simplifies reward management for consumers, who average 18 loyalty programs per household, through PointTracker and expiration alerts.
Eliminating the need to visit multiple sites, PointTracker supports over 200 reward programs and monitors all key account information, including: balances, elite level, tier-status progress, pending itineraries, and expiration dates.
PointHub warns registered users when their miles, points, flight credits, or airline vouchers are about to expire and provide recommendations on how best to use them.
Who are your key customers and users at launch?
Frequent travelers looking for a simpler and more effective way to spend their airline miles and hotel points.
Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?
Yes, we have tested PointHub with our initial target users via one-on-one usability interviews and an extensive private beta period.
What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?
PointHub is free to use. We receive a share of revenue generated from bookings our users make on traffic referred to our partners, Expedia and Orbitz.
Over time, we will explore other monetization opportunities, but for the foreseeable future our focus will be on attracting and delighting users.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
Strengths:
- Real-time aggregation and matching of thousands of cash and point options.
- Reward search and redemption simplification, taking the pain out of program limitations like blackout periods, redemption fees, point expiration risk, and other program conditions.
- Personalized side-by-side "best value" travel recommendations that can actually be booked using cash or points.
Weaknesses:
- Not yet targeted to users who rarely travel.
Opportunities:
- Expansion into new loyalty categories (e.g., retail, dining, and credit/debit programs).
- Mobile applications for travelers on-the-go.
- Deepen relationships with customers in online travel community, folding in their feedback into product.
- Relentless optimization on product and user experience.
Threats:
- All metasearch engines are in some way threatened by Google’s ITA acquisition, but our view is it gives innovative startups that personalize travel results, the opportunity to stand out.
Who advised you your idea isn’t going to be successful and why didn’t you listen to them?A couple of people, but the pain travelers feel in using their loyalty points keeps us going. Just watch the number of people who laugh when you ask them if it’s easy to use their frequent flyer points.
Everyone’s looking for an easy way to determine if they can use their points for a flight or hotel without having to bounce around to several different sites.
PointHub’s proprietary Recommendation Engine does all the leg work for travelers and saves hours of time.
What is your success metric 12 months from now?
A large base of passionate and engaged users telling us what they want built into the product next.
NB: TLabs Showcase is part of the wider TLabs project from Tnooz.