Travel Inspiration

News / Online

VIDEO: TripAdvisor on a new social strategy and tweaking its activity stance

By Linda Fox | November 16, 2018

TripAdvisor has been busy during 2018, with a combination of significant acquisition and new attempt to tackle the social-led planning phase of travel. Read More

Interview / Startups

STARTUP STAGE: Alpacr aims to create a social platform for avid travelers

By Mitra Sorrells | November 8, 2018

Founded in January 2017, Alpacr wants to serve as a digital diary for travelers, allowing them to consolidate insights and photos from their trips in one app and easily share them with others. Read More

News / Technology

Foursquare partners with TripAdvisor, wants to "make noise" in travel sector

By Mitra Sorrells | November 5, 2018

TripAdvisor is the latest travel brand to partner with Foursquare, the company that began as a social check-in app for consumers but in recent years has evolved to focus on providing location... Read More

News / Online

Travelers less concerned with social media, destination politics when finding and planning travel

By Jill Menze | October 29, 2018

Travelers are increasingly relying on technology to assist with their travel experiences, however, some of their travel preferences and choices may deviate from common thinking. Read More

Interview / Startups

STARTUP STAGE: Mapify's social travel platform lets users discover and plan trips

By Linda Fox | October 25, 2018

Founded about 18 months ago, Mapify is a mobile-first platform that aims to improve the trip planning experience. The startup has raised $1.3 million to date and counts Airbnb among its partners. Read More

News / Startups

Mapify plots expansion following $1.3M in funding

By Linda Fox | October 22, 2018

Social travel site Mapify gets $1.3 million in seed funding. Read More

News / Distribution

Creating a Netflix-for-airlines loyalty model at $30/month

By Kevin May | October 5, 2018

The "X-for-hotels" or "Y-for-airlines" idea, when a modern consumer brand is used as a reference point, has become fairly common in the travel industry. Read More

News / Startups

CrowdRiff raises $9M to grow its visual content marketing platform

By Mitra Sorrells | October 4, 2018

Toronto-based CrowdRiff, an artificial intelligence-powered visual content management and marketing platform for travel brands, has closed a $9 million Series A funding round. Read More

News / Technology

EasyJet app finds destinations, flights from Instagram photos

By Mitra Sorrells | October 4, 2018

EasyJet has created a new visual search tool in its mobile app that allows users to find European destinations and flights from photos on Instagram. Read More

Interview / Online

In The Big Chair - Kris Naudts of Culture Trip

By Linda Fox | October 1, 2018

Kris Naudts has a background in academic psychiatry but left the field in 2011 to found Culture Trip, which began life as an online bookstore. Read More

News / Online

TripAdvisor plots social network, goes all-in on personalization

By Jill Menze | September 18, 2018

TripAdvisor is betting big on social media with the launch of “the new TripAdvisor” - a revamp of the platform that allows users to connect with fellow travelers as well as brands, publishers and... Read More

News / Technology

HYP3R happy as it raises $17M to expand geofencing tech

By Kevin May | September 17, 2018

A string of investors have handed HYP3R a $17 million war chest by way of a Series A investment in the company. Read More

News / Online

Google launches Touring Bird with 25,000 experiences in 20 cities

By Jill Menze | September 7, 2018

In April, PhocusWire uncovered details of Touring Bird, the hush-hush tours and activities app Google was developing inside its Area 120 incubator. Now Touring Bird has officially launched 25,000... Read More

Opinion / Online

The impact of influencer marketing on the booking journey

By Angharad Miller - Swayy | August 30, 2018

Let’s set the scene. Up until the digital revolution, traditional marketing and word-of-mouth were the only real ways to grow consumer awareness at a notable scale. Read More