VIDEOS: TravelTech Show 2021 winners - Tour Amigo, Grapevine and Koderly

Three awards were given at this year's TravelTech Show 2021 to startups and innovators in travel, tourism and hospitality.

The overall Trailblazer Award was won by TourAmigo and the People's Choice Awards were won by Grapevine in the trailblazer section and Koderly from the line-up of exhibitors.

Below are their respective product pitches and details, including commentary about their pandemic strategies and looking ahead to 2022.

Tour Amigo

What have been the biggest challenges with navigating the last 18 months?

The good thing about a young startup with a new focus on B2B, is the fact we did not have to protect our revenue or bottom line. We were able to take the pandemic with all its challenges and adapt and start to some extent our business in the direction the industry needs post pandemic and provide a model that will also service the customers of the future.

The past 18 months has been a transitional time with rapid progress for Tour Amigo. We adapted quickly and redirected our resources into our Software-as-a-service (SaaS) booking and reservation system, continually revised our product and commercial strategy.

Due to new customers from different types of travel/tour companies as well as DMCs (originally not our target market), we've also adapted our product features and commercial strategies to focus on the needs of these new customers with different tour products and business models.
 
As an Australian-based company, we’ve had the challenge of waiting significantly longer than the rest of the world to re-engage in travel and tourism. Scaling internationally and escaping to Europe has been challenging to say the least, however, a necessary step and strategically sound to keep progressing Tour Amigo’s growth.

We are fortunate to have continually grown our customers, tour supplier, distribution partners and team during the past 18 months and are taking on the challenge of international expansion at an earlier stage than anticipated. That said,  it has been challenging for partnership negotiations and maintaining relationships with key contacts. As there are few bookings and tours being operated, it has been challenging conversations as they have been more around the future, vision and when the recovery will commence.

What will be the biggest challenges over the next 18 months?

COVID has highlighted to our partners, both tour Operators and distribution partners that they need to diversify their revenue channels. This has resulted in a surge of enquiries and new tour operators and even distribution partners seeking new revenue streams and will require rapid growth of our team in development, support, product and business development. 

The second aspect Covid has highlighted to partners is the necessity to save costs and time, be that through improved systems and better automation. The commercial launch of our new SaaS booking and reservation system, due for release in the coming months, will have a major impact on tour operators business and it is incredibly exciting and challenging for Tour Amigo.

Tour Amigo is also exploring options in the USA for our first major raise and we believe that there is a strong appetite for investment in B2B SaaS travel technology. These conversations are becoming more interesting as we near the end of restrictive travel. 

The next eighteen months will be a crucial time for us and will be all about market share and new markets. We need to scale fast, but I am confident in our flexible and capable team and their ability to tackle issues as they present themselves. 

Lessons learned? 

COVID has highlighted to our industry that change and innovation is necessary and that travel businesses can not keep conducting business in the same way as before and expect the same results or growth. And we believe this is a good thing. 

When I first started Tour Amigo, I never imagined we’d become a technology company, but here we are, winners of the TravelTech Show’s Trailblazer Awards. This has taught me the value of being prepared for change and allowing yourself to be flexible to unanticipated change. As an example, business plans, strategies, direction and projections are fluid and constantly evolving. 

We’ve had to be adaptable in our market approach, prioritising the overseas market instead of the Australian, diversifying our commercial model and sales approaches to new customers/partners and new markets. 

It is essential to be constantly educating oneself, continually seeking better ways, open to alternate ideas and surround yourself with a team of people that are far smarter and experienced. 

Lastly, one of the hardest lessons I had to learn on this entrepreneurial journey is you can’t talk about your entrepreneur difficulties with family and friends.

How different will your market be now compared to 2019?

The market has changed significantly since 2019. The majority (88%) of multi-day tour operators have been reliant on selling their tours through traditional bricks-and-mortar travel agencies. For the last 30 years, they haven’t needed an alternative option as travel was regular and consistent and multi-day tours were generally not bookable online.

However, covid-19 has pushed more travelers to book through online travel agencies (OTA’s) as traditional stores have been forced to close. Granted I believe there will still be a great need for travel agents that will adopt their models perhaps more of a hybrid approach of online, offline and expert personalisation.

This has resulted in tour operators recognising the need to update their technology, live connectivity and new distribution, and it will be a drastically different landscape as we digitalise the last tourism vertical of multi-day tours. 

As our world moves in a digital direction, this pandemic has helped speed up the process within the tourism industry. Operators are now understanding the importance, and value, of utilising technology and digital services. On top of this, we are starting to see new and innovative replacements seeking out the technology that we provide.

And how are you adapting to that?

In terms of adapting, our software and distribution technology has been built specifically for this changing market. As demand for this type of technology has increased, we’ve found that running a beta program for our SaaS approach is the quickest way to learn and adapt to the needs of customers, and we’re now focused on ensuring the onboarding process is easy for both our customers and our team.

Conducting a full beta program prior to our Saas system commercial release was also an adaptation to the crisis and one that has changed our fundamental thinking. Rather than waiting for sales growth to prove that you have a good tool, we believe that building a tool together with partners is the way of the future - they know better than anyone what their business requires. And we are here to turn their challenges into opportunities.

Grapevine

What have been the biggest challenges with navigating the last 18 months?

There has been no shortage of challenges! We have been lucky compared to many as we started the pandemic with a lean team and were able to use the time wisely to get feedback from existing and new clients, then get our heads down and build out a product that the market was telling us they wanted.

Market confidence has also seen highs and lows, so we've tried to adopt more of a consultative, relationship-building approach with prospects, rather than pushing our product too hard. I think this is now starting to pay dividends.

What will the biggest challenges over the next 18 months?

The travel industry is very set in its ways, so building market awareness around the revenues being left on the table will be a key focus for us.

Getting TMCs to prioritize increasing revenue per trip and increasing margins alongside onboarding new customers will be a core challenge that we're excited about. The two actually go hand in hand.

On the corporate side, trying to balance corporates' focus on cost savings with the benefits of investing in consumer-grade retailing for employees and personalisation, will hopefully create win-wins in terms of in-policy bookings and duty of care compliance. 

Lessons learned?

That travel is tough! Every stone you turn identifies more challenges. We have learnt that you need to be patient but maintain innovation and focus and eventually you will get there.

I have become increasingly convinced that the future of travel is API microservices driven, so we're excited to work with TMCs, corporates and technology partners who believe in this vision.

Koderly

What have been the biggest challenges with navigating the last 18 months?

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed travel consumer expectations concerning automation and self-service. Overnight, restrictions forced all travel businesses to make significant changes to working practices whilst managing risk, uncertainty, and unprecedented demand.

As a B2B software and services company, we helped our customers to implement new application features into our travel reservation platform, Extrali, allowing customers to move, cancel, and refund bookings on a scale never required before. Furthermore, we needed to develop, test, and deploy these enhancements in very tight timescales to meet the changing needs of consumers and regulators.

Over the past 20+ years’, we’ve been primarily office-based, helping us to focus on collaboration, mentoring, and training. Although we had the systems and infrastructure in place to allow us to switch to fully remote working overnight, this represented a significant culture shift for the company. We carefully managed the rapid transition to remote working and implemented clear and transparent communication channels for our colleagues.

More recently, we needed to manage the transition back to the office, implementing a hybrid working model and supporting our colleagues’ diverse needs when returning to work. We also needed to implement and iterate new policies and procedures that meet the changing needs of our employees and the company.

Fundamentally, as a B2B technology supplier, our current and future challenges remain to focus on growth by expanding our network and diversifying into new markets whilst supporting our existing customers. We also must continue to drive innovation and new product development, including our new SaaS test management platform, Qucate.

What will the biggest challenges over the next 18 months?

Over the next 18-months, we’ll need to find the balance between serving the bespoke needs of our existing customers, with an increased focus on automation, self-service, and contactless customer interactions, and continuing to drive innovation in our technology platforms. The tech industry is constantly evolving, and as such, we need to ensure that we adapt and continue to support our customers.

We need to continue to drive efficiency in our business, ensuring that we adapt to the changing needs of our colleagues and support our new and existing customers.

We will continue to strengthen our culture, increasing autonomy and accountability and further empowering our colleagues by continuing to promote our values of trustworthiness, work ethic, ambition, and morals. 

Shortly, we’ll be launching our new B2B test management platform, Qucate. This is new ground for us, and we’ll need to adapt as a company as we diversify into a new market, drive product innovation, and expand our service offering to our existing customers. Qucate will be ready to be trialled in Beta in December, and we’re excited for the launch in 2022.

Lessons learned?

During unprecedented and challenging times, businesses must continue to support their communities and treat colleagues and customers how they would expect to be treated themselves. More so than ever, we’re committed to maintaining a positive culture and ensuring that we don’t compromise our core values, which continue to underpin our relationships with our community and customers.

We’ve also learnt that significant changes can occur overnight, and to remain relevant companies must continue to innovate and build for the future by investing in training and development. We’ve taken some time to reflect and refocus, and we’re excited to see where the future takes us.