Social travel and trip planning provider Traxo thinks it has come up with an automated way to verify the authenticity of reviews of hotels and flights—and soon for reviews of cruises and rental cars, too.
Users forward their confirmation e-mails to Traxo, or else punch in their frequent flyer, hotel and loyalty program numbers.
Then, after a customer's trip is over, the startup sends an invitation for the traveler to write a review. Only vetted users can have their reviews published online.
Suddenly it's clear why the Dallas-based startup acquired the assets of frequent flier mileage management service GoMiles last September. The integration has made this review-verification functionality possible.
Traxo has data feeds from more than 190 different travel websites and accepts travel confirmation emails from over 1,300 travel providers. So it can verify that travel truly took place.
In constrast, USA Today's rival verification product HotelMe only works with a handful of participating hotels. and only for reservations booked on the hotels' sites.
A user must register on Traxo and post their review of their flight or hotel through Traxo. See examples at traxo.com/reviews.
Driving users into Traxo now becomes job one. Partnerships with other companies may help.
Traxo is pursuing a series A round to add to its staff of ten and build its mobile apps.
A couple of weeks ago, Traxo was accepted into the California-based Bay Area Entrepreneurs (BAE) workshop, a fundraising programme that includes coaching and networking.
It won the Vator Splash NY pitch competition in December 2012.