This is a roundup of product news and announcements for travel STARTUPS in tourism and hospitality for March 2014.
Mondcay 31 March 2014:
TripScanner and Hickory Global Partners partner for managed travel technology services
- Hickory, a global corporate travel services agency group, will use TripScanner's technology to track and control unmanaged business travel bookings. The deal is the first major agency to group to sign up to the startup's platform (TLabs here)
Thursday 13 March 2014:Hipmunk Anywhere is a new feature from Hipmunk
- The feature allows users to save desktop searches for later access on mobile. Travel searches can be also be picked up on desktop after being started on mobile, making the flow more seamless than Expedia's Scratchpad.
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Friday 7 March 2014:
Airport car sharing service FlightCar is offering cash payouts to car owners
- The program is called FlightCar Monthly and guarantees $300 and free parking to any customer that leaves their car in the FlightCar lot for at least 30 days. The company will then rent out the car to qualified renters. The program aims to increase available inventory while also on-boarding new customers on both the owner and renter sides of the market.
Tuesday 4 March 2014:DashBell raises and hires
- The booking and reservation system for independent lodges has secured an additional $225,000 in investment from previous backers David Cohen, Undercurrent Ventures, Walt Winshall, Bob Mason and TechStars Boston. The total put into the company from this group is $928,000. The startup has also hired Scott Kahan as vice president for marketing and sales, joining from FlightView. Dashbell has also been accepted into the PayPal incubator, Start Tank.
Monday 3 March 2014:9flats becomes profitable
- Founded in 2011, 9flats, theEurope-based private housing reservation service has turned profitable. Roman Bach is the new CEO of the company, and Stephen Uhrenbacher will be the chairman of the advisory board. In 2012, 9flats acquired Canada-based private rental marketplace iStopOver. Bach says "This segment is the fastest growing business model in online travel. Achieving profitability is an important step for our further growth. Yet the next years are not only about profits, but also about continued growth."
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NB2: Travel startups image via Shutterstock.