Volume I | Issue no. 1
One, Two, Three, DreamTravelMuse has done what no site I've found can do: they’ve reduced my search for inspiration down to three simple steps. How cool is that?
I excitedly fill in the blanks. Itinerary We live outside of Troy, New York, so if we fly, we’ll leave from Albany. There are four of us. We’d like to go for four days, mid-week, the last week of October. We want to stay in four star accommodations or better. And since we don’t get away nearly enough, we’re willing to spend some money: we’ve budgeted $2,000 per person.
What a letdown. Instead of the vivid imagery and engaging stories I was searching for, I’ve again been served up lackluster thumbnail photos alongside low-price offers. This looks like pretty much any Travel 1.0 site out there. Instead of finding inspiration, I’m looking at tiny pictures of a fountain in D.C., a shopping district in Quebec, a field of tulips in Ottawa, and the inside of a cathedral in Montreal. Right below the tiny photos that have little to do with Historical Vacations, Art and Museums and Outdoor Adventures: suggested packages that have no relationship to the budget I set. I was willing to spend upwards of two thousand dollars per person, and TravelMuse left over four thousand dollars on the table. This is neither helpful to the travel planning consumer, nor is it good business for travel destinations. | ||
I think the challenge becomes if these aggregates/distribution sites actually pull in hte $2,000 trips. It is much easier (as I am sure you know) to pull in partners with trips/offerings less than $1,200 as you will likely book these on-line, or more likely than a $2,000+ trip. Most of the 3000+ folks I've taken on trips over the years want to speak directly with the provider prior to booking in this price range.
Thanks for the great info on your site!
warmly,
Kathy Dragon
You are right about the let down in the TravelMuse experience. It clearly exposes today's limits of technology when it comes to providing solutions that start with the research and planning phases of the travel process. Sooner or later every site taking that correct approach ends up in the same dead end of having to provide a limited selection. I'm sure the TravelMuse folks and others like Tripbase are trying very hard to improve their technology to make the steps following the inspiration based search a better one.
Your example shows how much tougher it is to realize that than to sell a simple commodity airline seat as Southwest can do it based on being known as the lowest price provider by just about anyone in America. They can do that with relatively simple technology that has been around for decades. Same is true for JetBlue.
Component sales are easy by now, complex trips starting at the point of inspiration remain a very big challenge. Someone will come up with a solution, when it happens remains to be seen. I for one, welcome the efforts of the travel 2.0 trip planning sites. At least they make an effort to do more than just push the latest lowest price deal leading the industry to a dead end.
I'd sugget going back to the NY Times for inspiration stories and ads, on and off line
It's 'ad infinitum', not 'on infinitum'...
I couldn't agree more with the basic premise -- price is the refuge of the ignorant seller and buyer, so we're seeing a lot of ignorance displayed in the marketplace. It takes courage and strategic vision to stay away from the price conversation, and to tell a compelling story that inspires destination travel.
Thanks for the catch, Rich. In these days of social media, we try to avoid using the word "ad" wherever we can. Sometimes, we avoid it too much.