So web-based travel booking was supposed to put us in control? For many of us, particularly road warriors, or if we are booking simple itineraries and have a good idea what we want, it has. At the same time, when planning more complex trips the options still tend to be a travel agent, using Google documents and email, or a host of hopeful Apps that are trying make it easier to do it yourself.
If successfully raising money is a sign that there is a hunger for a technological solution to trip planning that goes beyond what is being used right now, Travefy is an example. In the last six months, the Nebraska-based start-up has raised $1.8 million in Series A and Strategic funding, according to its CEO and co-founder, David Chait. Tomorrow, Travel and Transport, with over $2 billion in sales, the 12th largest travel agency in the U.S., according to Travel Weekly, will announce a strategic investment in Travefy.
Group Travel: Travefy enables users to divide group expenses and manage payments, taking the... [+]
Travefy is specifically targeting groups. It was born from the founder’s frustrations planning a bachelor party while in college. Since putting a test version on the market at the beginning of 2014, Chait says it has been used for over 10,000 trips and there are over 100,000 people who have registered to use the App. While most parties are small, he has seen groups of over 100 use the service. In addition to typical travel planning tools, Travefy’s “secret sauce,” he says, is the ability to divide and manage payments from the group. The service identifies who owes money and allocates payments. On a trip where some people go to the spa, while others are going to play golf, the feature is very useful.
The company makes its money on commissions from suppliers you use via its platform, including Groupon, HomeAway and Expedia among others. Travefy also makes money when you use its payment tool, which Chait says equates to about one percent of the total transactions, so for a group spending $10,000, the cost would be about $100.
A full mobile native App is on its way, and Chait says the company has already overcome some criticism with better interfaces. "When you look at progress, it's not where we were last year, it's where we were last month," he says.
Other areas of growth will be white label versions for travel management companies, travel agencies and hotels companies. In the U.S. alone, the corporate meetings market is 1.8 million gatherings and almost 225 million participants annually.
