Holiday Planning Business

[Karl619]

So I've just read the book and have been musing about a business I could work on that adds value and serves needs.

One idea that I have had is a holiday planning/ help business.

Unfortunately travel has become something of a stress recently or a lot of people ; where should I go? Where do I stay? Who do I fly with? What's the cheapest way to get from A to B ? Where do I eat, what do I do when I'm there? What do I need to know at the airport? What are the local customs? etc etc etc .....

People bemoan travel agents because of bad customer service , lack of flexibility etc...

Also if you are travelling outside of europe data on mobile phones can be expensive unless you can find Wifi.

My business will basically be a consulting service whereby customers can ask these questions and I will save a lot of the hassle of finding the answers. I know when I go on holiday or trips I spend AGES researching things like this. Surely other people do too? Surely there is an easier way whereby I can compile all this data for people and give it to them . People in the slowlane don't have time for this afterall

Other qualms people have about travel is disappointments with accomodation. I'm quite fussy about cleanliness etc... what if there was a community or network of people who would rent out there homes who share the same ideals eg a clean place to stay? It would be like air bnb but more specific.

Also I know a lot of business people who HAVE to book their business trips through travel agents despite the fact they can get it cheaper by buying their own flights online etc... what if I targeted this sector and make it easier for business people to travel?

Moreover, what if you had specific question once you arrived in Canada? You can't google the answer as the taxi has no wifi and data costs £3 a mb . What if you text me a question and I will get back to you speedily with the answer you need, saving you time, money and stress!

So what are your thoughts on this particular muse?

Please go easy on me as this is my first post and I am very new to this

 

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[Gsuz]

Cool idea! Similar to what GoButler (which got 7,3 millions in funding today) is doing

 

[Karl619]

Thank you , I appreciate it! I've heard of GoButler but I'm not really that aware of what they do. I'll have to check them out so thanks for that.

I mean there are some great successful websites out there already for travel such as air bnb, trip advisor ( which I love) and lots of compare flight cost websites. But based on what I can tell there isn't really much on the web where all the elements of a holiday or vacation are combined into one service....and I don't mean package holidays. I mean a tailored, personalised holiday plan with aftercare and service.

Also my service would be much much more personalised and friendly, it would be like having a virtual travel companion back home who is looking out for you and is ready for any questions you may have...

 

[Kevin Peter]

There are many. All we need is to search in the right way

 

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[Karl619]

There are holiday sites that use a GoButler style text service? whereby holiday go-ers can request services WHILST on holiday? I haven't come accross any yet.

And that's the thing.... people needn't have to search in the 'right way'. They should be able to send me a mesage something like " I would like a holiday for 2 adults and 2 children at a Spanish resort, I would like to know what the best waterparks are nearby and the prices of those as well as the best seafood restaurants in the area. I am also a fan of History so if you can get me a resort near a history museum and castle and let me know the opening times that would be great "Then I would come back promptly with all the anwers , a report and a shortlist of restaurants etc....At the moment travel agents just find the best flight and hotel..and even then do they really factor in the trip advisor reviews etc?

I know there are plenty of holiday booking sites but do they really go that far in ensuring a customer has a good holiday booked or are they merely booking tools eg add airport transfer, add hire a car.

 

[Karl619]

so now i'm researching domain names.........and it's scary, I wish I wasn't so indecisive

 

[Mass]

Hi Karl,

I work in the Travel Industry and I'm a top seller in my company, I'm afraid what you are planning on doing isn't new. We get asked all the time and I tend to send out links to all the local things in the area via TripAdvisor, Lonely Planet.

Also it might be worth noting that for this to work you would need to target the luxury market, the low end market in which people use skyscanner to compare flights, hotels.com to compare hotels I think you would really struggle. When I deal with Luxury Clients (my niche) I can mark up pretty much what I want with very little quibble (think 20%+ on £6k bookings) where as when I deal with general slowlaners there is always price as the main issue (its unusual to make more that 10% on bookings for as little as £500 per person).

In a nutshell my advise would be;
1. Make sure you carry out you research for this, it would be very very time consuming with little result
2. Only go for the Luxury Market - people who value time over money
3. Remember that what you are offering can be done for free and in all likelihood people (slowlaners) will rather search themselves for it they pay someone

Also, doesn't this plan violate the Time commandment?

Mass

P.S. If you have any questions feel free to fire my way, Im in the trenches during the day!

 

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[Karl619]

Hi Mass

Thank you SO much for your feedback, it's really appreciated! Especially from somebody who knows this sector...

I did have your concerns in the back of my mind to be honest; I am not really sure if anyone would pay me for it before I even try it but I guess thats what market research is for. If only I could find customers willing to pay for such a thing.

Funnily enough, only today I have discovered about luxury travel agents and advisors such as virtuoso.com and luxurytravelagents etc etc

I've done some keyword research and it appears that travel advisor ( 49500 searches a month) , trip planner (210,000 searches a month), road trip planner (49,500 searches) and travel planner (33,000 searches) are the main high volume searches. They are also rather low competion on google ad words too which shows to me there is a possible hungry market out there...but maybe already catered for like you say :S. I've read somewhere as well that luxury travel is one of the fastest growing industries right now, so that's encouraging.

What if I concentrate on road trips? or is that too slowlane still? Perhaps make a community website rather than a service?

My background is sales and my strengths are customer service and going above and beyond what my customers expect of me. I always like to go for the personal assitant approach.

I will take your advice on board for sure and :

1) do more research
2) think more about the luxury market
3) consider what I could do differently, or what my USP would be.. eg, the gobutler text base service

May I ask you a couple of questions as well please?

1) what would you say the main problem or need your clients have? Having worked in your industry for an amount of time are there any trends that you have noticed that maybe are not met? Or any gaps in the market?

2) I was thinking that this model could be possible outsourced or franchised and that was my ultimate exit strategy so I would not violate the time condition, could this work?

3) is there room for a small independent company offering an all in one service?

Again thanks for your response and I'm sorry if it seems like I'm fishing for INSIDERS answers but you sound like you know what you're talking about :embarrased:

 

[Mass]

Hi Mass

Thank you SO much for your feedback, it's really appreciated! Especially from somebody who knows this sector...

I did have your concerns in the back of my mind to be honest; I am not really sure if anyone would pay me for it before I even try it but I guess thats what market research is for. If only I could find customers willing to pay for such a thing.

Funnily enough, only today I have discovered about luxury travel agents and advisors such as virtuoso.com and luxurytravelagents etc etc

I've done some keyword research and it appears that travel advisor ( 49500 searches a month) , trip planner (210,000 searches a month), road trip planner (49,500 searches) and travel planner (33,000 searches) are the main high volume searches. They are also rather low competion on google ad words too which shows to me there is a possible hungry market out there...but maybe already catered for like you say :S. I've read somewhere as well that luxury travel is one of the fastest growing industries right now, so that's encouraging.

What if I concentrate on road trips? or is that too slowlane still? Perhaps make a community website rather than a service?

My background is sales and my strengths are customer service and going above and beyond what my customers expect of me. I always like to go for the personal assitant approach.

I will take your advice on board for sure and :

1) do more research
2) think more about the luxury market
3) consider what I could do differently, or what my USP would be.. eg, the gobutler text base service

May I ask you a couple of questions as well please?

1) what would you say the main problem or need your clients have? Having worked in your industry for an amount of time are there any trends that you have noticed that maybe are not met? Or any gaps in the market?

2) I was thinking that this model could be possible outsourced or franchised and that was my ultimate exit strategy so I would not violate the time condition, could this work?

3) is there room for a small independent company offering an all in one service?

Again thanks for your response and I'm sorry if it seems like I'm fishing for INSIDERS answers but you sound like you know what you're talking about :embarrased:

Hi Karl,

I think a good idea for you would be to read up on the difference's between Travel Agents and Tour Operators, that may provide you with some ideas. Regarding your questions here are some answers;

1. The main problem from a Agents side of things is getting hold of people, you would not believe the amount of people who contact you about a holiday and then will not answer the phone to you. Solve this problem and you've got yourself a million pound idea.

2. The problem you have with oursourcing is finding someone with strong communication skills. You know in Sales how vital that communications skills are with oursourcing you need to find people just as good if not better than you.

3. There is always room for a new company in the Travel Industry


Here are a few questions I have that might bring some ideas to you mind.

1. Try booking a table at a restaurant in Vietnam, just pick a restuarant and give them a call. Now factor in time difference, communication difficulty, international call rates and this should give you a little insight into your plans. Imgaine trying to reach 3 different continents in one day, how many hours will your office need to be open?

2. How do you plan on charging people for the service?

3. Type in the wildest holiday ideas you can come up with, Galapagos Islands Tours - someone specialises in it, multicentre Europe Holidays - Someone specialises in it, Dubai Holidays - Specialist's, Cruise's - Specialists.... Do you get the picture.

I entertained the idea of setting up a Luxury Travel Company but believe me it will take you a hell of a lot of time and effort and even then anything can happen to wipe you out, remember the Ash Cloud? I worked for a company that made over £1m profit when that happened and it nearly wiped them out.

What is your J.O.B? If you want to get a idea for what its like in Travel you should get a job in the industry, its tougher than you think.

I'm working on something at the moment and it is only because I have experience across a range of industries that I came up with idea. Keep plugging and thinking and something will come up