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Inspiration, the new face of online travel planning?

June 24, 2008 | Online Travel

The online travel industry has the benefit of being one of the most mature verticals in the Web today, and because of that, any new entrant has to seriously consider their value proposition and how they fit into the Travel 2.0 space, and remain laser-focused on their core differentiator.

As the OTA’s and the meta travel/comparison engines have become so firmly entrenched, the only thing to do is build upon the experience and create added value around the basic layer of content you have. It’s no longer enough to just push rates and dates—publishers must blend together a variety of information, including maps, user reviews, editorial reviews, images, a community platform, sharing widgets and bookmarking tools for trip planning assistance, and direction on the booking process to top it all off.

In the last two months, two solid examples of startups launched public beta sites that can be best defined as a new hybrid model of travel inspiration and research, with an added layer of shopping and rate comparison to bring the consumer to the decision and booking point. The key element in both is focusing on a particular aspect of the travel planning cycle: inspiration.

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