THE ANNUAL International Mediterranean Tourism Market, held in Tel Aviv in February, was the host of FuTurism 2015, a showcase for hopeful travel technology start-ups. Three technologies that serve three different sectors of the travel industry won recognition and cash prizes. FIRST PLACE: SHOPNFLY (WWW.SHOPNFLY.COM) Part of the travel experience is shopping – whether for souvenirs or to snag bargains in duty free shops. As duty free retailers are just now entering the digital arena, Tel Aviv-based shopnfly has developed a platform that enables travelers to browse and compare products sold in airports and on airlines around the world; find the best deals and order online before flying; and schedule a convenient pick-up location. “We believe we have created a winwin- win situation, benefiting the shopper, the travel industry and the retailer,” says shopnfly CEO and founder Guy Gaash. “When travelers do not know which of the items they want are available at which destinations along their journey, their shopping experience is inefficient. Our platform is designed to save passengers money, time and effort.” Users of the shopnfly website and mobile application are able to search all items along their travel route, including layovers, and instantly identify the best prices. Orders can be completed prior to flying, and purchases will be waiting for them in the terminal of their choice. The website also has a chat window linking to a “personal assistant.” Shopnfly has also begun extending its reach to include brick-and-mortar retailers. In London, the first city chosen for this foray, shoppers can order gifts and specialty items from traditional stores and have their purchases delivered to their hotels. SECOND PLACE: ROOMIXER (WWW.ROOMIXER.COM) The only downside for a vacation rental property owner who enjoys full occupancy is having to turn a customer away. Enter Roomixer, with a solution to monetize even the act of sending a potential client away. Roomixer, which operates so far in Israel, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Berlin, has developed a platform enabling vacation rental owners to refer customers they cannot accommodate to other properties and to earn commissions on every referral that results in a booking. “We can characterize a vacation rental property by its location, its amenities (like a whirlpool tub or a beautiful view) or the number of rooms, and match the referrals to the desires of the guests,” says Roomixer CEO Liran J. Rosenfeld. “At the same time, the owner can decide which rival properties they want to work with and send referrals to. “The advantage to the owner who makes the referral is not only earning the commission,” Rosenfeld adds. “The proprietors earn reputations as people who care about accommodating their customers. As we like to say, 'Courtesy counts.'” The company, which is changing its name to VacAgent, raised close to $500,000 from angel investors and is embarking on a second round of financing in order to expand into more cities in Europe and the Americas. THIRD PLACE: HAVENPOINT (WWW.HAVENPOINT.BIZ) The founders of HavenPoint will be the first to admit they are not the originators of the concept that is their core business: matching small companies with temporary office space and/or other facilities needed occasionally for meetings or events. They readily give credit to outfits like WeWork, which provides offices and labs on a monthly basis to creative communities in select cities in Europe and North America. But HavenPoint has come up with a twist that makes use of spaces going to waste and matches them with clients who pay discounted rates to have access to the temporary venues they sometimes need. “We locate places like bars or nightclubs that are empty during the day, or seasonal restaurants and businesses that are closed for part of the year, or underutilized offices, and make them available to fledgling or visiting companies as offices, meeting rooms or places for receptions,” says HavenPoint co-Founder Eyal Y. Dekel. “Clients can search our platform for the kind of place they want by location, facilities and amenities (like free WiFi) and price.” HavenPoint, which is targeting the $5 billion-a-year co-working space market, will start operating in Israel, San Francisco, New York and several more cities this year. THERE WAS a total of 42 start-ups who presented their technologies at the conference. Among them, these were especially notable: BOOKINGDIRECTION (WWW.BOOKINGDIRECTION.COM) The founders of BookingDirection have good news and bad news for hoteliers. The bad news is that 76 percent of online bookings are made on OTA (Online Travel Agent) websites, such as Booking.com, Hotels.com and Expedia. The good news is that 52 percent of shoppers will visit a hotel's website to check it out after seeing its listing on an OTA. More bad news is that most shoppers will then go back to the OTA to book their hotel room, laboring under the illusion that the OTA always has the best prices. The latest good news is that the start-up BookingDirection has developed a technology that works on hotels' websites and increases direct bookings. Direct bookings save hotels money in two important ways: First, by keeping potential guests from going back to the OTA, the hotel eliminates the possibility that the shopper will switch to a different hotel promoted by the OTA and, secondly, hotels do not need to pay commissions to the OTA on direct bookings. Currently, BookingDirection is operating only in a closed beta development phase: hoteliers may register on the website, and BookingDirection will notify them when it opens the beta. TRAVELOO (WWW.TRAVELOO.COM) A couple of young, enthusiastic backpackers returned from Nepal to Israel to work on their brainchild – a platform that empowers backpackers to share their recently acquired knowledge from the road with other fellow travelers and receive similar tips in return. The technology saves and stores these dynamic reservoirs of knowledge in individual “tip books” that are automatically updated when new information is uploaded. Traveloo has also developed a search engine, called “Discover”, designed to inform and inspire backpackers on their journeys. Old tips can be reviewed and new ones posted even offline, when no Internet connection is available. The Traveloo application, which is in open beta and can be downloaded to devices running on iOS, facilitates interaction between backpackers and their social circles, including friends and families back home. The next step, according to the company's founders, is to develop a system for translating “emotions into actions.” “We want to encourage backpackers to share not only facts, but also their feelings,” says Or Shvarts, co-founder of Traveloo. “In this way, parents, grandparents and close friends, wherever they are, can feel that they are sharing in the experience. “Moreover, there will be an icon on the page labeled Treat – anyone clicking on it will be able to send the backpacker something special, appropriate to his or her latest post. For example, mom or dad might read that their son wrote, 'I'm dying for a hot shower.' They click on Treat, and the gift of a night in a decent hotel is on the way.” ■
