> Wong and her five-person team often jumped in to directly ask customers what they were looking for, then went out and organized trips themselves.
So they've basically re-invented what a travel agent used to do, over the internet?
So they've basically re-invented what a travel agent used to do, over the internet?
Anyway, this is one of those things that works much much better on the internet. In the bad old days, a travel agent was the only option for booking flights and trips. Now that you can do it all over the internet, I doubt there's a market to support that many travel agents: the occasional honeymooners and niche travelers.
But the internet is great at turning niche ideas into massive businesses. If there are only thousands of people in your city who need this per year, you'd barely support a travel agency. But if there are thousands in your city, and also in every other city, that's a billion dollar business.
Regarding travel agents: when I booked my honeymoon, my travel agent was able to get me a better price than an hour on the internet. Not only that, but she was even able to personally recommend hotels and activities.
As an aside, I'm guessing you flew internationally for your honeymoon? International pricing is done totally differently from domestic, which is why typical travel websites like Expedia can't find the best price.
My point about travel agents is that honeymoons are niche. You'll hopefully have one, ever.
The internet is a medium. Just as any medium used to deliver and communicate to users, you have to utilize it correctly.
Those don't even sound snarky, in my opinion. Those both seem like valuable services.
Yeah, they are the first people to help out and organize trips for their customers, but I can see this eventually becomes a marketplace for other travel agents to use.
The big challenge is sort of touched on in the article. At the end of the day, most of the agent's money needs to come from hotel etc. commissions. It's hard to charge people a lot for planning a trip--at least to the degree that it's exposed as a discrete line item.
Both Conde Nast Traveler and Travel+Leisure Magazine publish A-List or "Gold List" travel agents who specialize in a certain region... These are not the guys that work in your local shopping centre or mall.
This definitely scales better than a local travel guide office. I am not convinced that alone will sustain growth though. There will be a lot of issues once they grow past a certain size: quality control for one, fraud, customer experience, etc.