Big Investors Are Helping Trippy Go the Distance Backed by author Tim Ferriss, singer Jason Mraz and Randi Zuckerberg, Trippy lets you tap the wisdom of your social network for in-the-know recommendations.
By Gwen Moran Edited by Frances Dodds
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
J.R. Johnson was waiting out a three-year noncompete agreement after he sold his travel website, VirtualTourist, to Expedia in 2008. He couldn't build a new business in the travel sector, but that didn't stop him from watching the evolution of user-generated travel sites like a kid with his nose pressed to a candy shop window.
When the noncompete expired in the summer of 2011, the online travel sector had been dogged with reports of fraudulent reviews on large, user-generated sites. Johnson examined his own travel preferences and realized that he relied on his friends' recommendations more than those from websites or guidebooks. Social media made sharing those recommendations easier than ever. Trippy was born.
On Trippy, web-based and mobile applications allow users to prompt Facebook friends to weigh in with recommendations for lodging, restaurants and attractions. Your friends know you best, Johnson reasons, so they're less likely to refer a vegetarian to a lavish steakhouse. Once an itinerary is planned, users can book their trips through the site, which gets a cut of the bookings. Itineraries can be copied so other friends can use them. The interface also allows users to easily upload photos--a nice way to share the trip with those who helped plan it.
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