It’s interesting watching how startups evolve – San Francisco-based Zozi started out in 2009 as Ekoventure, an intermediary in multi-day tours and activities.
About Alex Bainbridge
Alex writes about travel technology, travel startups, specialist tour operators and the tours & activities sector. He has previously led ecommerce, social media and reservation system projects for airlines, leading mainstream tour operators and hotel distribution companies in both leisure and business travel sectors.
He is the CEO of TourCMS, a web based software-as-a-service reservation system and distribution platform used by many specialist tour operators worldwide to take online bookings and distribute to 3rd parties.
He also moderates Small Fish Big Ocean, a community that welcomes small tour operators and niche travel agents to come and discuss travel ecommerce issues. Alex has a computing degree, is passionate about usability, speaks French and still writes and reviews code.
Zozi turns to celebrities to run travel experiences [NOT Charlie Sheen]
January 25, 2012 By 5 Comments
Two tourism industry problems that travel bloggers can solve
January 11, 2012 By 23 Comments
The profession of travel blogging is apparently on the rise (defined as those who find employment through writing travel blogs).
Travel startups should go big or go home – oh really?
December 13, 2011 By 16 Comments
Despite every startup claiming to be approaching a problem in a different way, you can actually divide them into four categories.
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Google quietly introduces social travel service Schemer
December 12, 2011 By 14 Comments
There are a number of pieces missing from the Google travel jigsaw. So far its focus has been on data-driven services – Maps, Flight Search, Hotel Finder, Places and the ubiquitous click-based advertising.
Should Thomas Cook launch a restaurant?
November 23, 2011 By 2 Comments
With the newspapers full of travel shop closures and general high street woes, perhaps it’s time to borrow from another sector.
Ultimate guide and analysis to tour guide marketplaces on the web
September 1, 2011 By 32 Comments
Since the turn of the millennium the industry has been focused on flights, hotels, car hire. Flights, hotels, car hire. Worth repeating so you remember how dull it is.
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Trave.ly enters the tour and activity guide marketplace
August 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
TLabs Showcase on travel startups featuring China-based Trave.ly, a marketplace that connects travellers with local and expat guides offering tours, activities and experiences.
Why travel startups always seem to suffer from the same problems
August 10, 2011 By 35 Comments
I love reviewing the Tnooz TLabs Showcase submissions and, perhaps rather morbidly, the subsequent 12-month follow-up TLabs Reprise, where we discover what went wrong (or right).
Ten critical questions for person-to-person business models in travel
August 1, 2011 By 13 Comments
Extraordinary amount of intense debate recently regarding issues around person-2-person (P2P) business models for tours and accommodation.
How a UK startup fixed the Airbnb calendar availability problem without being asked
July 29, 2011 By 9 Comments
One common theme when technical discussions turn to Person-to-Person (P2P) marketplaces is the concept of availability control.
