Techcrunch's Jason Kincaid reported today that Seattle-based TripHub has reached its final destination - the Deadpool. As a group oriented travel site, TripHub provided travellers with a way to compile and centralize information for group trips. Kincaid notes that TripHub's farewell blog post blames the company's grounding on a lack of funding and potentially a failed acquisition offer.
Certainly we made mistakes, and unfortunately we were impacted by factors beyond our control including the current economic environment and state of the travel industry. We came close to realizing a different outcome for our venture but, as the saying goes, close doesn’t count. At the end of the day, despite a well-received, market-leading product and early success with strategic partners such as Orbitz and Alaska Airlines, we simply ran out of money to continue executing on our vision.
I guess Expedia, Inc. can't buy everyone.
We launched http://travelmob.com/ the day before TripHub’s announcement. TravelMob will have the same core functionality, which is to give people a trip homepage, and manage RSVPs.
Here’s why we feel TravelMob will make it where TripHub didn’t.
-Integrated search and booking of air, hotel, car, and tours. We’ve baked this into the core of the site. Anytime you book a hotel, flight, or car through us, it goes into your trip’s itinerary. If a friend on the trip want’s to book the same flight or stay at the same hotel, there’s a “Fly with Me” or “Book Here” button next to your itinerary.
- Improved UI. We’ve really focused on making it easier to organize your slacker friends for a vacation. 100s of hours of real world testing on our slacker friends have paid off!
- Newsfeed. We’ve got a Facebook style newsfeed which keeps you updated on what people have booked, RSVPs, picture uploads, etc.
- Facebook/Open Social integration. In the coming months, we’ll be extending TravelMob to the FaceBook and Open Social platforms. You’ll be able to create a trip, invite friends, RSVP, from our site or your favorite social network.
- We walk the walk. Half of our team will be on the road taking an around the world trip starting in October. They’ll be using the site to plan, and will be blogging from the road.
You can see screenshots here http://www.slideshare.net/travelmob/travelmobcom-screenshots-presentation/
Let me know what you think of the site, adam@travelmob.com
