NileGuide aims to own trip itinerary business
Online travel sites are an increasingly crowded space, so much so that it can be difficult to differentiate between them. NileGuide is attempting to offer something different, a full-service travel site that exists online. The site will help you plan a trip from start to finish. The mission is to own the trip itinerary business.
NileGuide saw the first wave of travel sites as useful simply for booking. The second wave, was good for limited user-generated content. Now comes the time for a third wave.
NileGuide will offer a site that has experts in multiple locations around the world who can give you information that is accurate and relevant. The company has 75-80 experts from all around the world, about half are in the United States, and half in the rest of the world.
“NileGuide is like having your own travel agent, tour guide, and concierge wrapped into one,” NileGuide co-founder and chief executive, Josh Steinitz says.
The site uses a hybrid model for offering recommendations for users. Ninety percent is done by software calculations; the other 10 percent is pulled in from the site’s own editorial content and the local experts. This insures that results will be served up quickly.
On top of the experts, NileGuide will pull in information from sources such as CitySearch, Expedia, OpenTable, and TripAdvisor. From here, users can build a comprehensive, personalized travel guide, “with the serendipity that makes travel special”, Steinitz tells us.
Other players in the online travel space include Kayak and the larger sites Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Hotwire.
The San Francisco-based NileGuide was founded in 2006. Its initial angel investors included Draper Richards and KPG Ventures.
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About the Author, MG Siegler
MG Siegler writes about technology trends and new media for VentureBeat, with a focus on mobile topics, social elements and key news stories. Before that, MG wrote about technology on his blog, ParisLemon. Originally from Ohio, MG attended the University of Michigan where he studied film. He's previously lived in Los Angeles where he worked in Hollywood and in San Diego where he did web development. He now lives in San Francisco.
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