A new travel tech firm is launching as the industry is seeing a rise in activity.
Many hope that the roll-out of vaccines will mean they will be able to go on holiday next year, and Cardiff-based entrepreneur Gary Piazzon has started a website and app that aims to help people book their ideal hotel.
Personalised travel companion, Porter recommends the users with their best matched hotels rather than serving you an overwhelming list of results to navigate and filter through. Think online dating, but for holidays, Mr Piazzon says.
After asking some questions on sign up, Porter gets to know the user better. It learns about what you find most important and will then match you with a shortlist of the best hotel options.
"Why see the results you’re not interested in?" says Mr Piazzon.
It was a nightmare, timely and stressful booking experience that saw Gary come up with the idea of Porter.
"I visited one of the large online travel agents and entered my search criteria and was hit with a pretty intimidating over 2,000 results,” he says.
"I wrongly assumed the hotels near the top of the list would be a great match for me. Actually, they were nowhere near where I wanted to stay and only appeared higher up as they were clearly paying a higher rate of commission.”
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Mr Piazzon says that with many holidaymakers suffering ‘shoppers’ anxiety due to the overwhelming amount of choice, Porter wants to "reinvigorate the fun and excitement of going away – making the booking part less of a chore".
The digital travel companion is designed to make booking a hotel simple and fun by learning about the elements that matter to you so it can assess the thousands of potential property options to help recommend the right places to stay.
"We know different things are important to different people when booking — and finding exactly what you’re looking for can all too often be like walking through a minefield." says Gary.
"After the last year especially, we know people will be keen to get away once it’s safe and they’re able to do so. We want to help by making that as straightforward as possible."
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The Porter team has built the platform from the ground up during the coronavirus pandemic. It comes following a successful pre-seed funding round, made up of a small group of angel investors, of £100,000 in November 2020.
Access to Porter will be rolled out during Q1 2021. However, those keen to find out more can join the waitlist for early access to the beta site.
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Mr Piazzon added: "Getting to this stage is a big milestone as we work hard towards launching a new breed of online travel agent.
"A travel agent that focuses on delivering a fun, straightforward and personalised experience."