Travel companies, like businesses in any other industry today, are facing a crucial test – innovate or die. One could argue that has always been the case in any competitive market, but there is competition and then there is transformation.
While the first half of this decade was somewhat of a gold-rush to set up mass booking platforms and everyone wanted to be the next Kayak or Expedia, something that got easily overlooked was the customer – yes, you. There was so much emphasis on providing the most number of options and pushing as much transaction volume as possible, that businesses in this space didn?t focus on the number one thing that mattered – yes, you again.
That isn?t to say that there are no companies trying to disrupt travel and make you, the customer, the center of the story. One such startup recently caught our eye – Symphony. A travel concierge app based out of Barcelona, which is approaching the mass-offerings personality-less travel problem from a new angle. After signing in to the app, you?re shown a series of images across a range of categories – and your response to these images – simple four-way swipe gestures, help the app learn about your personality. Once you?ve swiped through a few images, the app starts recommending relevant tips to you. So if you swiped ?like? on a picture of a cheese platter, the app recommends you try out their curated list of restaurants that specialise in and are known for their cheese select...