Articles tagged “startups”

Dorms for grown-ups. No-questions-asked travel insurance. Basecamp for "team travel." FareHarbor for ferries. Games for destinations. And more ...

Despite the crisis, travel startups continue to raise funds. SevenRooms, a guest experience platform for restaurants and hotels, was one highlight this week.

Sonder is now the second unicorn in the short-term rental and hotel sector after Airbnb. At this rate, Sonder will IPO before Airbnb.

The latest batch of travel startups to raise funding has focused on themes of corporate travel, integrating mobility services like airport transfers into travel apps, giving hotels guest engagement tools, aggregating destination experiences, and providing technology for managing short-term rentals.

Travel startups funded this week include a data exchange platform, a direct booking solution for hotels, an intercity bus service, a listing service for recreational vehicles, a service for virtual experiences, and a ticketing tool for activities operators.

Forget animatronic robots. But software that replaces repetitive tasks that white-collar workers do in back-offices, tracking devices that can alert when hand sanitizers are empty, and mobility scooters that drive themselves are some of the examples of automation that may be worthwhile.

The coronavirus pandemic made some travel companies seem like dominoes stacked too closely together. But private equity will help some businesses like Vacasa escape this crisis without toppling over.

The great outdoors is appealing to many people who have been cooped up under stay-at-home restrictions. It's no wonder that several booking services for camping and related services are reporting growth.

Travel startups that have raised fresh funding include GreenCloud, a hotel software firm, Bobobox, a pod hotel brand, React Mobile, a maker of panic buttons, and Cabana, a luxe camper-van firm.

Uplift and Affirm have seen gains from installment payments for travel purchases in the U.S., and the London-based startup Fly Now Pay Later wants to apply the model in Europe. The concept could help cash-strapped people resume trips.