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Matt, very interesting, enlightening & refreshing. It made me look at my 25 years in the travel biz in a new light. I see a lot of parallels between how you set up, ran & sold CollegeSkiTrips.com and how iTravelInsured operates. It’s good to know we are doing things the right way and our success proves it. Your ideas regarding packaging & partnering are great food for thought.
Will, hi, glad you enjoyed the report. Thanks for your comments.
Matt, very cool report! Thanks a bunch. I am looking at starting my own travel company in California this Spring. This will help me get started…..
Interesting, gave me some insight and some things to think about, but doesn’t quite fit the online model I’m working on. I’d be interested to learn your opinion in that model, though it appears you may not have experience in it.
One suggestion: get a proofreader. No offense, but your document is rife with errors throughout. You’ve got problems with your possessives (“it’s versus “its,” “your” versus “you’re,” etc.), plurals, punctuation, commas, homonyms (“no” versus “know,” “too” versus “to,” etc.), other word usage, modifier-noun combinations, capitalization, and much more. This is more than just my being picky — a second read is often required to understand a particular sentence or paragraph.
Hi, Michael, post your online travel business model idea here and I will reply back to you about what I think.
Regarding my spelling, yeah I know. I am hiring an editor for all my future reports. Spelling and grammar are a weakness and I realize it will bother some people but in the end it is about my ideas and concepts that matter the most. So thanks for pointing this out.
I agree — your ideas are more important than your self-editing skills. Hemingway couldn’t spell. That’s why editors are always valuable, even for the best writers.
At any rate, I’d rather not post my model publicly. Can you give me an email address I can send to? Thanks.
Michael, email me at mdz@mattzito.com
Thanks,
Matt
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.
Your PPD will give a travel business starter a good strategy tips, but a detailed business plan and marketing plan required for any successful business.
I liked it, read 2 times:)
Roin, hi, glad you enjoyed the report. There are some really core business building strategies in there. I hope you picked them up. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more, feel free to leave a post here.
Thanks,
Matt
Very interesting report. I am in the market where travel industry is not online yet and their is a huge gap to capitalize on. I have been thinking of starting online travel business for quite some time now. This report has provided me foundation of useful ideas on which I can build upon. Thanks for sharing the report.
Ahsan, hi, thanks for your comments. Where are you?
I am from Pakistan
Matt,
I enjoyed reading your report and the succinct way in which you analyse the business.
My on-line incoming agency (and Tour operator) was founded on much the same principles as those you mention … except that I am not in the US, but in France, where business-unfriendly government and lots of red tape make life much more difficult.
However, we have magaged to build up quite a niche business with ski trips at the core (local resorts – like you said) as well as white water trips, wine-tasting, golfing and other operations where the big boys are absent.
My question – and the answer was not in your report – is how do I find a buyer for my company? It’s now 7 yeras old, turning over nicely … but my clients are all in the US, UK and Australia. Who do I sell the company to?
Simon, hi, are you a receptive operator?
When you say your clients are in the US, UK, and Australia are these retail individuals or are your clients tour ops? B2B
Matt
Matt,
Thanks for all the useful information in your report. You gave me several things to think about and to work on regarding our small niche business. Also good to know that we are implementing some of your ideas. If you have a newsletter feel free to add me to your list.
Matt, I look forward to implementing some of your SECRETS to the online travel business in my endeavors. It’s not often someone reveals such valuable information right from the start, which leaves me hungry for more.
Hi Matt,
Excellent! Many, many thanks. Even though I have taken some of the steps you articulated, there was still plenty of food for thought. The marketing aspect now is the toughest hurdle.
Much continued success to you!
Walt, hi, thanks for your comment. I’ll be in touch shortly via email. I have a few new cool projects coming that you may be interested in.
Thanks,
Matt
Hey Matt, great insight and thanks. I have been researching possible tour operator structure on the net (not much there) and this has clarified my envisioned structure of owning my product;
i.e. guided tours (vehicle (city & rural) / activity (surf/mountain biking) + transport + accommodation. I would now apply 80/20 here of course. The offering will include packages and just doing an activity of a day (transport + suppliers equipment rented). Over a week the tours will be 2 days and activities 3/4 days, everything should fall into place or re-jigged later as per demand. I have various usp's such as small group, hybrid 4 wheel drive 8 seater luxury vehicle, on board tv's.
I'm going to start small, this leads to my question which is to do with naming it, it will initially cover the east side of one county (state) and will expand to 4, any advice on strategically naming this?, it may be within one province (group of countys) but may pour over this, I don't want to be renaming later and I want to enjoy successful naming and specific search word hits starting out - this seems to be a competency of yours. Thanks in advance
Dennis thanks for your comments. Walt regarding naming your company I discuss this in the report. Use in conjunction with the keywords that are being searched for the area (geographical) and the niche market. So a broader naming like CaliforniaSurf___ (vacation, trips, getaway, holiday, etc… would cover the entire state of California. This is a naming example.
Denis & Walt, thanks for your comments. Walt regarding naming your company I discuss this in the report. Use in conjunction with the keywords that are being searched for the area (geographical) and the niche market. So a broader naming like CaliforniaSurf___ (vacation, trips, getaway, holiday, etc… would cover the entire state of California. This is a naming example.
Hello Matt
Thank you very much for your report it was full of good information. It confirmed that I an perusing the correct business model for my company. We are positioning ourselves for the opening of the Cuba tourism market foe American travelers. We feel that Cuba will become the premier destination in the Caribbean for US travelers. I have shared your report with my partner and associated. Looking forward to following you blog.
Best
Peter Sanchez
Cuba Tours And Travel
Hi Matt:
Thank you for taking the time to develop and publish this report. I have learned some things and had some things re affirmed. I am involved with a couple online travel projects at this time. It is good to have all of this written down, so thank you. I will be using referring to the report when speaking about my projects. I definitely agree that packaging is so important, for it distinguishes your product from everyone else. I hope we can meet very soon, for I would love to sit down with you and talk in depth about collegeskitrips, I know of your success and I certainly know Ski.com very well.
If you are in the Reno/Tahoe area, please let me know and I would love to meet up for a few beers and talk about ski travel.
Thanks for your time
Michael Landau
michael@gorover.com
Matt, your insights are amazing…some of the thoughts you have presented make it all sound so simple…probably why not many people are able to think about it as well.
Suresh, hi, thanks for nice comments. Yes, it sounds simple but everything is about execution I am sure you know that. I am launching a network of websites that matches travel software providers with travel businesses looking to buy or license software to run their websites/businesses. The master site is called Online Travel Software.com http://www.onlinetravelsoftware.com
I see that you own a IT company. Maybe this would be of interest to your firm. I am currently building relationships with travel software providers and travel technology solution providers. Thanks again for your kind words.
Best,
Matt Zito
Matt, great article and insight into the online travel business. I am in the process of deciding which way to go in the travel industry for a viable business model. I have a business background and your ideas for entering and operating a successful online travel business seem spot on. As a "newby" into the travel industry, my dilemma is where exactly to focus my financial and sweat equity with a startup. I am certainly entering the market with a long-term commitment and an exit strategy in 7-10 years and the hybrid model is probably where I will lean too. Question: If one has the finances and generic business knowledge to start their own, Matt – with what you know about this industry, is going it alone or finding a partner the "Best" way to break-in? In addition, which would jump start things faster; implementing strictly online or utilizing a brick & morter site with a significant online presence?
Thanks for your thoughts
Marty
Marty, hi, thanks for your comment.
In the travel business you'll always be building partners.
The key to success in the beginning is to have a product that people want to buy and have suppliers that want new business.
I believe in "owning your own product" so you create a travel product, brand it and sell it. It is unique to your company. In this capacity you act as a tour operator or online travel operator or tour guide/destination activity provider. The internet is changing the traditional models but the difference at the heart is whether you own the product or not. You absolutely want to operate online only unless you have to have a store front to capture local business (tour guide, destination activity provider.)
You can start your research by;
1. Finding a segment of people (travelers) that are buying a specific type of travel.
2. Finding partners – hotels, lodging suppliers that are looking for new business for their hotel.
The key is to create a travel product that meets both these requirements. There is demand on both sides.
I am launching a business startup program in late October that will teach entrepreneurs "how to start a home-based online travel business in 30-days." The program goal is to provide each entrepreneur with the tools, knowledge and skills to launch an online travel business from their home office.
More to come soon.
Best,
Matt
Very interesting report, Matt. I have been thinking of starting an online travel business, since I have retired. I have worked in the airline industry and found niche areas in setting up a small business. Your report has provided me a foundation of useful ideas that I can work on. Thank you for sharing your article.
Hi Matt, great article, very interesting insights. I've been running my own tour operator biz for about 7 years, and to be honest, its more of a paying hobby than a biz… although I can see it has great potential to do a lot more than it currently does. In your opinion, does Indian Himalayas qualify as a 2nd tier travel destination?
I've got a range of "owned" travel products that specialize in Himalayan India… and have always found the challenge is getting the word out to people. I'm in the situation now where I'm ready to make the transition to running Yak Trak in a more business oriented way, and would love to get some input on where to start. (Note, I'm Australian, based either in Oz, India or lately, Vancouver)
Cheers
Russell (www.yaktrak.com)
Hi Matt
As someone wishing to enter the travel industry, this is a very informative report giving a good insight to the way the industry operates. There are some very valuable tips on the marketing and advertising aspects, which are crucial to the success of the business along with a good product idea. As an accountant I also appreciate the importance of the 80/20 analysis and concentrating resources where they will maximise revenue.
Cheers
Simon.
There are some attention-grabbing closing dates on this article however I don’t know if I see all of them center to heart. There may be some validity but I will take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good article , thanks and we would like extra! Added to FeedBurner as properly
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I have to trust your statement about it issue and not just due to the fact that is my business. I have dealt with so many people who spent a long time trying to find a way out and about through proper perception of this topic. These folks were always always frustrated. Always play strengths and information, and if at all possible, search for the advice of a pro to handle the parts you’ll never handle yourself. Ultimately, you will have great outcome. Thanks for the tips I came across on your site.
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