My favorite vacations when I was growing up were our annual trips to Nantucket. While it’s an awesome island and I had a lot of fiends there, there was something else that made the vacations special. We rented a house. I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it makes a vacation more relaxing. You may not have someone who makes your bed every morning, but there’s something really nice about having a place that feels like home while you’re on vacation. Back then we found our rental through an agent, but today it’s much easier to just go online and use a site like Tripping. They are a San Francisco, CA based company that has build “the world’s largest search engine for vacation and short-term rentals.” They tap into other sites’ inventories and let you compare properties easily.
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I spent yesterday morning teaching kids how to fly fish. It’s my favorite thing to do, so I am thrilled to share it with young people to ensure the future of the sport. Those who enjoy the outdoors need to do everything they can to share their passion with people from all backgrounds. That’s what Environmental Traveling Companions is about. They’re a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that “opens the beauty and challenge of the great outdoors to people with disabilities and disadvantaged youth.” They’ve been around since 1972, and in that time they’ve helped thousands of people enjoy activities like whitewater rafting and alpine skiing.
I come up with a lot of business ideas. More often than not I find that someone is already doing it–and usually I’m fine with that. It’s cool to see someone putting the idea to the test since I can’t try most of the ideas that I come up with. A lot of my ideas center around a thesis that more and more people will forgo traditional jobs and instead make a living (or at least supplement their incomes) by reaching new markets through the Internet. Vayable is a company based on this thesis. They are a San Francisco, CA and New York, NY based company that offers “a home for anyone looking to experience honest, local culture through experiences created and hosted by passionate local Insiders.”
When you get into the corporate world, one thing that will blow your mind is how much companies spend on employee travel. It often seems stupid, and a lot of times companies realize that travel expenses are a huge cost center. What if you could incentivize and reward employees to help your company reduce travel spending. That’s what Rocketrip does. They’re a New York, NY based company that aims “to enlist employees as engaged partners in managing corporate travel costs.” How does this work? Employees get points for activities that save their company money. They can redeem these points for rewards. It’s pretty simple.
The Internet has made travel so much easier. Not only can you fully research all of your options, but you can use sites like Expedia and Airbnb to find affordable places to stay all over the world. Additionally, you have social networks like Facebook that allow you to stay connected with friends who might have a spare bedroom or couch in a city that you’re visiting. Before all of these options, there were hostels. Hostelling International USA is the Silver Spring, MD based American affiliate of Hostelling International, and they’re “a non-profit membership organization that has been serving young travelers for 79 years strong.” They have a network of more than 50 locations that each offer “a unique and local stay experience” with “inexpensive, safe, clean and fun accommodations.”
The last time that Amy and I reserved a rental car, they didn’t have a car for us when we showed up. It was straight out of Seinfeld’s The Car Reservation, except the agent didn’t even try to help us. We ended up having to spend $250 on an Uber to get us to the wedding on time. I wish I could say that it’s the last time that I’ll ever use a rental car company, but it won’t be. However, I am tempted to try something new like RelayRides. They are a San Francisco, CA based company that connects “vehicle owners whose cars would otherwise be idle with people who need a car.” It’s a model that makes sense, even if it feels a little uncomfortable at first.
I’m not sure if travel is any more popular today than it used to be, but it sure seems like it from looking at what my Facebook friends are up to. Travel is a massive industry because it’s both a leisure activity and a business activity, and that also makes it a very complex industry. People who work in travel need to keep up with the latest news and trends, so they often turn to Northstar Travel Media. They’re a Secaucus, NJ based “business information and marketing solutions provider to the $300 billion U.S. travel, tourism and meetings industries.” It started in 1939 with Hotel & Travel Index, and today Northstar Travel Media reaches more than 1.7 million monthly unique visitors online and 1.1 million people through subscriptions.
Travel decisions are almost always open to outside influence. If you know where you’re going, you may need help figuring out how to get there or what to do once you get there. If you don’t know where you want to go, the possibilities are truly endless. That’s why marketers love the travel market (it helps that travelers are often exceedingly willing to spend money to travel). Just like in every other industry, marketers in the travel space are getting much more sophisticated. Sojern is a San Francisco, CA based company that is leading that trend. They have developed a “robust audience engagement platform [that] is powered by machine-learning technology, enhanced programmatic buying (real-time bidding), and data insights.” The goal is to engage travelers and affect their decision-making process, and it seems to be working.
Do you know what I do when I’m bored at a holiday party? I eat Christmas cookies. Luckily, I haven’t been to many holiday parties this year. The time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is a really easy time to let yourself go. You’re going to get back on the wagon at the beginning of the New Year, so why not enjoy life a little more than usual? There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the holidays, but letting go of important things like health (or your job search) is only going to make it harder for you to succeed when you decide it’s time to get serious. Why not enjoy life in a healthy, productive way? That’s what Well+Good is about. They’re a New York, NY based company/website that was started by two journalist “to answer all the questions [their] friends, friends of friends, and perfect strangers wanted to know about health, beauty, fitness, and well-being, as soon as they found out what [they] did for a living.” Their content is about enjoying life without letting go.
I like skiing (even if I’ve only done it twice), but I like fishing, volleyball, walking my dog, and staying out of the hospital more. I can’t get over the fear that I’ll injure myself skiing and keep myself from doing all of the things that I truly love to do. I’m sure for a lot of skiers, they have the opposite apprehension (like my buddy Jason who used a ski trip to describe Quality Events in our Job Search Prep course). The only other bad thing about skiing is that once you get over the fear of injury, you have to get over the price of lift tickets. Or you did. Liftopia is a San Francisco, CA based company that aims to “help skiers and snowboarders get out on the slopes more often, and help alpine resorts generate incremental revenue.”
I’ve stayed in all kinds of hotels–from the fanciest of the fancy to ones that made my skin crawl. While the main things that I look for are a quiet room, a comfortable bed, and a powerful shower, my truly memorable stays have been at hotels that are interesting outside of the room. Sometimes that comes naturally with a scenic location or a historic building, and sometimes it’s more purposeful. 21c Museum Hotels is a company that is adding to the number of interesting places to stay. They’re based in Louisville, KY, and they now have three properties that are “born out of a desire to integrate contemporary art into everyday life” (the other two are in Cincinnati, OH and Bentonville, AR). The name says it all–they’re museums in hotels, and they’re apparently doing well. 21c Museum Hotels came in at #681 on the Inc. 5000 with 673% three-year growth to $4.6 million in revenue.
I never went on a study abroad trip while I was in school, so I figured that I had missed the boat. Little did I know that there are educational travel opportunities for people of all ages. Now probably wouldn’t be a great time for me (new wife, new puppy, new apartment), but maybe it would make sense later in life. If I do end up doing an educational travel adventure, I’ll definitely take a look at Road Scholar. They are a Boston, MA based non-profit that “offers 5,500 educational tours in all 50 states and 150 countries.” The organization was founded as Elderhostel in 1975 “to provide people over the age of 60 with low-cost educational and cultural programs,” but they seem to have committed to the Road Scholar branding as of late. My guess is that the word “elder” wasn’t helping them out in terms of getting people to sign up for their programming.
It used to be that airlines were the only businesses that I could earn rewards with, but as many markets have become more competitive, companies from all kinds of industries have jumped on the bandwagon. While offering great products and services at reasonable prices should be enough to keep customers, many companies aren’t able to do that–so they offer rewards instead. The problem is that managing a rewards program has nothing to do with running most business. That’s where Destination Rewards steps in. They’re a Boca Raton, FL (and Plymouth, MI) based company that creates and manages “web-based customized rewards programs.” Destination Rewards does all of the heavy lifting, and their clients can just plug and play.
Most of you are probably too young to remember when travel agents were a thing. Before the Internet, booking and planning a trip was much easier with the help of a professional. Today, having someone book your travel is often an unnecessary complication for most travelers. But if you’re the kind of person who travels all the time for work or wants everything to go perfectly, then you might appreciate something higher touch than booking online. That’s what FROSCH offers. They’re a New York, NY and Houston, TX headquartered company (with 30 offices across the country) that provides “high-touch leisure and corporate travel to individuals and companies.” While most travel agencies have been made obsolete by the Internet, FROSCH has continued to grow by offering a superior level of service.
Amy and I are heading home from our “minimoon” today. Our “real” honeymoon will come sometime next year, and we’re planning on going to Japan. The goal of the minimoon was to relax and recover after all of the craziness that comes with a big wedding. We spent the past few days at a resort/spa in the desert on the Utah/Arizona border, and it has been incredible. I checked to see if the resort has any jobs, but I struck out. Then I stumbled on another desert resort that has a ton of career opportunities. It’s called Canyon Ranch, and it’s a resort and spa with an “innovative approach to health, wellness and holistic and integrative care.” They got their start in Tucson, AZ, but they have since added locations in Lenox, MA; Miami Beach, FL; Las Vegas, NV, and… on a boat.
I’m always looking for an adventure… as long as it includes fly fishing. Having a hobby that takes me to all kinds of interesting places is awesome, but I realize that many people get their excitement from trying something new. If that sounds like you, take a look at ZOZI. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they want “to make everyone’s passions accessible, and most importantly, help you discover new ones.” Whether you’re looking for a better way to spend a weekend without leaving town or you want to travel across the world to get an adrenaline rush, ZOZI offers a ton of options at amazing prices. And if that’s enough, they’ll also give you a deal on some of the gear that you might need for your experience.
One of my favorite episodes of The Office is when Michael Scott tells his employees to pack a swimsuit for a leadership training trip, and then takes them on a “booze cruise” on Lake Wallenpaupack in January. The staff are obviously pissed at Michael, but for the most part end up having a good time. I’ve been on a few evening cruises, and I’ve always had a great time. I guess that is why Entertainment Cruises is doing so well. They’re a company with “26 vessels serving eight cities with six unique cruise products.” Entertainment Cruises’ offerings range from fine dining and dancing to speedboat tours, with a lot in between. They currently operate fleets in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, New York, Norfolk, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.
Right now I’m in the process of getting some of my friends together to coordinate my bachelor party. I have less than zero interest in the traditional approach, so I’m looking for some good outdoor activities for a bunch of dudes. We haven’t decided where we’re going yet, but ideally we’ll rent a house instead of staying in a hotel. One of the best places to find vacation rentals is HomeAway. They’re an Austin, TX based company that offers “the world’s leading online marketplace of vacation rentals, with sites representing over 711,000 paid listings of vacation rental homes in 171 countries.” I figured that VRBO.com was their biggest/most similar competitor, but it turns out that they own them. I guess maybe the biggest competitor is Airbnb then, though they serve a slightly different market (more apartments fewer houses).
We’re a week away from one of the worst travel periods of the year. If you’re flying between next Wednesday and the following Sunday, good luck. Look forward to long lines, getting groped by the TSA, crying babies, no legroom, and probably a delay or a lost bag. Wouldn’t it be nice to travel without those headaches? That’s why ridiculously rich people buy their own jets. But what if you’re only really rich and can’t afford your own jet? You buy time on one. That’s what Sentient Jet does for its clients. They’re a Cleveland, OH based company that “arranges more air charter flights than any other jet charter procurement business in the country.”
It’s a great time to be a sports fan. The pennant races have already heated up in baseball, and football is here. If there’s ever a time to go to a live, outdoor sporting event, it has to be now while the weather is still beautiful. I usually go to StubHub for tickets, but I’ve been tempted to use a new site called Vivid Seats. They’re a Chicago, IL based company that aims to “to reinvent the ticket purchasing experience.” Beyond sports, they also offer tickets for concerts, theater, and more. While I’ve generally been happy with the StubHub experience in that I can get the tickets that I want for a good price, but the user interface is terrible and the add-on fees seem exorbitant. I haven’t had the chance to try Vivid Seats, but from what it sounds like, the offer a superior ticket buying experience and a total cost that “is almost always the lowest on the web.”
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For some people planning a vacation is better than going on a vacation. I wouldn’t go quite that far–especially because not having a plan can lead you to some pretty awesome things–but I like having control over what I do when I go on a trip. Others have a completely different approach. They want everything planned for them. They’re the kind of people who go on a trip with Collette Vacations, which is a Pawtucket, RI based company that offers “more than 150 expertly designed, escorted tours spanning 50-plus countries on all seven continents.” Collette Vacations was founded in 1918 and is still family owned and committed to creating “extraordinary travel experiences that fulfill the vacation dreams” of their clients.
I’ve never been on a cruise ship, and I’m not looking to change that any time soon. I realize that cruises are the ultimate vacation for some people, but they’re just not for me (especially after hearing about food poisoning outbreaks and the Costa Concordia disaster). Still, I respect the brilliance of the cruise ship. Travelers can sample a variety of destinations without having to think about logistics or anything else really. When you can combine hospitality, transportation, and gambling all in one, you have pretty good foundation for a business. The second largest cruise company in the world is Royal Caribbean Cruises, which is based in Miami, FL and owns the following cruise lines: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisières de France. Those all contribute to nearly $7 billion in annual revenue.
In case you missed our e-mail from last week, Kembrel loved the response from our post about them so they’re offering a free VIP card (usually 20 bucks) to all ODOI readers and $5 in store credit. Sign up here.
On Monday we took a look at Vertive, a company that builds internet properties to help people save money. Today we’re going to look at a company with a similar model of building and buying websites, but a much broader approach. Internet Brands is based in El Segundo, CA and started as CarsDirect.com in 1998. It was a successful brand for them, but in 2005 they realized that the platform they had built could be applied to other verticals. Now Internet Brands operates more than 100 websites that reach over a billion visitors every year. Amazingly, they’ve been able to generate almost all of this traffic organically (without buying advertising). This is all because of the platform that they’ve developed and the ability to share resources across brands. Internet Brands is a case study of how economies of scale can work on the web.
I don’t mind flying; in fact, I kind of enjoy it–especially on smaller planes. Unfortunately, it’s not often that you can hop in a 6 seater and get a sweet view for the entire flight. Usually you are crammed into a 150-seater and spend most of the time looking at clouds. I guess most people are more comfortable with that, but not me. When I’m flying I’m not particularly brand conscious, so I mostly choose my airline by who has the cheapest fare. That means that I end up on flying all different airlines, but I’ve never flown Allegiant. They’re a low-cost carrier and travel company based in Enterprise, NV. They travel to 75 destinations with a fleet of 75 MD-83s and MD-87s. All of Allegiant’s routes begin or end in one of 9 hubs: Bellingham, WA; Los Angeles, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Phoenix, AZ; Myrtle Beach, SC; Orlando, FL; Tampa Bay, FL; Fort Myers, FL; and Fort Lauderdale, FL.