Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit Scorecard – 2015

Undergoing its fourth format change in its eighth year, the Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit now offers sixty-two travel technology companies an opportunity to pitch their customer value proposition, technology platform and business model to a judging panel of industry leaders.

Keeping Score at the 2015 Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit

Properly keeping score at the 2015 Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit requires laserlike focus, attention to detail, and most importantly, endurance…
Photo Credit: Adam Burrell | Flickr

The big change this year is the introduction of a “The Battlegound,” a preliminary play-in round, where three out of twenty startups, being less than three years old and have less than $1 million in total funding to date, will have a chance to pitch in the full Travel Innovation Summit competition. There will be forty-one organizations persenting in the Travel Innovation Summit.

This is your one-stop resource for the full Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit, including summaries of the travel groups pitching for both the Battleground and Travel Innovation Summit Sessions, plus a list of judges (referred to as the “Dragons Den” this year,) and most importantly, a scorecard to capture your impressions and any mind-jogging comments – keeping 62 companies straight over two days can get tricky.

For your convenience, the scoring is based on the same six criteria used by the judges:

  • Technical innovation
  • Business Value
  • Marketplace Impact
  • Investment Potential
  • Team Quality
  • Presentation Quality

Additionally, for the Travel Innovation Summit, winners are awarded in in three categories, with an overall winner:

  • Startup: Companies less than 18 months
  • Emerging: Companies 18-36 months, in their early growth phase
  • Established: Companies 3 years or older, launching new products

Judges (The Dragon’s Den)

2015 Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit Demonstrators

If you are interested in learning more about these companies, below is all you need to know – their pitch, link to their website and Twitter handle and segment, plus the presenter’s name and role.

Adadyn

Website: http://adadyn.com
Twitter: @adadyn
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Raj Beri – COO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:15 AM
The Pitch: Adadyn makes programmatic advertising simple, affordable and approachable for travel marketers of all sizes.

Africa Bookings

Website: http://africabookings.com
Twitter: @Africabookings1
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Bruce Tapping – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:25 AM
The Pitch: Gain an overview of Africa’s hotel distribution chain. Explore solutions to create revenue streams from the market’s demands.

Evergage

Website: http://evergage.com
Twitter: @Evergage
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Karl Wirth – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:35 AM
The Pitch: Travel companies can now capitalize on browsing behavior and historical data with personalization in real time.

Rakuten

Website: http://rakuten.com
Twitter: @RakutenTravelJP
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Makoto Wakimizu – Product Manager
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:45 AM
The Pitch: Enable users to fully explore your property’s top features before booking with the ‘Customized Page’ platform.

Guiddoo World

Website: http://guiddoo.com
Twitter: @imguiddoo
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Vineet Budki – Founder
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 9:55 AM
The Pitch: Find out how to build in-destination activities that enhance the traveler experience during the trip.

ClickTripz

Website: https://clicktripz.com
Twitter: @Clicktripz
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Jeremy Murphy – COO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:05 AM
The Pitch: ClickTripz is a travel technology company that builds innovative software solutions to serve the needs of suppliers, publishers, advertisers and travelers. From marketplaces that connect the industry through proprietary ad-serving technology, to cloud-based tools that help hoteliers put heads in beds– ClickTripz has solutions that drive revenue at scale.

Voyat

Website: http://voyat.com
Twitter: @voyat
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Benjamin Habbel – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:15 AM
The Pitch: Explore the newest release from the leading retention platform for hospitality: a game-changer for any direct booking channel and hotel website.

Proxce

Website: http://proxce.com
Twitter: @proxce
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Madhu Madhusudhanan – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:25 AM
The Pitch: Use proximity-based, contactless identification for mobile check-in and keyless entry at hotels.

conxxe

Website: http://conxxe.com
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Peter Hilton – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:35 AM
The Pitch: Revolutionizing ground transportation partnerships with a technology for on-demand and pre-bookable options.

Eysys

Website: http://eysys.com
Twitter: @eysyslimited
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Humphrey Sheil – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:45 AM
The Pitch: Learn who will buy what and when, automatically pick personalized content and ads, create hot lead lists and more.

TripChamp

Website: http://tripchamp.com
Twitter: @tripchamp
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Michael Culhane – CRO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 10:55 AM
The Pitch: This frictionless marketplace for air and hotel resellers optimizes results using AI and saves businesses 10 – 20%.

VenueNext

Website: http://venuenext.com
Twitter: @VenueNext
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: John Paul – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 11:05 AM
The Pitch: Give guests a context-aware smartphone connection to everything a venue has to offer.

LeisureLink

Website: http://leisurelink.com
Twitter: @LeisureLink
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Julian Castelli – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 11:15 AM
The Pitch: This easy-to-use software tool allows property managers to simultaneously manage vacation rental channels (such as Airbnb) with traditional channels (like Expedia) from one single platform.

MTT

Website: http://mttnow.com
Twitter: @Mobile_Travel
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Paschal Nee – Director, Consulting
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:10 PM
The Pitch: An intelligent mobile travel assistant that enables airlines and travel companies to transform the ‘day of travel’ in real time.

HomeToGo

Website: https://hometogo.com
Twitter: @HomeToGo
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Dominik Schwarz – VP, Marketing & Communications
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:20 PM
The Pitch: Search and find the best bargains with features like ‘Flex Search’ with this smart metasearch engine for vacation rentals.

Travefy

Website: https://travefy.com
Twitter: @travefy
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: David Chait – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:30 PM
The Pitch: This leading group travel planner provides powerful collaboration tools for travel brands, suppliers and agents.

Mozio

Website: https://mozio.com
Twitter: @letsmozio
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: David Litwak – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:40 PM
The Pitch: This custom branded white-label app allows on-demand sedan booking in over 400 cities around the world.

Cornerstone Information Systems

Website: http://ciswired.com
Twitter: @ciswired
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Mat Orrego – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 4:50 PM
The Pitch: Meet 4site the newest event-driven mobile travel app providing real-time and contextual trip data to travelers’ phones.

Fusion

Website: http://fusion.com
Twitter: @fusionmoment
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Mark Brown – VP, EMEA
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:00 PM
The Pitch: Sell more ancillaries, more often. Discover how using real-time optimization drives the right offer at the right time in the right way.

HelloGbye

Website: https://hellogbye.com
Twitter: @hellogbye
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Greg Apple – CMO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:10 PM
The Pitch: Designed for the modern traveler, this tool delivers personalized options for booking travel in two minutes or less.

Moxie

Website: http://gomoxie.com
Twitter: @moxiesoft
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Nikhil Govindaraj – VP, Products
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:20 PM
The Pitch: See how this tool is transforming the digital experience by delivering modern engagement to modern customers.

Suiteness

Website: http://suiteness.com
Twitter: @Suiteness
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Robbie Bhathal – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:30 PM
The Pitch: Get exclusive access to luxury suites.

Headout

Website: https://headout.com
Twitter: @Headout_App
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Varun Khona – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:40 PM
The Pitch: An on-demand concierge that helps you discover and experience the world around you at the push of a button.

Musement

Website: https://musement.com
Twitter: @musement
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Alessandro Petazzi – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 5:50 PM
The Pitch: Travel with a concierge in your pocket and experience the best a city has to offer.

Hipmunk

Website: http://hipmunk.com
Twitter: @hipmunk
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Adam Goldstein – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 6:00 PM
The Pitch: Hipmunk is announcing a new product on stage. As you can probably guess, it will reduce the agony of travel search even more.

Milestone Internet Marketing

Website: http://milestoneinternet.com
Twitter: @milestonemktg
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Anil Aggarwal – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 6:10 PM
The Pitch: Marketing tools and reports overload? This single sign-on SaaS-based platform manages hotel marketing and channel analytics.

IBS Software Services

Website: http://ibsplc.com
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: David Friderici – VP, Product Management & Strategy, Airline Travel Services
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 6:20 PM
The Pitch: Enabling flexible and unconstrained access to both external and internal travel inventory sources in a self-service mode.

TripCreator

Website: http://tripcreator.com
Twitter: @TripCreator_com
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Hilmar Halldorsson – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:00 AM
The Pitch: TripCreator enables users to plan and book their entire trip to Iceland in one place. Our state of the art suggestion engine provides an itinerary instantly based on the customer’s preferences to see and do that has already been checked for availability. The user can modify the itinerary according to his taste and then book every item in the itinerary without leaving the site. This includes, hotels, rental cars, tours and places of interests to see.

Sabre Hospitality Solutions

Website: http://sabre.com
Twitter: @SabreHosp
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Robert Dawson – VP, Digital Marketing Services
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:10 AM
The Pitch: The point of inspiration meets the point of sale in hotel shopping and booking.

Umapped

Website: http://umapped.com
Twitter: @unmapped
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Lisa Israelovitch – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:20 AM
The Pitch: A collaborative itinerary platform for travel suppliers, agents and travelers to plan, manage and experience trips together.

HOTELP2P

Website: http://hotelp2p.com
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Martin Fernandez – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:30 AM
The Pitch: This app will replace the booking sites for a peer-to-peer platform in the next decade.

TTW Holdings

Website: http://thetripworks.com
Twitter: @TheTripWorks
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Satish Singh – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:40 AM
The Pitch: Effortless trip planning and seamless fulfillment combine with data points to move the customer to book.

Qalendra

Website: https://qalendra.com
Twitter: @Qalendra
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Cristian Munteanu – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 9:50 AM
The Pitch: Our patented algorithms ingest data from many sources, compare all destinations at once and identify where the best conditions for vacations and activities are, anywhere in the world, with months in advance.

QYER

Website: http://qyer.com
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Bryan Xiao – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:00 AM
The Pitch: The painstaking task of making a fabulous travel plan is now simplified to a few clicks.

Tansler

Website: http://tansler.com
Twitter: @tanslerrentals
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Jeremy Bernard – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:10 AM
The Pitch: TANSLER (an anagram of RENTALS) is a vacation rental marketplace that allows renters to name their price, choose multiple homes & submit one binding offer. Hosts compete for the booking through a 24-hour ‘reverse auction’ & the first host to accept the offer ends the auction & confirms the reservation. Tansler eliminates the back-and-forth between renters & hosts making the rental process simpler, faster & more transparent.

AirHelp

Website: https://getairhelp.com
Twitter: @theairhelper
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Henrik Zillmer – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:20 AM
The Pitch: Money back and instant help for travelers when flights are delayed.

Triptease

Website: http://triptease.com
Twitter: @Triptease
Stage: EMERGING
Presenter: Charlie Osmond – Chief Tease
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:30 AM
The Pitch: Hotels are hurting. Explore how to improve brand.com, increase direct bookings and make online travel booking better.

Revinate

Website: http://revinate.com
Twitter: @revinate
Stage: ESTABLISHED
Presenter: Josh Steinitz – VP, Global Business Development
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:40 AM
The Pitch: Use guest data to deliver personalized experiences that create valuable relationships and lifelong customers.

TripBAM

Website: http://tripbam.com/
Twitter: @tripBAMRocks
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Steve Reynolds – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 10:50 AM
The Pitch: We solve the travel manager’s three biggest challenges. We get the best rate possible. We increase compliance. We corral open bookings.

Trekkable

Website: http://trekkable.co
Twitter: @GoTrekkable
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Benedict Jones – Founder
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 11:00 AM
The Pitch: We help you find & book the best accessible hotel rooms! 

Waygo

Website: http://waygoapp.com
Twitter: @waygoapp
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Ryan Rogowski – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 11:10 AM
The Pitch: Use a smartphone to point and instantly translate Chinese, Japanese & Korean.

Zizoo

Website: https://zizoo.com
Twitter: @ZizooBoats
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Anna Bawicevic – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 11:20 AM
The Pitch: Boat holidays made easy. 6,000 customer-reviewed boats in over 30 countries around the world.

Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit – 2015 Scorecard

Keeping track of 42 presentations over a day and one half can be difficult, so to help keep all those demos straight, use the form below to keep track of your scores and notes. There is also an option enter your name and email address. If you get them all right, there will be a record for you to provide as proof for any naysayers.

Open the Travel Innovation Summit Scorecard (Use for Mobile Browsers)

The winners will be announced at the last Center Stage session, following the interview with Expedia CEO Dara Khosroshahi and immediately preceeding the Wednesday evening cocktail reception.

Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit – 2015 Battleground Participants

The following firms competed in the preliminary Battleground competition:

Bellhop

Website: http://bellhop-app.com
Twitter: @BellhopApp
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Payam Safa – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Nov 17 – 2:45 PM
The Pitch: Bellhop gives travelers access to all local restaurants, shows, activities, and transportation options from a single app.

Bucket

Website: http://likebucket.com
Twitter: @LikeBucket
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Julia Lam – CEO
Presentation: Fri, Nov 27 – 4:40 PM
The Pitch: We help your adventures come to life by turning ideas to action. Collect trip ideas from anywhere across the web, personalize your trip by writing notes, uploading photos, and starring your favorite places and go see where your places are around you on a map.

Grab

Website: https://grabmobileapp.com
Twitter: @grabmobileapp
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Jeff Livney – CXO
Presentation: Sat, Nov 21 – 3:25 PM
The Pitch: Grab unlocks travelers’ access to all airport dining and retail opportunities.

Guidekick

Website: http://guidekick.co
Twitter: @Guidekick
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Mark Paddon – CEO
Presentation: Mon, Nov 23 – 3:45 PM
The Pitch: Guidekick is a mobile application platform for the world’s attractions.

Hitlist

Website: http://hitlistapp.com
Twitter: @hitlist_app
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Gillian Morris – Founder
Presentation: Sun, Nov 22 – 3:35 PM
The Pitch: At Hitlist we have one mission: to help you travel more for less. Our intelligent filters help you find trips that suit your time, destination preferences and budget. We want to help people connect face to face and in doing so hope to build a friendlier world.

Hotelied

Website: https://hotelied.com
Twitter: @Hotelied
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Zeev Sharon – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 18 – 2:55 PM
The Pitch: Hotelied was founded based on the idea that every traveler brings something valuable to the hotels they stay in. Whether it is their social media influence, their travel loyalty, or even the industry they work in, every guest should be rewarded by hotels for who they are. Therefore, we have created the first hotel booking site where hotels can target exclusive, personal discounts and amenities to the guests they love.

Lokafy

Website: https://lokafy.com
Twitter: @lokafytravel
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Kiran Samra – CEO
Presentation: Sun, Nov 29 – 5:00 PM
The Pitch: When you’re traveling, it’s easy to ignore this, and walk through a city the way you’d flip through a book. Lokafy wants to change this by connecting travelers with city locals who can not only share new places, but what those places mean to them. Lokafy helps travellers see a new city through the eyes of the people who live in it. Letting you see cities as they are meant to be seen.

Magpie

Website: https://getmagpie.com
Twitter: @getmagpie
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Huong Tran – CEO
Presentation: Tue, Dec 1 – 5:20 PM
The Pitch: The world’s first private membership club for female travelers.

Pana

Website: https://pana.com
Twitter: @HelloPana
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Devon Tivana – CEO
Presentation: Thu, Dec 3 – 5:40 PM
The Pitch: Pana is your on-demand travel concierge for planning and booking all of your travel needs.

SeatWizer

Website: http://seatwizer.com
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Richard McCartney – Co-founder
Presentation: Tue, Nov 24 – 3:55 PM
The Pitch: Try before you fly! Helping you find the most comfortable seat you can afford.

Sharethebus

Website: https://sharethebus.com
Twitter: @sharethebus
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Kyle Boulay – CEO
Presentation: Fri, Nov 20 – 3:15 PM
The Pitch: Sharethebus.com is a place to join, create and share custom charter bus trips across North America.

TravelWits

Website: http://travelwits.com
Twitter: @TravelWitsCom
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Maxim Likhachev – CEO
Presentation: Thu, Nov 26 – 4:30 PM
The Pitch: TravelWits.com lets people find cheapest combinations of flying and driving automatically. You enter your origin and destination, and TravelWits searches all airports, small and large, that are within driving distance, and finds the combinations that save you the most money.

TRYTN

Website: https://trytn.com
Twitter: @trytn
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Reza Barissi – CEO
Presentation: Mon, Nov 30 – 5:10 PM
The Pitch: Trytn has been custom-built to address the e-commerce needs of service providers, including an easy-to-use interface that makes promoting and booking activities a breeze.

Visit.org

Website: https://visit.org
Twitter: @VisitDotOrg
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Michal Alter – CEO
Presentation: Sat, Dec 5 – 6:00 PM
The Pitch: Book 130+ immersive, impactful tours & activities from local communities in 26 countries.

Voopter

Website: https://voopter.com.br
Twitter: @voopter_brasil
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Pettersom Paiva – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Nov 25 – 4:05 PM
The Pitch: Voopter compares prices of airline tickets and hotels hundreds of airlines and online travel agencies.

WeTravel

Website: https://wetravel.to
Twitter: @wetravel_to
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Johannes Koeppel – CEO
Presentation: Wed, Dec 2 – 5:30 PM
The Pitch: Organize and collect money for your group trips

Wyndow

Website: http://wyndow.com
Twitter: @wyndow
Stage: STARTUP
Presenter: Oleg Kaganovich – CEO
Presentation: Mon, Nov 16 – 2:35 PM
The Pitch: Find fun things to do, when you’re ready to do them.

About Robert Cole

Robert Cole is the founder of RockCheetah, a hotel marketing strategy and travel technology consulting practice. He also authors the Views from a Corner Suite Blog and publishes the Travel Quote of the Day. Robert speaks regularly at major travel industry conferences, authors articles for leading travel industry publications, advises travel-related startups and the equity investment community. He is an evangelist for the global travel industry.