Web 3.0 & Group Travel: Groople CEO Mike Stacy (Part 2)

SM: Where did you get the idea for Groople? Are you an avid traveler? Why group travel? MS: I did not come up with the idea of group travel. That distinction would go to our founder who is now off creating another start up combining culinary experiences and travel. What attracted me to this opportunity is that groups is the last extremely large category of travel to bring online. Prior to Groople there was no group travel provider offering a consumer friendly group travel planning and booking solution.

SM: Describe the value proposition of Groople, including differentiation versus the rest of the market. MS: We help group travel planners succeed in planning, shopping and booking group travel. Groople provides travel choices that fit the needs of groups by sorting search results by group type, allowing the group to collaborate on the selection process for a destination, hotel, car, air and activities, offering payment options for groups, unlike other online hotel or travel sites that focus on transient travelers.

We provide booking capability on more than 60,000 hotels located on four continents, twenty-five islands and one mountain top. Through our social networking environment we allow travelers to collaborate and compare travel options before any decisions are made. After reserving a block of rooms, group members are welcome to pay for their rooms individually online or in one payment made by the group leader.

SM: What I find interesting is how narrowing down the context offers opportunities for providing an entirely new and valuable suite of differentiated services that are aligned with the workflow of the context. As long as the context is large enough to build a big business, it looks like Groople can be an interesting play.

(to be continued)

Part 1

This segment is part 2 in the series : Web 3.0 & Group Travel: Groople CEO Mike Stacy
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