The peer-to-peer travel booking platform TRVL.com is officially available in New Zealand as of this week.
Fun Fact: exactly 10 years ago TRVL's COO Arthur Hoffman launched Expedia in New Zealand.
TRVL is the smartest and arguably the fastest growing travel booking platform. It’s revealing the secrets of the Travel
Industry to travellers. It gives travellers full access to industry rates, exclusive deals, and pays a commission of up
to 15% on every booking. It also provides peer-to-peer travel advice.
Paul English, the founder of Kayak, says about TRVL “Love the concept: it’s like TripAdvisor with an earning model.”
TRVL is taking the world by storm since its launch in the USA in June this year. New Zealand is the fifth country after the
USA, UK, Ireland and Canada.
Founder is Jochem Wijnands, who sold his previous company Prss to Apple for an undisclosed amount. Prss is the mobile
publishing platform that became Apple News, which launched in 2015.
Wijnands: “Today travellers are not rewarded for planning and booking trips themselves and often end up paying too much.
TRVL is fixing that. And today researching and planning your trip takes too much time. There is nobody there to help
you. TRVL is fixing that, too.”
TRVL gives you access to first hand experiences of like minded travellers, so whenever you’re planning to go somewhere,
there is always somebody similar to you who has been there and can tell you about it.
Trivago’s CEO Rolf Schrömgens about the problem that TRVL is solving: "I think there is a major problem unsolved, and
that is getting you into the ideal hotel. There is a huge value that can be unlocked.” (CNBC, Dec 2016).
One of TRVL's industry partnerships is with Booking.com, the global leader in connecting travellers with the widest
choice of incredible places to stay. "As consumers explore new ways to discover and book their trips, we are always
looking to make that experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible," said Bryan Batista, Senior Director of
Partnerships at Booking.com."TRVL's peer-to-peer concept is an interesting channel for us to experiment with and as
such, we are happy to be able to offer more than 1.4 million unique places to stay via their platform."
Arthur Hoffman is TRVL’s COO. He joined TRVL in 2016 because he is convinced that unlocking the power and knowledge of
the travel community is a logical next step to improve the online booking process.
When asked why a traveller should earn a commission on a booking, Hoffman answers: “We’re living in the “do it yourself”
age of travel bookings, and TRVL is rewarding you for doing all the research, planning and booking yourself and the
people you travel with.”
For the entrepreneurial travellers TRVL provides an earning model. You can set up your own travel booking website and
present yourself as a travel curator to your social circle. On every booking you can earn a commission of up to 15%.
Hoffman: “When deciding where to launch first, Australia or New Zealand, the choice was easy. We have seen a great first
uptake from the Kiwi’s, a testament to the way they embrace innovation and new technology as passionate travellers”.
Moreover, New Zealand ranks number 6 of the world's most well-travelled nations
TRVL has received $3.5million in funding from a group of angel investors. The funds are used to turn TRVL into a global
player with millions of users. Launching in New Zealand is part of TRVL’s global roll out.
TRVL’s mission is to empower the traveller. The deciding moment was when Wijnands, still living in California, was
planning a trip to Mexico. He asked his team at Apple for tips, and somebody came forward with a story about a tiny
village called Yelapa that could only be reached by boat. The hotel she recommended was simple but right on the beach,
and it came with a natural pool. Two months later, when he found himself with his family, perfectly happy in Yelapa, a
light bulb went off. Together travellers have been everywhere! What if we would connect all travellers so that they can
help each other book their next trip?
Say hello to TRVL!
For more information or an interview request, please contact Michaela Immar at michaela@trvl.com
TRVL explainer video on Vimeo.
TRVL video “Why do we travel?” on Vimeo.
ENDS