tripBAM™ Uses the Cloud to Make Travel More Affordable
13th September 2012 · 0 Comments
Dallas-based service automates the hotel selection and savings process
Travelers who book themselves into a hotel room days in advance, only to find that they could have saved money by grabbing a better deal elsewhere, will be gratified to know that a fully automated cloud-based solution can end that frustration. tripBAM™, a cloud-based free service, enables travelers to select a “cluster” of multiple hotels, which the service then monitors closely for price changes. A drop in price prompts an automatic cancellation and re-booking in the less expensive room. “Based on rate analytics, tripBAM™ finds a better rate for a traveler more than 80 percent of the time, saving that traveler over $100 per booking,” says President Steve Reynolds.
Reynolds explains that tripBAM™ has its origins in the corporate sphere. “We’d created similar solutions for the B2B and large corporate markets several years back, and we decided it was time to bring a new solution directly to the traveling consumer,” he says. The company bootstrapped its own development, finding partners in Creativa Consulting for website development and Pegasus Solutions for hotel content development. So far all the funding has come from the founders, though they have been receiving unsolicited offers and may yet consider outside investment.
tripBAM™ goes into beta testing in September 2012 in anticipation of an October 2012 launch. The company’s conservative revenue forecast for the first 12 months of operation is $1.4 million with an EBITDA of over $600,000. Reynolds emphasizes the need for constant self-education and re-evaluation along the way. “Get lots of advice from folks that are smarter than you,” he advises his fellow entrepreneurs. “Stay flexible and be willing to change your model as you learn more. Obtain good analytics from every source you can find and take an objective view of the results.”
