Social Scanning, Fuzzy Shopping and More Travel Innovations

**Update: The four finalists are noted below in bold purple text.**

The Phocuswright Travel Innovation Summit showcased 34 firms yesterday. Each has an interesting new angle on some aspect of the travel business. For me, the firms in the social scanning and fuzzy shopping categories were the most intriguing.  See this post for my take on the implications for travel procurement.

I’ve grouped the firms into the following categories to make it easier to see where innovations are heading in this important industry. (Not all firms fit neatly into their assigned category)

Fuzzy Shopping (for those who don’t yet have a specific itinerary in mind)

• Planetism (alpha)
• TravelTainment by Amadeus Leisure Group
• Amadeus Affinity Shopper
• YourTour by DeciZium
• Voyij
• Journey Manager by Travelport
• Goby
• CloudView Smart Search by Exalead
• Gliider

Niche Booking (specialized booking platforms)

• Tripware OutBook (book travel within MS Outlook)
• CarTrawler
• CheapLimoRates
• ZipSetGo (venue selection for meeting planners)
• AboutAnywhere (hotel bookings)
• SpeedRFP (standardizing RFP data for meetings and events)

Social Scanning (monitors what is said about brands in the blogosphere)

• VinePulse by 10Best Solutions
• GuestCentric Systems
• eBuzz Connect by Milestone Internet Marketing

Local Knowledge (tapping into “feet on the street” content)

• EveryTrail by GlobalMotion Media (users post geo-tagged photos and text)
• TourAbout (connects curious shoppers with local tour operators)
• Localyte (100,000 “guides” in a social network)

Trip Manager (organizes your separate bookings into one itinerary)

• Traxo
• TripCase

Advertising and Analytics

• Dapper
• Voyage.tv
• [X+1]
• Twavl (alpha) by ConnectMe360
• StorePoint Expandables by Expedia Media Solutions
• WebValidator by iPerceptions

Ancillary Revenue (helps distributors sell more products to travelers)

• Luggagetag.com by Vanguard ID Systems (makes tags on demand)
• TravelGuard (trip insurance)
• Travel Insurance 2.0 by Mondial Assistance

Language Translation (geared to translating web pages)

• Language Weaver
• GlobalLink OneLink by Translations.com

Here is a more detailed review of each of the innovators by the good folks at Tnooz.

Phocuswright will announce the four finalists later today (Thursday) and the overall winner tomorrow.  I’ll update you accordingly!