IN-DEPTH: There are a finite number of hotel rooms in any given city yet there are exponentially more properties - apartments, homes and even spare bedrooms - that could be rented to travellers through peer-to-peer sites.

The market for these properties is only going to expand as travellers realise that this is a viable, cost-effective and fun way to see the world, says Jen O’Neal, co-founder and CEO of Tripping.

By Ritesh Gupta

Awareness, trust and process are considered to be the main challenges when it comes to vacation and short-term rental sites in the online accommodation category.

The majority of consumers are not aware of vacation rentals, and even when such sites fall in the consideration set, there is concern about renting someone’s private home. Also, the process of making a reservation can be more difficult when compared to booking a hotel.  

As both a social platform and an aggregator of home rentals, Tripping acknowledges that while vacation and short term rentals have been around for ages, there still seems to be a general lack of awareness when it comes to the rental category. Hotels continue to dominate largely because travellers don’t realise that home rentals are an easy, accessible option in over 15,000 cities worldwide, says Jeff Manheimer, VP of Business Development of the social travel site, which was launched in December last year.

“Another challenge is assuring home owners that their properties will be secure and, conversely, assuring travellers that they will be safe staying in local homes. The vast majority of vacation and short-term rental sites now offer safety features to assuage these concerns, which has helped to build trust between these sites and their users,” says Manheimer.

Tripping’s safety features include References, Anonymous Ratings, Validation (where identity is checked over a face-to-face Skype call) and a Travel Support Line.

“We’ve also integrated social connections across the entire platform, so our users can elect to stay with Trippers who share their interests, affiliations and even Facebook friends. Keeping our users safe is a top concern and, like similar sites, we’re committed to making home rentals a safe accommodation option,” says Manheimer.
EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta spoke to Jen O’Neal, Tripping's co-founder and CEO, and Manheimer about the venture and the category. Excerpts:

Where do you think a concept such as this one fits in within the accommodation distribution as of now? How do you see the battle with established intermediaries such as OTAs shaping up?

Jeff Manheimer:

Tripping is unique in that it’s both a social platform and an aggregator of home rentals, which means that you can use a single platform to find people to meet and places to stay around the world.

There are two accelerating trends that directly threaten the ability of OTAs to continue dominating the online travel category: the fast-growing social web and the rise of collaborative consumption. As the social web grows, it will become increasingly important for OTAs to appease travellers by integrating social connections within their platforms. Secondly, collaborative consumption sites redirect revenue away from OTAs and put it into the hands of property owners.

There have always been battles between OTA’s just like there are battles between different suppliers, airlines and travel agents. Without question, those companies will continue to innovate and adapt to the various economic conditions within the travel space. Tripping lies at the intersection of both trends - we see clear opportunities to work with OTAs and help them tap into both social and collaborative arenas.

Going by the progress made by the concept on the whole this year, how do you think a venture like yours is addressing a gap in the accommodation industry?

Jeff Manheimer:

The great majority of OTAs provide accommodation options that are rooted to the tourist path. Tripping, on the other hand, provides accommodation options that enable travellers to step into local neighborhoods, local homes and local cultures. We offer two accommodation options that don’t yet exist on traditional OTAs: free homestays and home rentals.

Homestays allow travellers and locals to engage in cultural exchange. For example: you can hop on a plane, fly to Rio and stay (for free!) with local Trippers who will invite you to share meals with their families. You’ll get to experience the local culture and share yours in return. The concept of cultural exchange was around long before the days of wifi and the web, but our technology brings an innovative twist to the space.

Home rentals, by comparison, are for travellers who prefer to rent an apartment or home while traveling. Whether they book a flat in the 4th arrondissement of Paris or a rustic beach house in Costa Rica, these travellers can enjoy a private space while living among the locals. We’re the largest aggregator in the world and we work directly with top sites including HomeAway, FlipKey and Roomorama to offer over 500,000 rentals worldwide.

What factors did you take into consideration while coming up with this offering? What drove you to launch this offering?

Jen O'Neal:

We’ve gotta give our users credit for the idea. They came to us last year and asked if we could give them access to local home rentals, so that they could still experience local culture without having to sleep on a couch. Clearly, we loved the idea and thought it made a ton of sense given that Tripping is all about local travel. We launched the platform in December and our sales have been growing exponentially every week.

Why is this such a great idea? Travellers love recommendations and choice, not only from trusted friends but from locals who have insights that aren’t available in the latest edition of Lonely Planet. No other site gave travellers a transparent platform to compare home rentals across multiple sites, so the market opportunity was immediately obvious.

In addition, we’ve spent two years building a passionate and loyal community of travellers who love experiencing local culture. Our community has always been the heart of Tripping and we were happy to see that our users quickly embraced the rentals channel and are using it to book accommodation worldwide.

For the record, the money we make goes to support our community and the International Red Cross. Our mission has always been to promote cultural exchange and - as much as we love business and generating revenue - we’re especially excited to see that the revenue we generate is going to make the world a better place.

Also, considering that yours is a social travel site, how do you think the whole collaborative travel movement/ peer-to-peer travel commerce category progressed in 2011?

Jen O'Neal:

There’s no question that the collaborative travel movement is growing, both in terms of user growth and consumer awareness. With sites like Airbnb raising funding rounds at a $1 billion valuation, there’s no question that investors are seeing value in the space... and for good reason! There are a finite number of hotel rooms in any given city yet there are exponentially more properties - apartments, homes and even spare bedrooms - that could be rented to travellers through peer-to-peer sites. The market is massive and it’s only going to expand as travellers realise that this is a viable, cost-effective and fun way to see the world.

What sort of travellers are lapping up your concept? How do you they typically go about planning and booking – can you reflect on their behaviour?

Jeff Manheimer:

When we first started Tripping, the idea was to create a global community for travellers who wanted to engage in cultural exchange. We imagined that our site would appeal to students and backpackers, so we were surprised when we started seeing a high number of professionals, retirees and even families joining the site.

The majority of our users are under 25 and they often use Tripping to meet up with local students for parties and free homestays. Since they’re cash-strapped, they’re the least likely group to book home rentals through us... but they absolutely love making new friends around the world.

Our second largest demographic is comprised of young professionals, such as journalists and teachers, who use Tripping to book local apartments and then meet up with other young professionals for coffee and drinks. They tend to have a high interest in connecting with peers and expanding their networks wherever they travel.

Finally, our third largest demographic is made up of retirees: they have time, they have money and they use Tripping to meet each other for activities such as going to the theatre, playing rounds of golf and having brunch together. They’re the most likely to book home rentals for extended periods of time, which is fantastic from a revenue perspective.

I should note that we’re partnered with over 70 organisations that have helped us cater to each of our demographics. We’re partnered with universities, study-abroad programs, international volunteer organisations, travel companies and even touring rock bands. Our largest partners include AARP (with 40M members), PADI (20M members), Peace Corps, AIESEC and Hostelling International. Each partner has a dedicated network on Tripping where their members can connect with each other, all around the globe.

How do you think such service is resulting in a new level of personalisation?

Jeff Manheimer:

In a world where the consumer is king, personalisation is key. Sites need to recognise the needs of their users and deliver fully customised experiences. Our core focus is technology: we’re able to build systems that determine what our users want and show them home rentals that will appeal to their needs.

For example: let’s say that you’re a Tripper and you spend the most time looking at rentals with 2 bedrooms, wifi and beach access. When you do a search for Costa Rica, we’re going to show listings with those features at the top of search results.

Booking travel online can be a painful process. Our goal is to make it easy, fun and relevant for all of our members.

Can you elaborate on what sort of technology/ features have you incorporated in order to simplify the planning process?

Jen O'Neal:

Sure. We all come from tech backgrounds so I’m not exaggerating when I say that we are a technology company, through and through. We love this stuff and we’ve spent a lot of time developing features that will simplify the planning process for everyone. Here are a few examples:

Discovery Engine– Before we launched our home rentals platform, travellers were forced to search for home rentals across a variety of sites. It wasn’t easy to compare rentals, pricing or ratings. By aggregating the most relevant listings, we’ve empowered travellers to make smart decisions before they book. We’ve also created a solution for the paralysis that comes with over analysing rental options.

Social Platform- These days there’s an overwhelming amount of information out there from bloggers, travel sites, review sites and more. Everyone seems to be an expert when it comes to travel. To help our users cut through the clutter and get the best recommendations, we’ve made it simple for them to connect with those who know best - local people.

By connecting travellers with local people and places to stay, Tripping is giving travellers a safe, easy and affordable way to step off the tourist path in over 175 countries.