The Life of an Online Travel Business Startup
A Destination Activity Broker creates partnerships between travel businesses within a destination, leveraging the individual travel products.
My name is Matt Zito. I am a travel entrepreneur, online travel marketer and writer. I will be a guest blogging here at T4. I like what Stephen has done with T4. I love to be among travel entrepreneurs, so I am looking forward in building a new relationship with many of the readers. My goal is to contribute two articles each month. I am in the process of launching a new online travel business and thought it would be cool to Blog about the trials and tribulations of the startup. I am a solopreneur and currently operate from my home office on the coast of Maine near Bar Harbor.
In 2007, I sold CollegeSkiTrips.com an online ski & snowboard travel company that my wife and I started in college and operated for 15 years. The business became one of the largest youth-based ski tour operators in the United States and is now owned by Ski.com the largest ski tour operator in North America. Last year we sold the Yellow Breeches House a fly-fishing lodge and B&B that my wife and I had started in our early 20’s.
Now at the age of forty and having liquated all our businesses I have decided to start writing, advising travel and tourism small businesses and of course starting a home-based business. I currently write a travel and tourism marketing business column for the Bangor Daily News, the second biggest newspaper in the state of Maine.
I recently released my Manifesto titled, SECRETS to the online travel business. I tell my story of how I built CollegeSkiTrips.com and what I think are the core components of building a successful online travel company. You can still download the free PDF.
Recently I have started developing a new online travel business, BarHarborDeals.com selling customized vacation packages to the world-renowned destination Bar Harbor, Maine. I live about 30 miles from Bar Harbor, Maine. The business is off to a slow start. I have been unable to contract enough wholesale lodging with the 30 hotels and motels that are on the island. After 3 months of pounding the pavement and trying to line up lodging deals the reality is that the hotels just don’t need the business. I currently have 2 wholesale FIT lodging hotel contracts.
In Maine the tourist season is 4 months, July 1-October. Businesses run 24/7 with their heads cut off and try to do as a much business as they can in 120-days. Two family-owned company’s control 60%-70% of the lodging market with a total of 16-17 hotels between the two and both are not interested in wholesaling their rooms at a discount. There are so many people entering Bar Harbor, 2M that the lodging properties just don’t need any help selling rooms.
The Activity providers, the tour operators, guides, cruise boats and golf courses on the other hand are hungry for business, so I have started to turn my attention in the direction of helping them sell their activity products both online and offline. I currently represent 5 activity providers. One of my activity providers is a golf course and interesting enough I have been able to implement the Activity Destination broker business model with this provider.
Here is how a Destination Activity Broker operates and makes money.
The golf course has been looking for ways to increase its golf rounds. I proposed that I exclusively represent the course and help them sell golf rounds online and establish distribution partnerships with the lodging properties in the area to package in golf with the hotels rooms and sell golf packages. I have signed two lodging properties that are now selling golf packages.
Most destinations are fragmented and destination based businesses for whatever reason don’t talk to each other and miss out on partnership opportunities due to a perceived threat of competitiveness. I’ve seen it in many destinations. Here is the opportunity for the Destination Travel Broker to enter and bring the two parties together, profiting when the travel products are sold.
I make my money by buying a wholesale golf round and selling the golf online and through my lodging partners. I am also hoping that by establishing a relationship with the hotels that in the near future they will be more open to letting our new company sell their hotel rooms (FIT wholesale lodging contracts.) Ultimately the success of the online travel business will hinge on my ability to acquire hotel rooms at a discount and to sell customized vacation packages.
If you’re a new entrepreneur in the travel business or looking for ways to create a new product line for your business think about becoming a Destination Travel Broker.
More to come in the next article and my progress in building a new online travel company serving the Bar Harbor, Maine market.
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Read “Marketing with Matt Zito” travel and tourism marketing business column.
Hi Matt. Great introduction – look forward to more.
That's a cool story! I have just launched a blog for my startup based here in Cambodia. Here is the start of our story on how we have gone about marketing the product so far: http://www.upstarthq.com/2010/05/how-to-market-…
Hey Matt, that sounds real good and of course I am looking forward to read more. However, as a Destination Travel Broker can you really make a living out of the individual packaging? I am sure you think of it as a start-up idea, but it must highly depend on the destination as well as season?!
Looking forward to your ideas/comments…
Jule, hi, I don't think you could make a living from this business model at only one destination but if you replicated it at multiple destinations then yes its possible to make a living from the business. I think this type of model is best implemented as an entry point into the travel business and to build relationships. You always have to start from somewhere. Business is always about opening the door and taking one step in. You always build upon on one deal or one relationship from the beginning.
Hi Matt. the easy way to market a travel business opportunity is to copy someone else who is already making a profit online
This is also the definition of the term reverse engineering. Guerilla Marketing may also help..
Thanks for your reply Matt, as I have thought, the more connections within that destination the better. So how many connections did you have at the beginning…?
Thanks for your reply Matt, as I have thought, the more connections within that destination the better. So how many connections did you have at the beginning…?
Jule, I had one connection with the golf course as I was a member of the golf club for 1 year. The pro and the board also knew of my former travel business accomplishments.