7 New Start-ups to Travel Better and Cheaper
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The Internet continues to revolutionize the way we travel. In a few years, start-ups like Airbnb, Skyscanner, or Booking have become the new heavyweights of tourism. However, the potential offered by the web is immense and continues to transform the world of travel. A little spotlight on new start-ups that I have spotted on the web, and which will allow us to travel better and cheaper! It was difficult to select because the list could have contained 50… If you know of others that deserve to be included, tell me in the comments.
1/Rent your travel equipment with Make it Travel
March 2017 update: Make it Travel has, unfortunately, ceased its activity… Not easy to launch new start-ups. Congratulations to them anyway for the work done.
The concept was imagined by two US travel bloggers: Anne-Laure Chorro and Clement Esso. Both fans of backpacking adventure trips realized that it is expensive to equip themselves to leave between backpack, tent, duvet, and various outdoor equipment, the bill quickly exceeds several hundred euros. All this is for equipment that remains stored at the bottom of a cupboard between two mother daughter trips and is sometimes not used much.
Hence their idea is to find “a way to make your travel business and leisure equipment profitable while allowing other people to use them without necessarily spending a lot of money”. This is how the Make it Travel platform was born, and launched on June 30, 2015, to rent or rent out travel equipment. You can find everything there: tents, backpacks, travel guides, walking shoes, surfboards, or ski equipment. The site also aims to become a real community of exchange around travel to allow users to share their advice and tips.
As I immediately loved the concept, and as I have a lot of travel stuff that I don’t use all the time, I will give you an appointment on my profile, in particular, to rent my hiking tent which accompanied me to Iceland, Italy or the Pyrenees. Make her travel for me! Moreover, she even became a star: she appeared on BFMTV:
2/and 3/Find a trip according to dates and budget
The problem with most travel shopping sites on the internet is that they assume that you already know where you want to go. The originality of Kenweego, created in 2015 by Edouard Faouzane Batiga, is that you can search for plane tickets based on your travel dates and budget, and then the site gives you destination ideas, according to your desires: whether it’s beach, culture, party or nature… “Tell us when… We’ll tell you where”, this is the concept, very practical when you want to go on weekends on specific dates, and ‘we are open to the idea of discovering destinations that we would not have thought of.
This allows you to take advantage of good prices on certain destinations at the right time. The site covers all of Europe. Kenweego also offers tour recommendations based on destinations; travelers and locals can leave their advice there. Updated March 2018: Unfortunately, Kenweego has gone out of business…
Based on a similar concept, the Hellotrip site was also born, created by Maxime Cohendet and Benoît Mouret. The search engine covers the whole world, and you can add a hotel.
4/Earn airline miles with MilesBooster
Who has ever managed to understand something in the jungle of different airline loyalty programs? Anyway, not me. Avid traveler, I’ve been flying several times a year for years without accumulating any miles because I’ve never dared to dive into it. I think I finally found the solution to my problem thanks to the MilesBooster start-up. Launched in 2015, it is a loyalty platform that allows you to convert your online purchases into universal air miles. With three big advantages:
You can earn airline miles by buying something other than plane tickets. The range of choices is very wide since more than 1,000 sites are partners in the operation, including Amazon, Voyages-Sncf, Monoprix, and even La Redoute… For the AirMiles to be registered, you must download a special plugin and You have to study the valid conditions with each partner site, but it’s easy to understand.
These AirMiles are universal since MilesBooster is a partner of the three major airline alliances: SkyTeam, StarAlliance, and Oneworld Travel Better and Cheaper Travel Better and Cheaper. That is more than 60 companies with which you can use the accumulated AirMiles. You can also convert them to the existing loyalty programs of partner airlines, but also into hotel nights and even cash directly into your PayPal account.
MilesBooster allows you to register directly with partner loyalty programs: FlyingBlue (Air France/KLM), MileagePlus (United Airlines) Travel Better and Cheaper, and AAdvantage (American Airlines) … I, who had always been too lazy to look for where and how to register. I am finally a member of the programs of the three big airline alliances. SkyTeam, StarAlliance. And Oneworld, with the possibility of recording miles when I travel by plane!
5/Be housing in exchange for language lessons with GoCambio
The GoCambio start-up was launched in 2015 by two Irishmen, Ian O’Sullivan and Deirdre Bounds. The principle is great: it’s a free exchange platform that allows you to stay and eat with foreigners in exchange for giving them language lessons. For example, a Chinese gives Chinese lessons to a Frenchman who hosts him for free.
The host must be able to provide a spare room (not just a sofa) and some meals, and in exchange, the guest must be available for two hours a day to practice their language or give lessons. It can also be dance lessons, cooking or other… It’s a bit like Couchsurfing, but with more commitment on both sides. So, as a guest, you feel more comfortable staying longer and not just two or three days as is often the case with Couchsurfing. In any case,
6/Eat with locals with VizEat
It is the “Airbnb of the restaurant”. Created by Camille Rumani and Jean-Michel Petit, VizEat allows you to eat with locals via an online reservation platform Travel Better and Cheaper. A traveler to Paris can take part in a “crêpe party” at Clara for 12 euros, or a “classic French dinner” at Benjamin for 25 euros. It’s still cheaper than in a restaurant, and it’s an opportunity to meet locals.
7/Pay and withdraw money free of charge while traveling with PayTop
You don’t realize it at first, but it can quickly become a substantial budget. Commissions for withdrawals and payments abroad by bank card. Many banks offer international formulas without commission. But they are often quite expensive. At the end (11.50 euros per month at Société Générale for me, or 138 euros per year…).
So, I decided to try PayTop’s “multi-currency” card (29.90 euros per year). It is not a brand-new start-up. But I have only just discovered the offer and I wanted to include it here Travel Better and Cheaper. The Voyageur card is a MasterCard. Which can be recharged in euros, pounds sterling. Or USD dollars, and which allows withdrawal free of charge from all MasterCard network distributors. Plus, it’s a second credit card… always useful if you get robbed or lose your bank card.