TripSketch – Green Travel Planning There Is An App For That

Wanting to learn more about How To Create your dream vacation the greenway? I did an interview with the VP of Marketing & Business Development, Roseanne Landay from TripSketch to capture a new exciting trend.

Q: TripSketch promotes itself as an Award-winning green travel mobile application and trip planning website enabling smart travel decisions, support of sustainable businesses and social enterprises, and development of realistic itineraries. Tell us a little bit about what type of consumer segment you primarily reach out to

TripSketch appeals to independent leisure travelers primarily visiting North America, Europe, and Asia. Our key customers are travelers who want to support their green and sustainable lifestyles while they travel. TripSketch provides customers with thousands of eco-friendly hotels, restaurants, attractions, tours, and other travel services to choose from, as well as “don’t miss” travel options in over 80 destinations worldwide. TripSketch also profiles social enterprises where travelers can dedicate a few hours or less of their vacation time to give back to the communities they visit. Travelers use TripSketch’s trip planning tool to ensure that they make the most of their travel time, whether it is a multi-destination trip or a short but active city break.

TripSketch Key Differentiators:

• “Do Good, Feel Good” Activities: In addition to our focus on green travel options, such as eco-certified hotels, sustainable restaurants, and local attractions such as farmers’ markets, TripSketch is dedicated to developing the largest database of social enterprises where travelers can allocate a few hours or less of their vacation time to support local disadvantaged communities. These activities might include shopping at a women’s cooperative in Beirut, attending a dance show at an orphanage in Siem Reap, or enjoying a meal at the Delancey Street Restaurant in San Francisco where at-risk youth learn life skills. By profiling and promoting social enterprises, TripSketch aims to encourage more travelers to include “Do Good, Feel Good” activities as part of a regular vacation.
• Actionable Content: TripSketch has developed “actionable” content that enables travelers to make travel decisions meeting their logistical needs and personal preferences. For example, TripSketch helps travelers answer questions such as: What is free? What is close to my hotel? What can I do in just a few hours? Rather than staring at a wall of drab brochures in the hotel lobby, Travelers can use TripSketch to leapfrog the research process and thereby have more time to enjoy the city or destination they are visiting
• Realistic Itineraries: As travelers add items to their TripSketch trip itinerary, with our fun clock feature they can see an expert estimate of the number of hours and/or days it should take to enjoy all of the activities they have selected, thereby enabling them to develop a realistic trip itinerary and effectively manage their time. Similarly, business travelers find TripSketch useful for making the most of a few hours they may have between meetings or flights

Q: Some research reports on the eco-friendly Hotel segment indicate that consumers primarily focus on whether or not the Hotel is eco-friendly certified. Do you see TripSketch as a tool that can help consumers create an experience that will provide more attention to a value-driven eco-friendly approach?

Absolutely. TripSketch works with both eco-certified and non-certified hotels to present green and sustainable travel options to their guests. Our partner model allows hotels to frame TripSketch travel content and trip planning tool on their website in less than an hour, including customized colors, content categories, and default sorts that reinforce the hotel’s brand and best serve their guests. TripSketch hotel partners can also suggest local green travel options, social enterprises, and interesting things to do that they would like added to the database at no cost to the hotel

In addition to identifying eco-friendly hotels in their destination, when a traveler uses TripSketch to choose a sustainable restaurant for lunch, a shuttle bus that offsets the carbon emissions generated to go to and from the airport, or a park where they can see local entertainment, they are supporting sustainable travel and businesses with their travel spending decisions.

Also, TripSketch donates 20% of all proceeds from its Green Bookmobile application downloads to non-profit social and environmental causes, thereby moving sustainable travel far beyond the frontier of reusing hotel towels! Over time, the selection of additional charitable recipients will be crowdsourced via social media by TripSketch customers themselves, further empowering travelers to make travel decisions consistent with their lifestyle choices.

Q: Social Media today provide real-time experiences through word of mouth. Will TripSketch build in Social Media authorization login options from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc?

One of the unique aspects of the TripSketch website is that it does not require user registration; users can build a travel itinerary and email it without completing a tedious registration form. Thus, social media authorization login options are not necessary.

Q: How will TripSketch capture the consumer experience through Social Media? Will you have a platform to showcase live touchpoint experiences from consumers that utilize TripSketch?

TripSketch recognizes the value of social media for enabling real-time sharing of user experiences and opinions, particularly in the travel segment, and therefore we have integrated Facebook and Twitter into the TripSketch website. Users can build a trip itinerary from the TripSketch website and directly post it to their Facebook wall for comments and suggestions from their friends. Or, travelers can tweet and post interesting travel ideas they discovered on the TripSketch website.

TripSketch uses social media to build a community of travelers who support travel philanthropy – making travel and spending decisions that support sustainable businesses and social causes.

By joining the TripSketch community, travelers can learn more about green travel and social enterprises as well as share their personal favorites with fellow travelers and friends or suggest for inclusion in the TripSketch database.

For example, when in Portland and looking for a sweet treat, TripSketch recommends travelers patronize Ben & Jerry’s Yamhill PartnerShop where all profits go directly to New Avenues for Youth, a nonprofit organization that provides disadvantaged youth with jobs and business skills. With TripSketch, travelers are empowered to make decisions that enable them to support local disadvantaged communities in as little as a few minutes and often while enjoying themselves at the same time!

TripSketch has identified over 100 “Do Good, Feel Good” short-term activities and encourages travelers to use social media to promote these sustainable businesses and social enterprises.

Travelers can join the TripSketch community by liking our Facebook page and following us on Twitter http://twitter.com/TripSketch

Q: TripSketch provides an award-winning eco-friendly travel application for mobile devices. Tell us a little bit about how this travel application adds extra value for your consumers.

TripSketch is honored to have been awarded 1st Place in the Eco/Green category by Nokia at it’s 2010 “Calling all Innovators” Competition for its Green Traveler application.

In addition to enabling travelers to make travel decisions that support sustainable businesses and social enterprises, the TripSketch Green Bookmobile application provides additional value to travelers. Whereas other travel mobile applications typically charge $5.99+ for each city downloaded, or purchase of a travel guide costs over $20.00 per country book, TripSketch Green Book is a worldwide travel guide providing access to over 80 destinations in one download for just $4.99.

Plus, travelers don’t need to worry about paying for Internet and Wi-Fi access to use the TripSketch Green Book; they can access the app from anywhere in the world after downloading and storing it on their mobile devices.

Q: What is next for TripSketch? And where should the consumer look for more information about TripSketch and the eco-friendly travel application for smartphones?

TripSketch is continuously expanding its coverage of worldwide green travel options, sustainable businesses, and social enterprises. In addition to the insights of our professional travel writers, we plan to crowdsource recommendations and charitable recipients from travelers themselves, thereby enabling travelers to garner support for businesses and causes they are passionate about and what they want to share with like-minded travelers.

TripSketch seeks to make planning enriching travel experiences more accessible to consumers by partnering with more hotels. With TripSketch integrated into hotel websites, travelers can easily find green travel options when booking their hotel rooms or during their hotel stay.

Integration of TripSketch on hotel websites not only reinforces the sustainable business values of eco-certified hotels thereby strengthening their green brand but also, enables non-eco-certified hotels to demonstrate their commitment to the environment and local disadvantaged communities by providing a tool that supports these values.

Also, hotels can utilize the TripSketch travel planner as a low-cost way to better understand guest preferences and thereby provide guests with personalized, distinguished, memorable service. For example, hotels can use TripSketch as an online concierge to augment their real-life concierges. Imagine a hotel that calls a guest before arrival to see if they would like for the concierge to make a reservation at one of the unique restaurants selected in the guest’s TripSketch trip itinerary, a copy of which was emailed to the hotel. Or, a hotel whose concierge informs the guest of a special, traveling exhibit at a museum the traveler has included in their trip plan and offers to secure tickets in advance of their stay. Given a guest’s interest in art as suggested by their TripSketch travel itinerary, perhaps the concierge recommends a small, intimate art gallery event profiling local art.

TripSketch is a win-win-win for travelers, hotels, and sustainable businesses / social enterprises!

For additional information about TripSketch’s web-based travel planning tool, TripSketch Green Book mobile application, and TripSketch Corporation please visit http://www.tripsketch.com

To download the TripSketch mobile application please visit http://tripsketch.com/mobile Hotels, travel, hospitality, environmental, and other companies and organizations interested in partnership opportunities please contact TripSketch at sales@tripsketch.com