To Deal-Travel or Not? That is the Question

As the popularity of group buying grows, so do the number of industries participating.

A significant player in the industry is travel. Following in the footsteps of sites like Expedia, Travelocity, major daily deals players have teamed up with such sites, or stated travel deals of their own.

A few that come to mind: LivingSocial Escapes, Group Getaways (Groupon + Expedia = love), Travelzoo, TripAlertz, the list goes on.

Some of these sites put their own little spin on travel deals.

TripAlertz sets its prices to the number of bookings, and SniqueAway caters to those who are looking for luxury travel, and is available by invitation only.

Most deals are available for the same time as other daily deals, but you can book up to a year.

Aggregators are getting in on the deals too. Travel packages can be found on Yipit and Dealery (who consolidate them from other sites), but I personally, am a little wary.

Now, this is what puzzles me. In order to purchase a travel daily deal, would one already have to be looking for a trip? Or is it one of those spontaneous things? How many details are included in the deal description? Is there are a specific hotel that you have to stay in? Are there restrictions on airlines and flight times? As a travel snob (and crazy-planner-girl), I need to know these things!

I’m the kind of person who researches hotels, looks at reviews, location, whether I’ll need a rental car; there are so many things that go into travelling. Would daily travel deals work for me? Maybe?

Another factor that goes into the travel deals, is the essences of the group buy in general. There’s always a “tipping” point. A required number of people must buy the deal. So, if you decide you want this deal, you get all hyped up for it, make sure you have enough money on the credit card, and no one else buys your deal, you’re stuck at home, potentially never going on a discounted vacation.

Travel deals seem to work best for people who are spur of the moment and on a budget, but not stuck on a specific location. Before you buy a travel deal, check the hotel’s prices to make sure you’re really getting a deal. When it comes to travel, I find planning works best, but even I would be tempted by a trip to the Big Easy in the cold bitter days of February.

Android or iOS: Who travels more? Tripit knows

One of my personal “must have” free travel apps, Tripit, gained both an Android upgrade and a paid version that removes ads on Thursday. Along with that news comes some interesting travel data from Tripit’s mobile user base.

For those not familiar with the app, here’s a quick summary. After booking online travel, you simply forward travel confirmation emails to plans@Tripit.com. The service quickly scans the mail and creates a full itinerary in the Tripit application. All of your trip information is available in one place, ready to share, and you use it to create a Google Calendar for your trips.

The latest update for Android, version 1.8, is available for free in the Android Market and brings a bit of facelift. That’s good, because while the app has always been useful on my Android phones, the iOS version always looked better and was a little easier to navigate. Tripit says the updated Android app looks cleaner — and I agree — plus the software takes up 30 percent less storage space, supports Google sign-in, and is ad-free for $3.99.

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With a popular travel app for multiple platforms, Tripit has plenty of travel data. Apple iOS devices (and presumably, their owners) take more business trips than Androids. For those who take 15 or more business trips yearly, 21 percent use Android, compared to 23 percent using iOS. BlackBerry travelers take the most business trips, accounting for 36 percent of this high-frequency group.

So what about vacations and other leisure trips? Apple users take more time off for fun, according to Tripit, making up a higher percentage of those who take four or more leisure trips per year. Android outnumbers iOS for the group that takes one to three fun trips.

Something that might help explain the data are the age groups of Tripit users. The highest percentage of Tripit users on Android are the crowds in their late twenties and early thirties. BlackBerry and iOS users of the app tend to be older: Late thirties and early forties make up the largest groups for these platforms.

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