NowBoarding has launched a revolutionary travel marketplace, NowBoarding.ai, designed to eliminate the middlemen and hefty commissions that plague the travel industry. This innovative platform connects travelers directly with suppliers, offering real-time personalized offers and a seamless booking experience without the inflated prices charged by major online travel retailers like Airbnb, Expedia, and Booking.com.
Traditionally, the travel industry has been burdened by intermediaries, with $75 billion annually spent on hotel commissions and short-term rental booking fees. These costs inflate prices for consumers and reduce their discretionary travel spending. Moreover, conflicts between retailers and hosts over rules, communication, and traveler ownership have driven suppliers to seek alternatives.
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NowBoarding changes this dynamic by allowing suppliers to reach their ideal customers commission-free, selling directly from their inventory systems. The platform employs a freemium subscription model, free for suppliers with fewer than three listings and scaling up to $5,000 annually per property for enterprise hotels. This approach keeps the marketplace market-neutral and free of irrelevant sponsored ads.
Chris Moss, CEO of NowBoarding, states, “Our mission is to be the most meaningfully connected travel marketplace in the world. NowBoarding leverages machine learning to perfectly match supply with demand by allowing suppliers, in real time, to understand user intent and propensity to buy, automatically distributing personalized offers to the desired traveler.”
Moss highlights the travel market’s struggle with personalization, noting, “Supplier websites deliver an incomplete and fragmented experience, while OTAs are obstructive and costly. We can save hoteliers up to 99% on the cost of sale and distribution while increasing customer connection, loyalty, and sales.”
Two key features are central to NowBoarding’s launch:
- Price Match Fusion: This feature allows travelers who have booked through large online travel agencies to price match their booking on NowBoarding.ai. Once the traveler completes the Price Match Fusion wizard, the hotelier is notified directly to create a personalized offer, bypassing commissions and repurposing savings for the client. This leverages the fact that 60% of hotel bookings are cancellable up to 48 hours before check-in.
- Whisk Me Away: This feature lets users list a desired destination and create a trip based on set parameters such as radius, dates, and number of companions. Suppliers can then compete to win the business by responding with relevant, personalized offers using NowBoarding’s Search Hawk functionality.
The platform is live with over 180,000 listings worldwide and is rapidly expanding. It offers short-term rentals without Airbnb’s average 12.5% service fees and includes hotels from smaller independents to major brands. Future plans include adding a proprietary chat system, supplier groups for micro-segmentation, and multiple categories, aiming for 16 by the end of 2025.
NowBoarding is poised to redefine the travel booking process, making it more cost-effective and personalized for travelers while providing suppliers with a direct, commission-free sales channel.
For more information, visit NowBoarding Holdings, Inc..
