New company looks to shake up holiday search

A new destination search engine has been launched this week which aspires to be the first website people visit when researching their next holiday.

InspireMyHoliday.com has been launched by Oliver Lomas, former head of product and commercial at TravelBag, Norma Meyer, founder and CEO of destination management company followme2, and chartered accountant Mark Edwards, founder of founded Certus Financial Limited.

Tony Russell, former managing director of Trailfinders, is working on the brand as a consultant.

The London-based company is being privately funded and has been in development since February.

In a bid to make the process of holiday research simpler and more streamlined, it allows consumers to search for holidays based on a wider range of specific holiday needs, including month of travel, desired climate, maximum flight duration from chosen airport, accommodation level and holiday wish list, such as beach, culture, or food and drink.

It has already signed up big travel brands as partners, including lastminute.com, Virgin Atlantic, booking.com, Destinology, On The Beach, Love Holidays, Wendy Wu Tours, and CV Villas & Sun Resorts

These partnerships work in a number of ways, including revenue share, listing fees, cost per call and cost per click.

"We’re looking for suitable travel partners to fulfil consumer bookings and accommodation partners to showcase the best properties to experience," said Lomas.

"We want to build sustainable partnerships within the travel industry who can be relied on to deliver incremental business in what is a very complex market place.

"There is no dominant site which offers the functionality to help inspire consumer in the way we do.~Some tour operators have elements to what we do, but the closest brands on inspiring consumers would be Culture Trip from a content perspective and Travelzoo from a travel deals perspective.

The company currently has nine people working on the brand either consultants, directors or freelancers.

"We’re looking to grow employee numbers in line with growth of the business," said Lomas.

The company produces regular newsletters with holiday offers, destination insights and the chance for consumers to create and manage personal bucket lists.

Those that sign up to receive the newsletter will receive an exclusive discount code from lastminute.com, giving them £50 off any booking when they spend £700 or more on a holiday (flight and hotel).

This promotion will run throughout September and is valid for bookings made during the same month, T&Cs apply.