TravelMole eWire Q&A with isango’s Jess Butcher

Jess Butcher is head of partnerships at online travel experiences company isango! 

Q: Experience travel is the newest, sexiest thing in the online travel space. Why? How have people made the transition from bargain flight hunters to thrill seekers?

A: Online experience travel has emerged to meet two key consumer trends: the rise of ‘DIY-ing’ (which has empowered consumers to shop around and buy separate elements of their travel at the lowest prices) and the growing consumer aspiration to be a ‘traveller’ rather than a ‘tourist’. It’s the rise of the ‘brag factor’ in travel!    

Q: Why were venture capitalists so interested in the isango business plan?

A: Venture capitalists recognised that the market was crying out for a global aggregator that could provide a consistent, technically-sophisticated approach to the diversity of experiential travel, whilst ensuring such business-critical reassurances as ‘lowest price guarantee’.  The size of the opportunity has already been proven by the billions of pounds spent on such activities in-destination, and the consistent shift to online booking means isango! has positioned itself perfectly to take full advantage.

Q: As the crunch looms, what are your thoughts as a site that provides such a luxury item as experiences while travelling?

A: Experiential travel doesn’t have to be a luxury!  For example, isango! experiences start at just £5. Plus, with thousands of products in more than 60 countries, we cater for long-haul, short-haul and domestic travel. 

Q: How will the crunch affect the travel industry generally in your view?

A: Holidays are increasingly seen as a necessity rather than a luxury. Therefore, despite consumers having to tighten their belts, we still believe demand for a well-earned holiday is still likely to be high.  We suspect the crunch will present a short-medium term challenge for longer-haul destinations and luxury segments, but will provide opportunities for budget, domestic and short-haul providers. Long term we still expect continued industry growth.

Q: What are your biggest sellers and why?

A: Traditional tours of cities such as Paris, London and New York are always popular.  However, recently there has been a rise in more unusual ways of sightseeing and new experiences –  such as Segway sightseeing, photography tours or cooking experiences.  We believe it’s important to provide ‘the best’ of a destination next to something tailored to more unique interests to cater for everyone.

Q: What is dark tourism?

A: Dark tourism is not a new phenomenon. Typical isango! products in this category include visits to concentration-camps, a Jack the Ripper Tour and excursions to WW2 battlefields.  Working with the most reputable suppliers on such products ensures they are dealt with sensitively and, far from being voyeuristic or exploitative, we feel such experiences serve to drive historical education and cross-cultural understanding.

Q: Experience companies are sometimes accused of digital racking. What is it and do you do it?

A: Digital racking is the practice of giving a better profile to more profitable, higher margin products or fee-paying suppliers.  This is definitely not an isango! practice. In a 2.0 environment the consumer is more knowing and less loyal. We feel it makes more business sense to offer an unbiased site where experiences are based on conversion, trust and volume, over fees or higher margin.

Q: How will the mobile internet affect the travel industry?

A: Travellers’ experiences will certainly be enhanced by smart services, accessible via mobile devices anywhere and anytime.  As an ‘in-destination’ provider, we’re watching this space avidly but, like many others, we’re waiting for relevant applications that can offer us commercial advantage before jumping in! 

 Q: What’s on the online horizon for travel?

A: The marriage of ‘where-to-go’ inspiration and commerce functionality is still one that no one’s quite nailed online just yet and we really believe the opportunity here could be immense.   There are an increasing number of inspiration-style tools that take activity preference and demographic-detail into consideration, but they tend to culminate in standard flight/ hotel/ car booking engines.  There’s a proliferation of new community style-sites, technologies, widgets and trip planning tools emerging right now – from which we expect to see a bit of boom and bust cycle – but looking forward to seeing the winners.

by Dinah Hatch