Wow, it's been a busy few weeks! We continue to learn a tremendous amount about how to improve the group travel and event planning experience on a almost daily basis, and I'd like to thank the dozens of people who have taken the time to send us feedback. We appreciate it very much. Your input is extremely valuable.
In particular, I'd like to share one of the more detailed and insightful write ups we've received to date. The following was written by Adam Sheppard. Adam works at Microsoft (labs.live.com) and publishes a newsletter in which he identifies and reviews emerging technologies and online services. Here's what he had to say about TripHub:
The premise of a collaborative environment that provides rich tools for the key milestones of a group trip is a good one. Even better, if it evolves through the lifecycle of the trip whether it’s collectively pooling photos that individuals have taken or blog entries made, providing a gateway to communication / broadcasting messages to the group via SMS, or simply settling up bills and IOUs. While on paper this sounds like a good idea, it’s actually a fairly daunting task to do this well. I think the v1.0 is a good start but it’s got a ways to go. The problem with a lot of groupware is that it often tries to do too much or force the user to do things that take more time and effort than it would to simply just start an e-mail thread. Here 's my specific feedback:
1. I'd like to be able to see all comments about a hotel not just those of the working group.
2. A group task list would be a very cool addition.
3. Transparency. I didn't feel like I knew the source of who / where you were searching when you retrieved flights and hotels.
4. I'd like to use my preferred aggregator engine and see the collaboration stuff as a sidebar beside it.
5. For the current startup environment, it doesn't look Web 2.0 enough.
6. You need a product blog even if it's just a couple of entries describing what's coming.
7. Not sure if there's one place to see the aggregate of everything everyone has contributed to the trip.
8. Give people a reason to want to add info. It shouldn't feel purely utilitarian, make it fun to see what people are adding and then look for a way to extend it during and post trip.
9. Tell me right up front why the collaboration benefits are worth the time and effort.
In direct response to Adam's point #6, here we go! Please note that we have added comments to this page and we look forward to an active dialog with you.
We agree with Adam's feedback, and our team is working on new functionality that will address several of his suggestions. A few pieces may take longer to deliver, but please stay tuned and let us know what YOU think we can do to make the service more complete and easier to use. Thanks!
Great work.
Posted by: Gifts | January 16, 2008 at 02:26 AM