Q: Describe the business, core products and services in one paragraph
Journeyful operates in the double-sided market of travel.
On one side, we service travellers with our online travel agency, Journeyful.com and offer them the best prices in the market with a robust rewards program.
On the other side, we provide hotels with a travel management system, Journeyful Pro, designed to manage all their distribution channels in a productive and cost effective way. Hotels can continue using all of their existing software. Journeyful Pro creates the deep links between all of their software and distribution channels, accessible from one dashboard.
Q: Who are your key customers?
B2C – Travellers in Singapore and the region
B2B – Independent hotels
Q: Who are your key partners?
B2C – Credit Card Companies, Local Clubs & Organisations
B2B – Hotels, Trip Advisor, Trivago and various wholesalers
Q: What business are you most likely to be compared to?
B2C – Agoda, Expedia, Booking.com, etc.
B2B – Amadeus, Fast Booking, etc.
Q: What problem are you trying to solve for your customers?
B2C – Getting our customers the best prices and great customer service.
Q: What problem are you trying to solve for your partners?
Hotels today are overwhelmed by the ever-changing landscape of hotel distribution. Distribution costs are rising and profits are falling. Independent hotels are being hit the hardest – they have no visibility into which distribution channels are best for them and often fail to compete for their fair share of the market. Therefore, they rely heavily on what seems like an easy fix – online travel agencies who charge hefty commissions and compete against the hotel’s own direct distributions channels.
Most hotels operate without any basic processes or systems in place. In this disorganized state, they are actually hurting their business rather than growing it. However, hotels don’t need to spend a fortune on purchasing multiple fragmented tools to keep track of various distribution channels. To improve profit, they need to get organized and regain control of distribution. Journeyful will enable hotels of all sizes to do this.
Q: What financial support did you have to launch the business?
Journeyful has raised approximately US$600,000 from its founders. The rest is via bootstrapping and revenue from operations. We’re currently looking to raise US$1 million from VCs to grow the business.
Q: Who validated the idea first – investors or customers?
Customers.
Q: What is the revenue model and strategy for profitability?
Historically, we have been charging commissions on transactions through the Journeyful.com platform.
Moving forward, our business model will be SaaS based. We will bill hotels on a monthly or per annum subscription fee to use Journeyful Pro and eliminate all commissions on transactions.
Q: What is the market opportunity? How scalable is this business?
By contracting with the right partners, the scalability of the platforms is huge.
B2C – Travellers are always seeking the best deals and embrace a platform that has their best interests at heart.
B2B – Hotels, especially independent hotels, are dying for a way to improve their profitability and manage their distribution partners. By creating a plug & play system, hotels don’t have to spend time on implementation.
Q: Competitive analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Strengths – Unlike other platforms, we do not charge hotels a commission on transactions. This makes us special because we have aligned our interests with the hotel.
Weaknesses – Developing and creating awareness about our products and services is expensive. Competing with the big boys for market share will be a challenge as well.
Opportunities – There are over 500,000 hotels in the world. We estimate 70% lack proper systems to understand their customers enough to put in place the best marketing and pricing strategies. Our initial focus is South East Asia.
Threats – Our biggest threat will be if OTAs successfully penetrate hotel operations via new property management systems.
Q: Who are the team members and advisors?
Moe Ibrahim, Founder & CEO. Moe has an extensive background as an entrepreneur. He also owns two hotels and has first hand experience of the shortfalls in the hospitality industry.
Slava Kotov, Development Lead. Slava is a database expert. He has carried out projects for the NYSE and Pfizer to name a few.
Elizabeth Webster, Business Development Lead. Elizabeth holds a Masters Degree in International Business Development. She is focused on creating long-term value for Journeyful by forging strategic relationships. She recently completed the iSTARTUP Accelerator Programme.
Pallavi Malviya Gupta, Marketing and Communications Lead. Pallavi has experience as an entrepreneur having run her own business for over 3 years. She is now fully committed to Journeyful and has a keen eye for design.
![Moe Ibrahim 088_8019[1] copy](https://www.webintravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Moe-Ibrahim-088_80191-copy.jpg)
Q: Why do you think you are the best people to make this vision happen?
As a hotel owner for nearly a decade, Moe (pictured right) is personally experiencing the harmful effects of hotels losing control over their distribution. As a turnaround expert with deep hotel experience, Moe understands the problem intimately.
Q: What’s the motivation behind doing this?
Existing apps in the market are designed to harm hotels further. Hotels don’t need to spend big bucks on more software. They need to get organised and regain control of distribution. Journeyful will enable hotels of all sizes to do this.
