TripIt Blog

Ideas Worth Spreading

By Nancy Ramamurthi, Vice President of Marketing at TripIt

Each year, the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers gather together for “the ultimate brain spa.” With its mission of Ideas Worth Spreading, the TED conference attracts more than 2,500 people to Long Beach, California to hear from visionaries who believe their ideas can change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.

This year, we’re so honored to be a part of what many have dubbed “a journey into the future, in the company of those creating it.” Here at TripIt, we know how powerful word of mouth can be. Every day, we hear from fans that love our product and promote it to their friends.

We are humbled by those who believe that we are an idea worth spreading which is why we’re participating in Ads Worth Spreading, a showcase of ads that communicate ideas with consumers in the same way that TED communicates with its audience – through powerful ideas that have a life of their own.

You can check out our ad below and cast a vote if you like what you see. Be sure to also watch the other amazing ads that have been submitted. TED will announce the winners of the contest at the conference February 27-March 2, 2012.

 

If you’d like to learn more about TED, please visit: http://www.ted.com/

Or to hear the riveting talks given by some of the world’s most remarkable people (for free!), you can download the TED app on iTunes or the Android Market.

Hey y’all – we’re heading to Austin!

In less than a month, the gang from TripIt and I will be saddling up and heading deep into the heart of Texas for SXSW. In addition to eating lots of BBQ, we’re excited to be part of the annual gathering where technology revolutions are born.

One thing I’m particularly stoked about is this year’s SXSW Mentor Session Program, where I’ll be paired with up-and-coming innovators. While the meetings are designed to be one-on-one coaching sessions, I’m sure I’ll be learning as much from my mentees as they will be from me. If you’re interested in signing up, check out the SXSW website for more info. Details should be up soon.

Additionally, our very own Thomas Marks will be speaking on a panel on why social users create unique personas on different networks alongside folks from LinkedIn, Match.com and Spych Market Analytics. Make sure you swing by the Omni Downtown (Longhorn) on Saturday, March 10^th at 12:30PM to check it out or just to say hi.


Thomas Marks, Director of Product Marketing, TripIt

In addition to our shameless self promotion, we’re looking forward to the sessions from some of our favorite thought leaders: 

• Give Me an Invite! Creating User Demand at LaunchFriday, 3/9, 3:30-4:30PM at Hilton Austin Downtown – Salon C
  With speakers from TechCrunch, Rockmelt, SocialCam and Fab.com
• Community First: Lessons for Early-Stage Startups
  Sunday, 3/11, 11-12PM at Hilton Austin Downtown – Salon D
  With speakers from Foursquare, Airbnb, SoundCloud and Photojojo
• No Wallet? No Problem. Enter Mobile Payments.
  Sunday, 3/11, 11-12PM at Hilton Austin Downtown – Salon J
  With speakers from Google, American Express, 360i and NXP Semiconductors
• Let's Get Lost: Surprise in the Social Media Age
  Tuesday, 3/13, 3:30-4:30PM, Omni Downtown – Longhorn
  With speakers from WIRED, Pandora, OkCupid and iCrossing

 
Will you be in town for the festivities? If so, we’d love to see you and hear about the things you love and the things we could make better at TripIt. Drop us a line at sxsw [at] tripitinc [dot] com.

Stay tuned and see you in Austin!

Quite a Journey: Looking Back at 2011

It's been quite a year. Before 2012 kicks into full gear, we wanted to take a moment to look back and celebrate the most recent leg of our journey together...

Collectively, you've traveled more than 5 billion miles! That's more than double the miles logged last year. Thanks for taking us with you, and providing suggestions from the road. We love hearing from you - and we celebrate the victories you share @TripIt or on Facebook, whether it's dollars earned back on airfare with TripIt Pro, or when you get the last seat on an alternate flight. 

This year we welcomed fresh new faces to the TripIt team, and there's room for more (check out our open positions here). We even had our first Hack Day! And the team was very busy this year...

We launched the iPad and Windows Phone apps, gave the Android and iPhone apps design refreshes, and joined the Amazon app store and Kindle Fire in December. There's more to come in January, so all those recently unwrapped tablets will be able to download TripIt in no time.

In October, we announced an exciting partnership with Avis to make booking a rental car even easier in less clicks. We're also helping power the new Frommer's Remix by HP. Putting itinerary data to work for you is an idea that we'll continue to bring to life with the 1,200 developers now using our open platform.

Joining Concur in January opened the door for exciting new features and partnerships. In June, we made it easy for TripIt users to automatically create an itinerary any time they book travel through Concur, and for TripIt Pro itineraries to feed expense reports in Concur. Companies of all sizes now have endless options to organize travel and expenses, seamlessly.

TripIt for Business really started to take off this year with a convenient way to see who's in or out of the office - and it's about to get really interesting in early 2012. We also introduced trip sharing through Salesforce Chatter and Yammer, as another way to keep colleagues in the loop.

One of the biggest highlights of the year was winning our first Webby Award. We were delighted to be recognized among top innovators in tech, and also later within the travel industry, when we received honors from Travel Weekly's Magellan Awards and the Telegraph Travel Awards.

It really is an exciting time to be a traveler, and we can't wait to show you what we have up our sleeves for 2012. 

Cheers,

Gregg, Scott, Andy and the TripIt team

 

A man, a plan, Pan Am: Watch live with TripIt

We're just as excited as you are for Sunday's premiere of Pan Am on ABC at 10/9c. Join us on a journey to the "Jet Age," by attending our virtual viewing party here: http://bit.ly/npBS7j. 

Let's watch together live as the glamour and drama in the sky unfolds. To add to the conversation, simply tweet using hashtags #tripit and #panam. 

Friends and fellow travel enthusiasts welcome. Adventure calls.

SXSW Fever: Rock the Vote

We’ve got panels and they’re multiplyin’… it’s electrifyin’!

Grease may not be the word in Austin, but we are pretty fired up about the potential line-up at SXSW in March. 

We’d love your support to help #rockthevote. Just make sure to jam-on-it before Friday, Sept. 2 (at which time we’ll cool it on the music puns).

Shameless self-promotion:

Keep it Simple: Apps that Solve Age-Old Problems

Featuring: Gregg Brockway, TripIt; Aaron Forth, Mint; Scott Jampol, OpenTable; Alexa Andrzejewski, Foodspotting; and moderator Vijay Chattha, AppLaunchPR

You've Infiltrated the Enterprise: Now What?

Featuring: Scott Hintz, TripIt; David Michaels, Mint; Adam Nash, LinkedIn; and moderator Wade Roush, Xconomy

Free Your Mind: APIs as Lifeblood for Innovation

Featuring: Andy Denmark, TripIt; Jeff Arena, GateGuru; Nikolaj Hald, Memolane.com; and moderator Robert Scoble, Scobleizer

Multiple Personalities are not a Disorder; They're the Norm

Featuring: Thomas Marks, TripIt; Elizabeth Sartin, Match.com; Amy Parnell, LinkedIn; and moderator Benjamin Smithee, Spych Market Analytics

Also, included below are some noteworthy panels featuring innovators and friends of TripIt:

Community First: Lessons for Early-Stage Startups 

Crowdsource This! Harnessing the Crowd for Content 

YouKnowYouWantIt: Recommendation Engines That Rock 

Twitter: Time Suck or Next Great Marketing Tool?

http://www.mint.com/sxsw/

 

Travel to #BlogHer11 like a "Pro"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you among the esteemed bloggers descending on San Diego August 5-6, 2011 for BlogHer '11? We'd like to make getting there a little easier by giving you your own personal travel assistant.

Normally $49 per year, TripIt Pro helps you travel without a hitch. You'll be kept in the know with status alerts by text or email, including flight delays and cancellations, alternate flight options, check-in, gates and baggage claim.

Plus, TripIt Pro helps you save money by monitoring eligible flights for fare refund opportunities, and stores all your frequent traveler points in one place.

Test drive your very own personal travel assistant for 90 days on us, by visiting http://bit.ly/BlogHerPro11. 

Safe travels!

TripIt Reveals Top 10 Holiday Destinations for Tech-Savvy Travelers

In honor of Independence Day, we decided to take a look at the Top 10 US Destinations that tech-savvy travelers are headed for the holiday weekend. 

These are the most popular places for TripIt travelers, which you can spot by their manila folder-free ensemble, smartphone in hand, and overall Zen-like appearance.

Image courtesy of Hyrck. on Flickr 

Top 10 US Destinations for Tech-Savvy Travelers - July 4^th Holiday Weekend (ranked by number of itineraries created in TripIt)

1. New York City
2. Chicago
3. San Francisco
4. Los Angeles
5. Las Vegas
6. Boston
7. Washington DC
8. Seattle
9. Denver
10. Orlando

Those headed to New York City can trek to Coney Island to see Joey Chestnut scarf down 68 hot dogs in the Nathan’s Famous 2011 International Hot Dog Eating Contest, going strong since 1916. Don’t forget to live tweet that meat! Follow @eatingcontest on Twitter.

It’s also the 125^th Anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, which Macy’s is celebrating with a fireworks show on the Hudson, featuring Beyonce and airing on NBC. Catching stars of the Great White Way or Lincoln Center while you’re in town? Don’t forget to send your ticket confirmation to plans@tripit.com. 

Image courtesy of Medhead on Flickr

Chicago offers more than hot dogs at its annual foodie fest, Taste of Chicago, which wraps up July 3, and if you’re still hungry for more don’t forget to send us your OpenTable reservations too. Boston-bound travelers can catch a game (or dog) at Fenway or walk the Freedom Trail.

And since you shared your TripIt plans with your hosts in San Francisco, LA or Seattle nice and early, they’ve no doubt planned for your arrival with a swanky rooftop or cul-de-sac party to watch the fireworks. Blankets at no extra cost. 

If you’re renting a car to get a break from the heat in Vegas, Denver, or Orlando, no need to pay for navigation: use TripIt’s iPad app to get turn-by-turn directions.

There’s no better place to celebrate American history than Washington, D.C. It goes without saying that the Nation’s Capitol offers a plethora of patriotic events, including its annual concert on the Mall, “A Capitol Fourth,” also airing on PBS.  

We’ve merely scratched the surface on things to do this weekend. What do you recommend in the Top 10 cities above for the holiday? 

 

The Amazing Hack - Summer 2011

We recently hosted our first two day hackathon, “The Amazing Hack” at TripIt HQ.  Fourteen teams made up with folks who came from every department of the company competed to build what ended up being some pretty amazing hacks - and clever ways of presenting them - spotlighting innovation across the organization.

As this was our first TripIt internal hackathon, I was a bit nervous as to what the results might be and how much people would get into it, and now that it’s over I must say that the TripIt team far surpassed any expectations I could have reasonably had!

When the judges assembled (including guest judge John Lilly - pictured above) for presentations at the end of the 36-hour rush, we were bombarded with creativity: guitar serenades, animations, illustrations - and there was even a human taxi with built-in GPS...

There were hacks that solved longstanding problems in the existing product. There were hacks that made bold suggestions about how to rip up and reinvent existing functionality. There were even hacks that suggested entirely new business models and revenue streams that TripIt could pursue.  

I’m so absolutely proud of the teams that participated as they clearly poured their heart and soul into the competition.

The next challenge for TripIt is to find out how to ship as much of this work as we can before we have our next hackathon.  We’re definitely having another one as I don’t get as much time to code as I used to and this is a very convenient excuse.  More about my hack in a future post (sneak peek below)!

But onto the winners. I’d like to congratulate the following folks for presenting revolutionary ideas that you will very likely see in the flesh:

Grand Prize Winners: Harold, Cliff and Lisa

 

    Third Place (Tie): Steven, Mike, Gina

 

Second Place: Thor 

Third Place (Tie): Alex and Yu....

 

Stay tuned for more posts about the innovation that came out of The Amazing Hack - Summer 2011. For now, check out out our Flickr album.