where do you get all the data for planes, hotels from? are you scraping it? do they block it after a while?
Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
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Re: Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
#12Looks pretty great! My experience: installed it but couldn't figure out how to import existing itineraries, and nothing at https://hopon.zendesk.com/hc/en-us , so uninstalled after a few mins. Best of luck!
Thanks! Importing existing bookings from other sites (tripit style) is a feature that we have been working on for a while. Not quite ready for prime time yet, but we'll get there!
Re: Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
#13where do you get all the data for planes, hotels from? are you scraping it? do they block it after a while?
For flights, we're plugged into exactly the same systems (called GDS's or Global Distribution Systems, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Distribution_System) that Expedia, Orbitz, etc use for flights. For hotels, we're using the Expedia Affiliate Network right now.
Re: Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
#14Looks awesome! Why backbone instead of angular though?
Re: Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the comment! We are plugged into exactly the same systems for flight booking that Expedia, Orbitz, etc use for flights, so our prices are identical in 95%+ of the cases. Yes - we're planning an Android app, but for now we have a (we think) very responsive and feature-complete mobile web app, in addition to the iOS app and desktop site.
Some feedback: the way you invite and share with others via the web interface does not feel that intuitive. For example, I'm having a hard time understanding when and how you split hotel costs with other users. Also, it would be really nice to get an idea of how much the trip will cost in total per person on the trip page. I'd also echo the suggestion made by the other commenter about having a dedicated page for each…
Thanks for the feedback!
1) Once you create a trip - just click the big red "Invite" button on the right side (desktop site) and you'll get options to invite friends/colleagues by email, share a link where people can see the trip details and decide to join, etc.
2) We just fixed the triplist page so you'll see your cost to book the trip - you ran into an edge case there, sorry!
Re: Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
#16Looks awesome! Why backbone instead of angular though?
Thanks! Choose Backbone.js mostly because of personal experience in using it beforehand/being comfortable with it.
Re: Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
#17where do you get all the data for planes, hotels from? are you scraping it? do they block it after a while?
For flights, we're plugged into exactly the same systems (called GDS's or Global Distribution Systems, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Distribution_System ) that Expedia, Orbitz, etc use for flights. For hotels, we're using the Expedia Affiliate Network right now.
can you explain a bit more about the costs of getting data from those sources? How do websites like Kayak get all the price data for tickets, hotels?
How does hopon actually make money, is it from affiliate programs? What affiliate programs are you signed up with?
Seems like these ticket, trip websites are dime a dozen, how do you stand above the crowd?
Re: Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
#18Love the concept. There is definitely a need for social travel planning. Love that you guys use pyramid and backbone btw ;) I guess my only criticism is on my initial experience. It feels like a better expedia, nothing more. The core value of your site is that it lets people plan their trip together. But that's not the impression I am getting when I start using it. Maybe the first step should be: Where are you planni…
So fundamentally we think we have built a better Expedia, that also happens to have a lot of social features. The core value of the site is that it's a much simpler way to plan a trip than currently exists. If you happen to be traveling with friends or colleagues, you can also invite people and they can customize and book a similar trip in a few clicks. There is a unique url that you can share with all the info on your trip so that people can check it out and decide to join - here's a example: https://www.hopon.com/triplists/1982?l=26e564b1e19b85ecf8106...
Re: Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
For flights, we're plugged into exactly the same systems (called GDS's or Global Distribution Systems, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Distribution_System ) that Expedia, Orbitz, etc use for flights. For hotels, we're using the Expedia Affiliate Network right now.
can you explain a bit more about the costs of getting data from those sources? How do websites like Kayak get all the price data for tickets, hotels? How does hopon actually make money, is it from affiliate programs? What affiliate programs are you signed up with? Seems like these ticket, trip websites are dime a dozen, how do you stand above the crowd?
It's actually a fairly complicated business development process - we make money the same way the other travel booking/OTA (online travel agency) sites like Expedia/Orbitz do, but we think our differentiation is the simplicity of the site and social features we've built. If people have a good experience and share the site with their friends, then we will grow organically without a lot of expensive advertising.
Re: Show HN: HopOn – Simple and Social Way to Book Travel
#20Love the concept. There is definitely a need for social travel planning. Love that you guys use pyramid and backbone btw ;) I guess my only criticism is on my initial experience. It feels like a better expedia, nothing more. The core value of your site is that it lets people plan their trip together. But that's not the impression I am getting when I start using it. Maybe the first step should be: Where are you planni…
So fundamentally we think we have built a better Expedia, that also happens to have a lot of social features. The core value of the site is that it's a much simpler way to plan a trip than currently exists. If you happen to be traveling with friends or colleagues, you can also invite people and they can customize and book a similar trip in a few clicks. There is a unique url that you can share with all the info on yo…
Gotcha. Looks great. Should get that page created right after the GET STARTED.