Travel planning software: The most common bad startup idea (2012)

Like many here I also had an Trip Planner idea, also because I was solving my own pain point, to accurately create a feasible schedule for trips. My MVP (which is actually my travel planner) is a simple Google Spreadsheet that uses Google Maps API to calculate drive times between destinations (I like to do car trips). So i simply use it to put each destination, calculate driving tim and time at destination to fit the most destinations inside a day. It could become a product if it had access to a huge destinations database (like tripadvisor, Gmaps, etc.) with infos like "estimated visiting time", cost, etc... But I came to the same conclusion as Garry, this wouldn't be something that would appeal to many people.

Here is the link for the spreadsheet for the curious (you'll need a Google Maps Api key): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16T9kLpbqciKCLNWOoOV1...

Besides the point in the article, I want to point out how good the writing is. The author captured me from the first sentence and I read all the way thru.

i once produced the annual catalog for a traditional travel package company, filled with pictures and enticingly-crafted copy (at merely-high to outrageous prices). the whole thing was designed to move potential customers from rational to emotional decision-making and apply simple price discrimination mechanics to maximize revenue. low tech but effective.

it seems like most travel planning software fails due to the too-common misapplication of technology to solve marketing problems.

Several years ago a prominent SV individual (now investor) wrote why investors do not fund dating apps. Since then, several apps like Bumble and Hinge have had very successful M&A. So I don't think these blog posts are particularly valuable except to stop someone who isn't creative enough to break away from the typical path successfully.

I created a failed travel app which was pitched as "Tinder for Travel" (also an unsuccessful pitch as some people thought it was Tinder while you are traveling, but wouldn't that just be Tinder?).

The idea was not a travel app, per se. It was for weekend staycations, since I had the problem of coming up with an itinerary for the day if I wanted to go out and about. Where to go in the morning? Where to have lunch? What afternoon activity could I do? Dinner? These were typical annoyances I had every weekend so I figured an app would help.

The app was too broad, imo. If it were to be successful, it probably needed to start as a feature. One idea the app's co-creator Zach came up with was spots for the perfect instagram post. Personally I was thinking to narrow the scope entirely to, say, a weekend in Healdsburg (this would suffer from the problem Garry discusses, though!).

I believe there is something to the staycation idea, as it is exactly what you'd want on a vacation as well. It's too nebulous even after having thought about it for such a long time, but I'm glad I built it or I'd still think the vision was a perfect match for reality.

(Regarding the dreaming comments made by a couple of people: it may be true, but I've been told by family for whom I've planned trips manually that I do "a great job" -- they have no interest, and neither do I, about planning the trip but being taken along for the ride. So there's probably truth to both. People could certainly fantasize about their trip while using a tool to help plan it, even if it were years in the future.)

Yeah, I suppose I mean "bad" in terms of "getting the thing off the ground."