Through Lyft and Uber, the sharing economy has taken a charge at cabs. Airbnb is making hotels palpitate in their pants. If TRVL has its way, it’s the travel agencies’ turn to tremble. Armed with 2.7 million freshly minted dollars from a conglomerate of angel investors, the company is hoping to augment services like Booking.com, Hotels.com and Tripadvisor by adding a soupçon of crowd magic.
Amsterdam-based TRVL launched its product late last year, and has been busy working on improving its service and lobbying investors. The company today announced it has closed a €2.5m ($2.7m) round to fuel further product development and growth.
“Today, when you’re researching and planning a trip for yourself or the people you travel with, you’re essentially doing the work of a travel agent,” the company’s CEO, Jochem Wijnands says. he is quick to highlight the biggest difference between you and a travel agent: “You don’t get rewarded for it.”
