Tripwolf Blog

Tuesday night we celebrated the launch of tripwolf Italian in La Buca di San Vincenzo in Milan. Thanks to Marco’s and Elisa’s organizing skills, dozens of guests showed up: tripwolf members, travelers, journalists, internet enthusiasts and travel business professionals . We had a lot of fun – here are a few impressions for those who missed it! Sebastian, tripwolf

the friendly barkeepers

Sebastian holding speech

party people

applauding party people

happy party people

super happy party guy

late hour Marco

Hi, my Name is FranzSeo, I’m the SEO Manager of triwpolf.com. SEO (the abbreviation of Search Engine Optimization) is basically the art of getting found. (So that you get to see all the wonderful tripwolf info at Google). Some weeks ago Google announced the so called canonical element. It is a small, enny, weeny HTML element (invisible to human users) that you put in the head of the webpage to tell the search engines what the best URL (Uniform Resource Locater, the stuff with http:// in front) for the webpage is.

It’s really a new concept, so nobody knew how Google would handle this. We found out the hard way: we made a tpyo typo in the URL – and to put it shortly: Google does not like us anymore like it did before. We fixed it. And now we wait for Google to make his move. (Come on Google, it was a typo! Mistakes happen in every relationship!).

Anyway: this mistake could only happen, because it is an invisible element in the head, so nobody sees it. For testing this element we coded a simple Greasemonkey Script. (First install Greasemonkey for Firefox, then click on “Show Canonical Script“).

It now shows you the canonical URL (if specified).

And links it if it is different from the current URL you are on.

Makes testing, life and enhancing tripwolf easier. No more typos.

Great news for tripwolf users. Footprint, publisher of the longest running travel guides in the English market, and tripwolf will cooperate. The first act of the new partnership is integrating Footprint’s Peru Handbook into tripwolf’s web platform and mobile version.

“It is fantastic to see Peru content from our Footprint Handbooks on tripwolf.com and on the beta version of the tripwolf iPhone application”, says Footprint Marketing Manager, Liz Harper. “We looked at various potential partners to make Footprint content available through new channels and tripwolf has clearly convinced us with their innovative approach and unique offerings for users.”

We strengthen our strategy of combining professional editorial travel content with user-generated content from thousands of globetrotters worldwide. On tripwolf.com individual travellers can create their personalized travel guides, based on recommendations from expert “trip gurus,” friends and other travellers.

More info on the tripwolf Social Media release

Last week Alex and I went to PhocusWright in Los Angeles, the online travel industry’s most important conference. It was great to hear the speeches of Expedia’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Kayak’s CEO Steve Hafner and, of course, Tripadvisor’s CEO Steve Kaufer – our big competitor, even if we are probably still flying under his radar.

tripwolf was there in true start-up mode: While our much better financed American competitors like NileGuide, PlanetEye, Triporati or Travelmuse paid nearly 10,000 dollars each to hold a 10-minute-presentation and probably stayed at the overpriced conference hotel, Alex and I crashed on the floor of a friend’s place in the cool Echo Park neighborhood and sometimes shared one ticket to get into the venue. Ironically, it was a guy from Lonely Planet who sneaked us in – another big competitor who might not have noticed us yet

At the conference it became clear once again how competitive the field is that we entered: A lot of the travel start-ups have very similar concepts. Stephen Joyce (who presented his very cool technology company Rezgo.com) even calls it the “the Battle of the Trip Planners“.

For now, as he points out, tripwolf is in the lead, together with uptake. Naturally, this makes us very proud! My bet is that uptake will also make a big impact down the road: Their take on Search Engine Optimization is very smart.

A “thumbs up” also goes to the gracious guys from TravelMuse who sat down for a chat and took a picture with us. The atmosphere was much more pleasant than in our meeting with Tripsay, a Finnish competitor we met at a conference in San Francisco last spring: Those guys looked as if they wanted to bite our heads off…

It was great also to finally meet all those bloggers in person who we got to know virtually over the last few months: Claude Benard from Hotel i Tour, Tim Hughes from The Boot, Stephen Joyce from TourismTechnology.rezgo.com , Kevin May from Travolution, Jeb Buhler from BuhlerWorks and Sean Keener from BootsNAll.com.

We brought back a full bag of partnerships from LA. We will announce over the coming weeks. And we are already looking forward to sneaking into the conference again next year!

Sebastian, tripwolf team

Start-up backed by Europe’s largest publisher of travel guides, MairDumont

New York City, July 1, 2008. Today tripwolf.com is released publicly to the US market. tripwolf is a new social travel guide that covers the whole world, focusing mainly on Europe. tripwolf combines professional editorial content with user-generated content from globetrotters worldwide.

tripwolf is backed by MairDumont, Europe’s largest publisher of travel guides including Baedeker, Dumont and Marco Polo. Through collaboration with tripwolf, MairDumont has taken the unprecedented step of putting all of its high-quality content – covering more than 200,000 destinations and points of interest – online for free.

As trips to Europe become more costly due to the weakening dollar, the well-traveled tripwolf community offers useful tips and recommendations for US travelers who want to stretch their greenbacks while traveling through Europe.

On tripwolf.com, professional travel content from MairDumont is combined with travel tips from knowledgeable travelers coined as “trip gurus”. The site is rich in content with personal and professional travel photos and videos that give users first-hand glances at their chosen destinations. tripwolf aggregates third party content from sites like Wikipedia, Flickr and YouTube and offers another special service: with just a few clicks, users can build and print a personalized free 10-to-20-page travel guide to take along on their trips.

tripwolf also serves as a platform for exchanging and sharing experiences with other travel enthusiasts and friends from around the world. “70 percent of travelers ask friends and relatives for travel recommendations” says Sebastian Heinzel, co-founder and CEO of tripwolf. tripwolf reflects this by allowing users to easily import their facebook profile as well as their facebook friends. “Travelers want to get the best out of their trips, so they ask trustworthy sources” says Heinzel.

Especially in the current economic climate, travelers try to make smart decisions. According to JupiterResearch, 42 percent of online travelers refer to user-generated content travel sites to review the opinions of fellow travelers. tripwolf strives to benefit from this growing trend: “We aim to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for travelers.” says Sebastian Heinzel, “We want to be the leading international travel 2.0 guide.”
German publishing house MairDumont sees great strategic value in its investment in tripwolf. “An intelligent combination of our expert knowledge with the experiences of thousands of travelers is the future for us,” says publisher Stephanie Mair-Huydts. “With tripwolf we use all the benefits and advantages of the internet and web 2.0.”

tripwolf was conceived in 2007 by Sebastian Heinzel and Alexander Trieb, two globetrotters from Vienna, Austria, with help from internet incubator i5invest. tripwolf was successfully launched in Germany, Austria and Switzerland last month.

Key Features
• Facebook integration
• Content partner and investor MairDumont, European market leader for travel information
• Portable data – build your own personal and printable travel guide for any destination
• Wiki-approach – users can add/update information
• Trip gurus offering knowledgeable local advice
• Community features
• Site is available in English and German
• Intuitive interface
• Covers the whole world
• Consistent geo-coding
• Travel blogs showing routes in a map
• Travel photo uploads
• Ratings for sights and hotels

Upcoming features
• iPhone application
• Flight and hotel bookings options.

About tripwolf
The tripwolf.com, tripwolf.de, tripwolf.at, tripwolf.ch and tripwolf.co.uk are online offerings of tripwolf GmBH. tripwolf GmbH is based in Vienna, Austria with offices in New York and Budapest, Hungary, set up in 2007 and led by co-founders Sebastian Heinzel (CEO) and Alexander Trieb (COO) with a team of ten members. MairDumont, Europe’s leading travel publishers based in Stuttgart Germany, and American/Austrian web 2.0 incubator i5invest are the leading investors in tripwolf.
http://www.tripwolf.com

About i5invest
i5invest GmbH, based in New York and Vienna, focuses on developing IT and mobile telecommunication ventures and provides early stage capital for them. Led by founder and CEO Markus Wagner and driven by an core team of 12 seasoned entrepreneurs in Europe and the US, i5invest powers the foundation of tomorrow’s online business.
http://www.i5invest.com

About MairDumont
MairDumont is the market leader for tourist information in Germany and Europe. MairDumont offers a range of printed publications including the Marco Polo Travel Guides, Falk City Plans/City Atlases, Baedeker Allianz Travel Guides, the Large General Atlas, DuMont Travel Guides, Varta Guides, the HB Illustrated Atlas and the Kompass hiking and cycling-tour range. MairDumont’s range of products is complemented in the electronic media business area. Its particular importance has lead to the setting up of an independent company (FALK MARCOPOLO INTERACTIVE) that concentrates on Internet, navigation-system, telematics and mobile products and services. MairDumont was established in 1948 and is a family-run company with a staff of around 560, and is headquartered in Ostfildern near Stuttgart. The entire group generated a turnover of around 190 million euros in 2007.
http://www.mairdumont.com

Related URLs
http://www.tripwolf.com
http://del.icio.us/tripwolf
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_June_2/ai_n25470826
http://apps.facebook.com/tripwolf/application/tripwolf

Today, July 1, 2008 tripwolf has opened its doors to the public! No more backdoor logins. We are all very excited!

We are also announcing our investor: MairDumont, Europe’s largest publisher of travel guides! MairDumont are providing all of their high-quality travel content to tripwolf!

Watch this space for more updates during the day!

Sebastian, tripwolf team

We are sorry if you had trouble with logging into tripwolf yesterday or today. We are doing massive amounts of work behind the scenes. The whole tripwolf team has been holed up in Budapest for the last week, feeding on Red Bull only. The reason: tripwolf’s public beta launch in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is coming up. We are all very excited and dead tired at the same time – a pretty interesting state of mind. We’ll keep you all updated.

www.tripwolf.de

www.tripwolf.at

www.tripwolf.ch

Sebastian

Time for the first tally of what people are looking for on tripwolf! Leaving out the home cities of the tripwolf team, the following cities were most popular over the weekend:

1. Berlin
2. Madrid
3. Sydney
4. Barcelona
5. Istanbul

Tripwolves are showing some seriously good taste here!

When it comes to countries, Mexico, Thailand and India are in high demand.

So what’s your hot idea for the summer? Any suggestions?

sebastian - tripwolf team

Although we sent out invitations to tripwolf only to a selected number of friends, we have lots of activity on the site already! As it suits a travel site, users have logged in from places as diverse as Otavalo in Ecuador, Tbilisi in Georgia and Hyderabad in India!

The main action though was taking place in New York, Vienna and Budapest – the locations of most of the tripwolf team and their friends. More about the tripwolf team soon!

If you want to have a little peak into what’s happening on tripwolf, go to the tripwolf twitter feed. There we publish a few of the activities happening on tripwolf every hour.

sebastian | tripwolf team

Welcome to the tripwolf blog!

Tonight, on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 the tripwolf is finally coming out of the dark! And he is hungry for travel!

From tonight on tripwolf will expand his territorry. A few very select people have been asked to join the pack. If you are not among them, just be a little patient: tripwolf will cross your path – that’s for sure!

In the meantime, if you want to know what tripwolf is up to, just come back to check this blog!

sebastian | tripwolf team