Zicasso - Trip planning made easy?
March 7th, 2008
Zicasso aims to save time and remove the hassle when researching and planning a trip. The site is not live until the 10th March but a preview at Techcrunch has more details on how it works and the problems it aims to solve.
A traveler sends an outline of what they plan to do and where. Zicasso distributes this basic info to 100 service providers and within two days, four proposed itineraries and costings land in your inbox. Zicasso offers this service for free and takes a cut from the agents and operators. The service will appeal to those planning more complex trips or simply at those who do not have the time searching multiple travel agencies and search engines.
How would you feel about receiving bids from agents you don’t know?
There is a more in depth review at Profy who believe Zicasso has a model that could define the future of online travel booking - Zicasso: The Potential Future of Online Travel Planning
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March 8th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Not a bad idea at all.
I like how they market it as a free “service” - although it’s only really free in the same way that walking into a travel agent’s shop is free
I’m also quite curious to see the implementation. I wonder how many hundreds of bogus requests they will get in the first few days after this publicity?! That could backfire with tour operators becoming disillusioned by all the “test” requests that they’ve wasted time on.
March 11th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Thanks for dropping in Peter.
Perhaps the quality of itineraries sent back will go some way to convince any bogus users of the quality of the service.
With only 100 operators the number of requests and chances of being successful may well outweigh the bogus requests.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Great work!!It is user friendly too.
this site saves planning time.
Zicasso rocks
March 17th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I’ve read about Zicasso on TechCrunch and also recently noticed one of their competitor sites Tripology.com. I haven’t made any in-depth analysis of the two sites or placed an actual request that would allow me to make an in depth judgment of the site capabilities, the response time, the specific skills of the agent network or flexibility of the products. Based on my brief overview, I would give Tripology a slight edge in overall design, usability and functionality but rate Zicasso higher on the community and spread the news features. It’s all about social media and viral marketing to attract customers and they seem to put a focus on that.
Both sites’ business model makes sense, and will likely continue to make sense for quite some time, at least for as long as the technology available to OTAs doesn’t allow for custom designed multi-destination leisure trips to be researched, planned and booked online. This lack of one-stop shopping sophistication is mainly responsible for the disappointing process to buy what’s described as “complex travel” online. In addition, a certain percentage of the traveling public will always want to deal with a human on the other end, if for no other reason than to get assurance that their decision has been the right one, especially when it comes to a high ticket item such as an overseas trip.
Having said that, and reading some of those trip requests on Zicasso, I don’t see how any of the offered pre-packaged trips, even modified by a travel agent, can truly be the best answer or offer the most suitable product for today’s independent travelers. The ideal solution remains truly dynamic packaging allowing travelers to self-design their specific trip by combining all the components needed, get real-time availability and pricing for that selection and be able to further customize and book it online all on one site. It is what will eventually be offered in the market, the question is only by whom and when.
March 19th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Ricky - cheers for the comment
Joe - thanks very much for your insights on this. I look forward to the day of the true dynamic packaging you mention. Personally I really enjoy the researching and planning of a ‘complex’ trip but I expect I’m in the minority.
I expect Zicasso will find a niche for those would like to deal with a travel agent, are too busy to research their own trip through a myriad of sites and have a rough itinerary in mind.