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Yesterday I got an invitation to the TripSay invitation-only beta. The site differentiates itself from the other travel sites by actually giving members less information and more value than the current travel networks. From their press release:

TripSay is not a service for searching for the best price for a vacation package. It’s a connected and personalized social community for those who wish to document their travels, earn “travel fame,” share secrets and discoveries with fellow enthusiasts, and also actively seek their next adventure.

At TripSay travelers share and discover only the information that matters to them with the help of like-minded enthusiasts. Travelers researching specific destinations, experiences and activities are looking for specific recommendations and tips that are usually buried, if they are available at all, in traditional travel review sites. TripSay delivers quality over quantity and uses a unique recommendation engine to proactively match destinations, places, sights, content, and activities for people across their network of friends as well as with those with similar tastes. It creates a community rooted in the exchange of expertise as well as trust.

It starts with someone describing their preferences, saving trips, and marking their previous destinations and dream vacations. The service then automates the process of connecting the right people and also personalizes their maps and information based on each unique individual.

When you talk about using preferences to provide recommendations, well, you’re speaking my language. So let’s take a look.

When you’re building your profile, TripSay asks you to enter the names of places you’ve visited, and rate them. In order to motivate users to add more data, you’ll see (if you squint), that TripSay adds:

9559 people have rated more places than you. Rate just one more place to advance to #8657.

Smart.

As you add new places, the map on the left changes (a google maps API integration) to reflect your ratings.

The Profile

(click for larger image)

As you’ll see, the object of TripSay is to accumulate points to increase your “fame”. Within your network, this is an indication of trust and expertise. You can join groups to talk about places you’ve visited, dream destinations, and give tips on sights to see.

Under the map, the Recent activity section constantly updates with what people are saying in the network. For instance:

christophergurr wrote a link tip about Vancouver, Canada
Milestone’s is unique because we’re all foodies - a passion we share with our guests. Our skillful preparation begins with our in-house chefs who have mastered the art of delivering the expected, unexpectedly well.

Clicking on the Vancouver link, I see:

The profile page for Vancouver aggregates comments from TripSay users, grabs a description from Wikitravel, and displays relevant photos from flickr.

What’s Good

Some of the things I like about TripSay:

• The interface- The UI is clean and easy to use. This is a site that consciously avoids information overload.
• Outside API Integration- TripSay uses Google Maps, Wikitravel, Flickr, and search results to give users access to more detailed information without creating clutter on the main site.

What’s Bad

Like all other social services, in order to get the maximum benefit, you need to create yet another set of friends (inviting people you know, adding others, etc.). This is another great example of how true data portability would benefit these social networks.

Conclusion

I have to be honest in that I’m not an expert on all the travel sites that are already out there. With that said, I like what TripSay is doing. If I was really interested in finding new places to visit, and wanted to share my own tips, I would definitely use TripSay.

But I’m curious what you think. Have you tried similar services?

If you’d like to try out TripSay, send an email to info@tripsay.com with the word Blogstring in the subject line.

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