Tnooz THack initiative fosters innovation, momentum, and perhaps the "edge" that the next major player in the travel industry seeks. Tnooz Co-founder Kevin May delves into what’s coming next.
Technology profoundly impacts every aspect of our lives, especially in the travel and mobility sectors. Online travel is rapidly eclipsing traditional methods, and no area in the digital world is experiencing more dynamic change than the interplay between service providers and vendors. With major players like Google, Expedia, American Airlines, and frequent mergers and acquisitions, everyone is on the hunt for a competitive edge.
In our pursuit of this edge, we attended the Travel Technology Europe show (virtually) to explore upcoming attractions for travelers in the near future. The creativity sparked by the THack (Tnooz) competition revealed some remarkable innovations with broad implications.
THack, an initiative by Tnooz, a leading travel technology publication, provided an inside look into the latest travel prototypes. We also had the opportunity to speak with Kevin May, co-founder and editor of Tnooz, about his insights on THack and upcoming innovations and creativity.
The Travel Technology Europe event concluded with awards for the winners of THack’s creativity competition. Here’s a brief overview of their innovations:
Gold Prize: Kevin O’Sullivan of SITA Lab won the top award with an innovative app that combines APIs from flight search startup Everbread, tours and activity reservation system TourCMS, social planning service TripBod, Android mobile voice recognition software, HTML5 code, and Google Maps. This app allows users to search for flights or vacations by speaking into their mobile devices, showcasing its utility in a demonstration video.
Silver Prize: James Addison of Skyscanner received the Silver Prize for his hack, Advent. This ad-serving system incorporates Expedia and Everbread APIs for flight comparisons within ad units. A developer video further explains the app’s functionality.
Bronze Prize: James Dunford Wood and Alastair James of Worldreviewer earned the Bronze Prize for their innovative creation, Spin. This mashup integrates flight search, tours, and rich content from various online players using numerous APIs from Expedia and others. Worldreviewer’s development presents a visually striking and highly functional tool, as illustrated.
We interviewed Kevin May to gather his perspective on these hacks and other travel technology trends. Here’s a snapshot of that discussion:
SEJ: Can you envision a new travel platform utilizing the hacks of the three winners here, Kevin? I mean, this is the first thing that came to my mind, from a developer’s standpoint – the feature’s value there?
Kevin May: Hack events are often about collaboration and sharing of ideas, which was fascinating to witness over ten days. While a formal platform encompassing some of the highlighted hacks may not emerge, many of these hacks will likely be taken to new levels or integrated elsewhere.
SEJ: I actually see Bronze winners James Dunford Wood and Alastair James at Worldreviewer as having developed the more valuable hack here, considering the idea that an “all-in-one” travel booking/search experience could use massive cross-API integration. What are your thoughts?
Kevin May: I agree with the judging panel’s decision. Every hack presented has great potential. Some need more work and possibly commercial partnerships, while others just need a bit of coding and creativity to reach customers.
SEJ: Given your constant exposure to technological creativity, is there a hack idea you didn’t see at the THack event that you’d like to?
Kevin May: There’s significant potential in the social and local deals space currently. I envision a mobile-led deal finder that allows people to view and arrange payments within their network. This service could also enable point-to-point travel search, including air, taxi, and rail, plus accommodation.
For those not deeply involved in travel technology, it’s easy to see broader applications here. Kevin’s final response hinted at an ongoing race for mobile integrated solutions, which will inevitably impact all businesses. We commend Tnooz and THack for fostering creativity and providing incentives.
