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TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY

Launchtrip Unveils First Travel Platform Designed for Group Trips

Launchtrip | September 30, 2021

Launchtrip the world's first Together-Travel company, today releases its group-centric travel booking app. Available on iOS now, Launchtrip removes the roadblocks historically associated with group-travel by allowing users to plan and book travel based on destination city or event, and the ability to divide costs and pay separately, taking the awkwardness out of invites and chasing down money - all within the native platform's ecosystem.

Launchtrip is the first application to address a longstanding challenge for consumers and the hospitality industry: the need to facilitate group bookings in one application including payment processing and soon, with an industry first: fair and transparent pricing. From today, users will be able to:
  • Search by city or event to book accommodation and restaurants close to major sports, music, and entertainment events across the country, with more events being added regularly
  • Book hotel accommodations from a curated selection of 3 - 5 star properties across the country. From independent boutique hotels to 5-star luxury properties and everything in between, Launchtrip offers thousands of hotels across 8 major US cities to start (including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Orlando, Austin, Phoenix and Las Vegas), with more becoming available every month
  • Review thousands of highly recommended restaurants and book right in the app using Resy as Launchtrip's official restaurant booking partner
  • Split and manage payments of your group trips (available for group trips of 3 or more people)
  • Receive scaling group discounts with partnered hotels
  • Take advantage of Launchtrip's signature 24/7 concierge service - online and with text-driven customer support, powered by humans
  • Ground transportation and travel insurance will be available by the end of the year
  • Google Play store availability will launch in Winter 2021

Customers will also benefit from Launchtrip's 'My Trip' feature, where users can manage all of their group reservations and guest list, meaning they won't be stuck with reservation emails from multiple vendors. Within this feature, users can name their trip, check the trip's guest list and whether they've paid or not, and send reminders to anyone who hasn't yet paid.

Launchtrip recently surveyed 1,000 US adults to find that for 25% of Americans, dealing with payment is the most painful part of planning any group trip. A third (34%) of respondents even said they spend hours figuring out how to split costs. To reward these Group Trip 'Heroes' who've had to deal with organizing woes for far too long, Launchtrip is giving away an all-expenses paid vacation (including accomodation at select luxury hotel properties across the country) to one lucky 'Hero' plus three friends.

Launchtrip CEO and Founder Julian Ing is dedicated to providing a better travel experience for groups  a category that he believes has experienced little innovation in nearly 25 years. 

"Launchtrip is a new kind of travel booking company and one that we believe will transform the travel and hospitality space. From group travel to complete transparency for consumers and partners, we are committed to creating the best experience possible for our users and are thrilled to open to the public today."

Said Julian Ing, Launchtrip CEO and Founder

Looking ahead, Launchtrip will roll out additional features dedicated to creating a seamless travel experience, including curated trip recommendations, an AI-driven rewards system and more

About Launchtrip
Launchtrip is the Together-Travel company that makes booking group trips easy and rewarding. Founded by entrepreneur Julian Ing, Launchtrip's ethos is to make every experience outstanding, from end to end. Launchtrip's team of advisors include some of the industry's top experts with previous leadership roles within HomeAway (Expedia), MealPal and Tripping.com to name a few. This includes Traci Mercer, Taleeb Noormohamed, Michael Drever, Kathleen Reaume, Terry McBride and Mark Spencer.

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