SMI #010 - Unbox a Mystery Long Weekend
Send someone a long weekend get-away
Opportunity in a Tweet:
People want to get away, with the least amount of effort possible. Vacations in the US are getting shorter in length, but more frequent throughout the year. But people hate the amount of research that goes into patching together a trip. Create a “black box” travel planning service for long weekends that literally is mailed in a box.
What This Is:
An itinerary building service
For trips under a week in length
One purchase click for transportation, hotel, food, and tours
A box that comes in the mail
For busy professionals and adult couples
Bark Box meets Hotel Tonight
What This Isn’t:
For trips longer than four nights
A tool with lots of choices and variability post purchase
For families with kids
For people who hate surprises
Thesis:
People are taking shorter vacations
Most Americans (57%) took leisure trips of no more than four nights in the past year
And the younger you are, the likelier you are to take multiple short vacations
Takeaway: Microcations allow people with short attention spans and demanding work schedules to experience multiple cities, spread out over the course of a year, rather than blowing all their PTO on one city
People love getting packages
Unboxing is a huge fad
Most unboxings focus on physical goods, not experiences (a potential opportunity)
A fully planned itinerary (experience) + a sleek marketing design (mystery) + corny trinkets (goods) could make for great reactions
Takeaway: It’s nice to get things in the mail that are not bills.
Consumers want less choices, not more
Travel sites are designed to flood you with a sea of options
They are not built for quick hit, impulse purchases
…Four hours later you’re still looking at reviews from a middle aged woman in Idaho who went to Pensacola in 2004
Takeaway: The point is to get away, not redesign the Roman calendar
Back of the Napkin Market Sizing
To Get the Ball Rolling, Sisyphus Says
Build up the supply side before putting efforts into driving demand
Tap into travel APIs if they are available (global distribution systems like an Amadeus give access to flight and hotel data)
Design a few solid permutations of long weekend itineraries in two or three cities and constrain your geographic focus
When you turn to market the demand side, focus on a core demographic in a core geography (i.e., college educated working couples in cities with colder weather); For example, the city of Tampa markets wicked hahd to the city of Boston, who’s residents are depressed and freezing and probably work for PwC or Fidelity
Kinda Biased Competitive Landscape
How It Makes Money
Waves This Rides
Last minute travel deals
Hotel Tonight, Hopper, Flight Club, and Red Week all built companies by enabling travel decisions to be made at the last moment
It’s a simple playbook: they play matchmaker between companies that want butts in seats and people who want to be in those seats
With more and more decisions being made at the last moment, it requires real time information and data aggregation
Unboxing hype train
There’s an undeniable dopamine hit you get when you open something that’s going to be a mystery, and it’s not from IRS
Algorithm powered purchasing
People trust computers to help them buy what they need
The idea of a “black box” that will magically determine your vacation is actually a relief to some consumers
For control freaks, sorry, this product is not for you. Enjoy reading through 54 pages of my Aunt Pamela’s reviews on TripAdvisor (bonus grainy pictures from 2006 trip to Pensacola)
Future Expansion Areas
Wedding invite in a box with all the weekend’s arrangements laid out and a small gift for attendees
Sports weekend in a box with tickets to the event (favorite team, meet and greet, pro shop gift card)
Why This Might Fail
Person buying might not have same attitude as person receiving
This isn’t right for people who are control freaks
As a guy who hates planning anything, I’d love to get this for me and my wife, but I’m not sure she’d be cool with the lack of control or optionality
Unreliable mail rooms
Potentially Reliable Stuff I Read at 3 AM
Irrelevant Post Script No Reputable Business Publication Would Allow
Get Hyped
Get Loud
Get Wise
“I’d traveled the journey, I’d done all the road work…”
-Buster Douglas on his confidence against Mike Tyson as a 42:1 underdog