Minube Rocks!

Now here is something I feel uniquely qualified to comment on...a new alternative to trip advisor and other travel recommendationsites. For years I have struggled with the lack of relevant information on tripadvisor and have had to sort through thousands of reviews on hotels, restaurants and night clubs that were posted by people that have nothing in common with me, and are not qualified to provide recommendations on the type of restaurant and lodging that I am typically searching

for. Minube intends to change all that by developing a new kind of site, instead of helping travellers to answer questions about a trip they have already planned, Minube seeks to INSPIRE travellers and provide informative suggestions about where they would like to go.

To understand how Minube's "inspirational" platform works, founder Pedro Jareno starts by taking us through the process of the typical trip planning lifecycle:

1) Inspiration 2)Planning 3) Comparison Shopping 4) Booking 5) Travelling 6) Sharing Memories.....

And its these memories that ultimately inspire the next cycle of travellers to go to a particular destination!

Targeting

Next Jesus walked us through the difference between a "Tourist" and a "New Traveler"....we all know the tourist, our moms and dads, who go to a travel agent and have a "vacation". I don't do vacations, I want a life time of experiences and I search them out....I'm a new traveler.

Business Model

Ok, back to MBA mode, lets talk about how these guys make money. So you have a site where people go learn about new inspirational travel destinations. They research where to go, what to see and what to do when they get there (accommodation/restaurants/bars/clubs etc). All of these unique segments provide extremely targeted promotion and advertising opportunities for local partners. The company builds agreements with partners and then in the sponsored section of the website, provides its own "minube" travel recommendations from which they then receive a commission.

[The following screenshot advertising Minube's quality programme acts a registration page for new partners.]

Technology

So what else, well the company is doing most of its development in house, and (as is clear from the website) has a strong in house designer.

So the BILLION DOLLAR QUESTION:

Does this site fix my problem with Trip Advisor? ....not yet. I still cant find recommendations for people like me. But its taking another shot at influencing my buying behaviour in a comfortable and unique format that I find appealing.