What if there were a meta search and booking engine that allowed you to input your address and a destination, and returned the best possible transportation solution available. And I mean “drop-dead-simply.” Would you use it? Input where you are, get results for cars, trains, boats, and planes atop the best rates. Well, for Europe at least, possibility is becoming a reality because of Latvian search startup Movolo. Okay, maybe TripIt should not be quivering, but then too?
Having just won the Tallinn Elevator Pitch Competition this Summer, the developers at Movolo likely got a bit more of an investment push for their innovation, but unless I miss my guess – money will soon be the least of their problems. If dynamic and straightforward thinking like this startup exhibits were in Silicon Valley, TechCrunch’s Crunchbase would already have stamped millions in funding on this. Yes, I like it that much.
One reason for my being enamored with this little startup is just this – real simplicity. Of all the startups I ever covered (about 4700) Movolo’s near perfect minimalism will be so easy to show you. All the reader has to imagine is that the business behind the innovation is sound and to be trusted – the rest is easy even for me.
The landing below is simple without being sparse – calls to action lead to big beautiful graphics from calendars to bookings.
Movolo’s “Bingo” Approach
When I started covering technology years back people were still jumpy about trusting their credit card info to digital peeps they could not see. That logic being ancient history for the most part, in the travel realm some trust issues still reside – one being assurances one is getting the best deal. Movolo shortcuts the cheapest and most convenient modes of travel, but let’s assume this easily documented aspect is in place – all this startup has to do is be the fastest and simplest solution in the world – and it is. I call this the “Bingo” approach to solving points of pain.
“Bingo” does not happen very often. Why Expedia and the other online booking giants have yet to do a “Bingo” is a mystery to me. All Movolo needs now are cabs, trolleys, and some other “in between” modes of transport in order to be (as they say) a true “door to door” travel utility. A tweak here, and a tweak there, and this Lithuanian startup will have effectively created the best optimized travel booking tool on the planet. Wow, can you believe I said that?
The screen below shows me searching from my town to Tallinn, Estonia.
Don't you hate those puny calendars you can barely see?
In a nutshell what Movolo does (or will allow) is to provide the only travel solution in the world (that I know of) that includes flights and transportation from/to airports via car, train, buses, and etc. This search engine allows peeps to find the cheapest and the fastest routes to anywhere in Europe and to issue all needed tickets. Now all you developmental gurus out there (investors etc.) plug in tour information, cabs, etc. – or better yet itinerary templates via suggestion. Now there is a big “Bingo.”
The one negative I have about Movolo so far is their selection by map aspect. Not to be too critical, but it is crappy so far. I am a stickler for NOT including a component until it is “ready for prime time” – now Movolo’s simplicity, combined with TripSay’s extraordinary map-centric approach? Well, our Argophilia development may use this. Below I have mashed-up the suggested TripSay mapping engine atop Movolo’s already flimsy map element.
A really refined map element on top of Movolo simplicity! Hmm.
Oh. I have been saying “European destination,” but it appears now Movolo charts travel to anyplace. The development is not over, mind you, but this is the way online travel booking needs to be. A last note. With Google’s sure entry into the online travel space – the enhancement of online booking search being the prime mover – “shouldn’t more people be asking how to do what Movolo did?” Just a parting thought?
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