Developed back in 2013, Rove provides a travelog of users’ movements based on their GPS and other data. The parent company ZeTrip, a San Mateo, California startup, will reportedly integrate into TripAdvisor’s office in Palo Alto. TripAdvisor senior vice president for global product, Adam Medros, told reporters:
“The team will be a valuable addition to our mobile group and we look forward to integrating the company’s technology to further enhance the experience for TripAdvisor mobile app users.”
TripAdvisor currently operates 24 brands including La Fourchette, JetSetter, and Gate Guru, among others. Now ZeTrip will add additional personnel and mobile value clout to the already omnipotent TA stable of online and digital travel propositions. What was a social travel startup, Rove and ZeTrip join Viator and La Fourchette in interesting moves from the world’s leading travel advisory company.
The Rove integration with other TripAdvisor tools and services lends credence to suggestions TA is becoming the once touted “all in one” digital evangelists at one time heralded. Rove, as a for instance, seems a TripAdvisor replacement for Foursquare, just as some other recent acquisitions cover other value propositions. LaFourchette, the French restaurant booking entity, it is a piecemeal bite at Google’s Zagat, only better. These and other recent industry news bytes, they only reflect on the ongoing competitiveness in between these behemoth players in travel.
Even despite the turbulent economic times, tourism and hospitality is still a seething competitor and developmental market space. Luxury to high tech, the list of ventures emerging today compares to at any time in the recent past. Concierge concept innPal aims to help Hotel concierge and airB&B peeps coexist, while “experience” concepts like Bebang and others trend toward the life-sharing space. Artificial intelligence has broken into the arena, with exClone’s Phil Voyager (a clone of our editor btw). And what was once considered far out in the photo op world, Quadbox takes touristic photography into the drone age.
The long and short of TripAdvisor’s and all industry tech moves these days seems, a convergence on suppling the traveler with the coolest and most useful technological advantages ever. Why there’s even a new startup that lets you compare ideal tee times at golf courses. We’ll bring you some insider views later on this month, insights into some of the most amazing travel tools out there. Stay tuned.