The European online travel "private deals" website VoyagePrive enters the US market this week. As some of you know, VoyagePrive is only available to members who have been introduced by their peers to receive a weekly newsletter about preferred deals VoyagePrive negotiates with suppliers (Tour Operators, Hotels...).
The private outlet model has been booming recently at all levels. Whether for clothes, 2nd hand good or rare stuff, it looks like investors are really interested to invest in that model following the enormous valuation of a leading site like VentePrivee (another French online venture).
VoyagePrive (I still think this is a bad name for an International venture) founded in 2004 allows their members to preview the offers before they go live on a specific date and hour (==> creates envy maybe?)
Denis Philipon, CEO of VoyagePrive, (former executive at Lastminute.com) says "The choice to travel is a very conscious one and the preparation process involves not only research but also an aspect of dreaming. Our team is dedicated to helping our customers visualize - and then realize - that dream through extensive research and negotiation to provide them the best in exclusive travel deals and membership invitations discounts"
I wonder how much more staff VoyagePrive needs to recruit to be successful in the US. I am not aware of serious competitors in the travel space applying this model. Travelzoo maybe? But with a different model based on email subscription. And Travelzoo belongs to the media space more than the travel agency space.
If you already tried VoyagePrive, please feel free to share your experience.
Voyageprive is giving 10 euros when you introduce a friend. Many clients are looking after peers on line... (see an example)
http://forum.en1heure.com/vt236-parrain-parrainage-voyage-prive-www-voyage-prive-com.html
The introduction is not very selective...
Best
Bernard
Posted by: Bernard Fromageau | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:32 AM
Hmm...this will probably shake things up in the market. But the consumers will certainly benefit from it.
Posted by: Sydney Hotels | Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 07:21 PM
The price seems really interesting but after comparing their offers with some other websites, I realized they are not so attractive and that the 40% - 50% discounts they offer are not compared to public prices but to an unknown price I couldn't find.
So yes I found some attractive offers on their website but booked through other providers...
Good luck for their launch in USA and I hope they will succeed this time!
Posted by: happy traveler | Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 11:08 AM
Good luck to Voyage Privè USA.
We have launched a competitor website in Europe called www.hotelyo.com and we are only focusing on Hotel Offers.
It will be great to get your feedback.
Posted by: Danilo Gasparrini | Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 04:19 PM
@Bernard thanks for sharing the offer
@Sydney Hotels can't wait to see the model scales in all parts of the world. Still surprised that no real competitors are there yet.
@Happy traveler these deals on VoyagePrive are on limited time only and are totally opaque
@Danilo good to hear from you. Reviewing Hotelyo is on my todo list!
Posted by: Guillaume Thevenot | Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 11:31 AM