Utrip & The Personalized Future of Travel Tech

The impact of technology is immense in numerous industries, but perhaps none more so than within the travel sector.

As the summer months heat up here in the U.S. and Web workers take some much needed time away, they will be interacting with some increasingly sophisticated solutions as they plan their vacations.

Personalized trip planning technology Utrip, for example, recently introduced Custom Items to its platform, enabling travelers to add their own lodging and activities to travel itineraries based on their interests and budgets. This might include an Airbnb lodging or a visit with a personal friend or business colleagues.

A more personalized travel planning experience benefits not just those going on vacation, but those providing the much needed services to those travelers as well. Case in point, Utrip recently released the results of their partnership with boutique hotelier Personality Hotels and the results are quite impressive.

After the first six months of using the Utrip PRO platform (a white-label version of the system which enables brands to use the technology on their site), Personality Hotels had a 15 percent increase in direct bookings, and found that guests who used the platform engaged more fully with the website (the number of pages per session increased 53 percent while total time spent on the site improved by 79 percent) and planned longer trips (the average trip length increased by 70 percent).

"Discovery is the first step in the travel lifecycle. The Utrip personalized travel planning technology allows Personality Hotels to engage travelers in the discovery phase of travel, and continue to communicate with them throughout the entire travel experience," said Gilad Berenstein, founder and chief executive officer of Utrip. "In short, Utrip PRO allows our partners to own the travel lifecycle."

In mid-Dec. 2014, Utrip announced that it raised $850,000 in its second round of funding (coming to a total of $1.6 million) and unveiled several new features including its Traveler Insight Reports, which offer travel industry insiders a glimpse into how and why travelers who visit certain areas behave. The reports, which allow tourism agencies and businesses to better tailor opportunities for tourists, are available exclusively for the markets that Utrip serves.