Umapped Simplifies Itineraries for Customers

It can be certainly be argued that the digital age is one of simplification, where individuals literally have the world at their fingertips and possibilities are endless.

However, sometimes clutter can intensify. That is where companies like Umapped form a bridge between information, global industry brands, travel advisors and their customers.

Umapped, an award-winning collaborative business-to-business-to-consumer, or B2B2C, itinerary management and experience for the travel industry, aids global brands and travel advisors by engaging them with customers during their journeys.

Lisa Israelovitch, co-founder and CEO of the company, spoke with RewardExpert.com about how her company continues to deliver interactive, media-rich consolidated mobile itineraries that include relevant offers, content, messaging and advice.

Making travel information more accessible

Israelovitch founded Umapped with Thierry Wong. Israelovitch’s husband introduced the pair after he met Wong in college. Israelovitch found that Wong had tremendous experience architecting, developing and managing high-performance technology systems, and they shared a vision to provide the industry with a collaborative itinerary management tool to aggregate booking and relevant content — turning that into a “living itinerary” for customers, all through a single mobile user interface.

“Having spent a decade in the hospitality industry, I was tired of getting floods of static PDF documents and email confirmations — especially when working with top tier companies,” Israelovitch said. “Beyond the bookings, all the great local recommendations were also buried in emails and social media posts, and we saw a big opportunity to bring relevant content to travelers at the right time within the context of their itinerary with mobile.”

Umapped, which is available as a white label and API solution, was first assessed market-wise and then the first iOS prototype was developed. Both Israelovitch and Wong, the chief technology officer, left their previous careers to make Umapped thrive.

Information in one place

Planning a trip collaboratively involves multiple decisions and opinions, but it doesn’t have to be a painful talk, she said. Umapped strives to make the planning and in-destination experience easier and a more social process.

With the Umapped collaborative itinerary management functionality, planning a trip becomes less burdensome because travelers can not only communicate and get recommendations from travel providers, but also from their friends and social media.

“On the industry side, the B2B (business-to-business) collaborative functionality brings together suppliers and agencies who are involved in planning the same trip,” she added.

The flexibility of having everything in one place makes life easier and more efficient for everyone involved in trip planning, while the built-in integrations help travel companies and advisors streamline their workflow. The end-user product that is delivered to travelers is a White Label branded itinerary with real-time updates, group messaging and curated destination content. Ultimately this collaborative itinerary technology is saving time while helping travel brands uncover new revenue opportunities before, during and after travel for their customers.

Rewards and some simple, yet essential, advice

Travelers would find their mileage reward travel confirmations integrated within their itineraries powered by Umapped — along with other bookings and content around their destination.

As for advice for budget-conscious trip takers, Israelovitch said to embrace the voyage.

“I read a quote, ‘A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles’ (by Tim Cahill),” she said. “My advice for all travelers, regardless of budget, is to seek out local experiences and people wherever you travel.”

For more information visit umapped.com.