{"id":491,"date":"2020-09-27T19:08:51","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T23:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-hbapideation\/submission\/get-the-lazy-people-in-your-life-to-commit-to-something\/"},"modified":"2020-09-27T22:50:27","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T02:50:27","slug":"the-odyy-app-dont-show-me-options-show-me-a-plan","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-hbapideation\/submission\/the-odyy-app-dont-show-me-options-show-me-a-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Odyy App \u2013 Don\u2019t show me options, show me a plan."},"content":{"rendered":"

Vision & Value Proposition:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leverage AI\/ML to create unique travel plans while seamlessly integrating multiple recommender systems and drastically reducing booking and payment friction.<\/p>\n

The Problem:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most people love to travel, love to find new experiences, and love to see their friends & family\u2026 but most people also hate to plan.\u00a0 It typically comes down to either:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. There are so many available options and so many niche service apps that \u201cchoice overload\u201d sets in and nothing ends up happening; or,<\/li>\n
  2. There are too many cooks in the kitchen and so many opinions that a group cannot come to a consensus; or,<\/li>\n
  3. One person ends up taking on the time intensive (and thankless) role of researching, proposing, and coordinating all aspects of a trip \u2013 many times resulting in a suboptimal experience.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Target Market & Opportunity:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Digital travel sales in the US passed $200B in 2019 and were (in 2019) forecasted to increase to ~$220B in 2021<\/a>.\u00a0 Of course, the global pandemic has shaken up everything travel-related, which makes now the exact right time to assemble a team, formulate a strategy, and streamline the travel planning process.\u00a0 Building a AI\/ML-centric platform from the ground up, while taking into account how the next generation will travel is a market opportunity that may never come again.\u00a0 This could be a chance to emerge from the pandemic haze with a product that appeals to the digital-native generations that trust technology and don\u2019t want to waste their free time researching, scheduling, and arranging itineraries that an algorithm can do for them.<\/p>\n

    Personalized search results from AI for travel sites is already in use<\/a>; however, there\u2019s an opportunity to implement even more advanced capabilities at a deeper and more personal level for the user.<\/p>\n

    The target market consists of millennials and older Gen-Zs that love to travel, love to eat, and truly value an experience more than material goods.\u00a0 The early adopters are likely young professionals that live in cities away from friend-groups and family.\u00a0 The solution could also target any type of group booking scenario \u2013 weddings, reunions, conferences, events.<\/p>\n

    The Solution:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. An application (“Odyy” for “odyssey”) that gathers as much data as possible from travel\/tourism websites, events, maps, accommodation, transit, recreation, social media, restaurant, and weather websites to build extensive and up-to-date database on what\u2019s new, what\u2019s available, and when things are happening.<\/li>\n
    2. Users input detailed preferences, past experiences, available dates (calendar sync), budget, trip type, loyalty programs, etc. (educating the user that the more data they input, the better the results is key<\/em>).<\/li>\n
    3. Algorithms compile and match inputs with the database to create start-to-finish unique travel itineraries for users.<\/li>\n
    4. Then, the interface allows users to tag aspects of the initial plan that they like, dislike, or what to see more about, and then refresh to iterate further on their agenda.\u00a0 Think Airtable\/Asana had a baby with Kayak, TripAdvisor, Resy, and Bandsintown.\n
        \n
      1. Instead of a vertical list of options for dozens of flights or hotels or restaurants, the platform provides an easily digestible proposed timeline that allows the user to visualize each element of the plan, chronologically.<\/li>\n
      2. A user sees when they have to leave the house to get to the airport, when their flight takes off, when they land, when\/where they check in, where they’d be booked for 1st night’s dinner, and so on.<\/li>\n
      3. As the user scrolls through the timeline, they have the option to click on an individual element and iterate (change restaurant rec or hotel location) by either asking to find the next best option and\/or answering additional preference questions.<\/li>\n
      4. Could set up preferred apps to link to agenda & only show relevant options (e.g. California, from 12\/1-12\/7, only show options from Delta, Lyft, Marriott, & Resy).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      5. Once the itinerary is set, the application can enable one button booking for all reservations.\u00a0 This is a key aspect of the platform \u2013 seamless integration of payment and reservation technologies (a hybrid FinTech & Travel planning app<\/em>).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Additional features could include:<\/p>\n