Travel as a Communal and Individual Experience

In thinking about traveler dynamics, we are very conscious of travel being both a communal and individual experience. A unique and valuable perspective we believe most online travel sites overlook.

When people travel alone they, by definition, experience travel individually.  Experiences are interpreted individually within the context of a participants unique perspective.  However, most individual (solo) travel experiences include interactions with other people, whether in the context of a location (city) or event, where outside participants affect the experience by providing perspective and content, whether desired or not, that help shape the experience.

When people travel with companions or within groups they, by definition, experience travel communally.  Within the group context, experiences are shaped and interpreted by the communal perspective of multiple individuals and desires during the experience.  However, travelers within groups also interpret these experiences individually due to the inherent uniqueness of an individuals perspective.

Therefore travel, whether experienced alone or with a companion or group, is both an individual and communal experience.  It is our opinion that this is an important perspective to take when designing the functionality of our site and by acknowledging this dichotomy we add additional value to our competitive advantage.  Our users will want to share their experience and interact socially with other travelers communally and/or individually - while this is not revolutionary, we have not seen this functionality built into current travel sites.