Founders (left to right): Garib Mehdiyev, Johannes Koeppel, Zaky Prabowo
The platform targets everyday people who organize trips for their family and friends such as school trips and reunions, and individuals leading multiday trips for public such as yoga retreats, surf camps, and bike trips.
WeTravel, a SaaS (Software as a Service) platform for amateur and semiprofessional group trip leaders, officially launched its website after testing the product with early users for 8 months. The platform targets everyday people who organize trips for their family and friends such as school trips and reunions, and individuals leading multiday trips for public such as yoga retreats, surf camps, and bike trips. They use the platform free of charge to create, manage, and promote group trips. Travelers can then join these trips, using WeTravel’s website to register and pay securely.
Users have transacted $5 million worth of group trips on the platform to date, traveling in groups as large as 500 people to more than 20 countries. The platform has gained major traction in the student segment, attracting students across the US and from top universities such as Harvard, Stanford, University of Michigan, and UT Austin. Another early adopting audience is yoga teachers, who use WeTravel to manage retreats 23x per year, transacting $50100k per trip. With today’s launch, WeTravel has introduced special landing pages for student travel and yoga retreats.
The company’s three cofounders (Johannes Koeppel, Garib Mehdiyev, and Zaky Prabowo) are immigrants hailing from Switzerland, Azerbaijan, and Indonesia, respectively, who collectively speak 15 languages and have traveled to 80 countries. They met and started the platform while studying at UC Berkeley. Johannes used to organize trips to exotic locales in Central Asia; Garib led engineering student trips to Silicon Valley; and Zaky coordinated government delegations from the Office of his home country’s President. In CEO Johannes’ words, “We found that there are SaaS options for tour operators and travel agents, but everyday people still have to navigate multiple tools like email, Google Sheets, Paypal, and even paperbased forms and personal checks when they lead trips.”
Some examples of WeTravel’s users:
● Ramon Alayo, a Cubanborn dancer and choreographer, uses WeTravel to organize a series of twoweek dance trips to Cuba. Per trip, 25 travelers pay around $2,500 per person, cheaper than the usual price tag offered by professional tour companies.
● Darnell Walker, a movie director/producer, offers a monthly mystery trip called "Fly With Me".Participants register with no knowledge of the trip destination, but show up at the airport knowing that they are about to embark on the experience of a lifetime.
● Eighteen student groups traveled to Japan and Israel using WeTravel in spring 2015. Students used the platform to collect payment and register their classmates, who numbered as many as 150 travelers per group. Other private trips include a Burning Man camp and volunteering missions.
Trip organizers and travelers can use WeTravel totally free of charge. The company makes money by selling relevant travel products after travelers book trips on the website. Johannes envisions WeTravel ultimately growing beyond its roots as a productivity toolkit and becoming a marketplace with a strong community, “Our convenient and timesaving platform attracts incredible organizers who were almost impossible to find on the internet. We are curating a collection of trips that will make WeTravel the leading marketplace for unique group travel experiences.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
