Testbed for all-in-one trip-planning venture

Online technology lets people search for and play other people’s music and video playlists, so why not also let people browse and copy other people’s holidays?

New Zealand will be the testbed for Melbourne-based technology company Travlr, which is aiming to do that and more by blending travel booking and social media into a service designed to prevent holiday mistakes.

Chief executive Simon te Hennepe – who was born in Australia to Dutch and Australian parents – said Australians in particular often failed to make the most out of New Zealand.

Infratil director Humphry Rolleston and Christchurch property investor Peter Guthrey are among Kiwi investors who have put $5 million into Travlr, which launched its New Zealand service yesterday.

Madrid-based travel technology giant Amadeus, which is valued at $56 billion, has backed the startup as a mentor.

Te Hennepe said travellers would be able to go online to assemble holidays from flights, hotels, restaurants and attractions and then pay for those through a single checkout.

They could then upload photos and reviews to Travlr while they were on holiday, in the expectation of getting discount vouchers and incentives from the likes of restaurants and shops when and where they were travelling.

Other holidaymakers could then review their itineraries and feedback, and copy or adapt their journeys.

In an apparent coup for the young business, Travlr’s service will become the default website for Auckland and Queenstown’s i-Site visitor information centres, te Hennepe said.

He has been working on bringing the concept to market for almost 10 years.

‘‘It is all about user-generated content connecting people to likeminded travellers.

‘‘We are building an eco-system where we want people to be able to book absolutely everything through us and we want to be your concierge while you travel.’’

Travlr aimed to be in 20 countries by 2020, te Hennepe said.

Some elements had been tested though a precursor service called the Bali Bible which began as a simple PDF document to showcase Bali, but