TripData digs deep to customize clients’ personal, business trips

LAFAYETTE — Sometimes spending $12,000 on a packaged tour isn’t enough for people to get everything they want out of the vacation.

Dan Powers experienced the phenomenon first-hand when he was interning with a Boulder adventure planning company. “When clients wanted something personalized, like this one man wanting to go trout fishing, the company asked me to work with them on the side,” Powers said. “He was spending $12,000 for a 20-day trip and wanted something more customized.”

With destinations and departures from places like Antarctica, New Zealand and Argentina, the adventure trips offered a lot everything except flexibility, according to Powers.

Realizing that packaged tours aren’t perfect fits for everyone, Powers combined his love of research with a business plan and launched Lafayette-based TripData in 1999. He considers the travel research and planning service company to be the perfect outlet for his forte of finding a needle in a haystack. In his case, the needle is all the unique amenities and activities his clients are wanting.

Targeting both leisure and business travelers, Powers offers a service that lies somewhere between a travel agency and an event planner. “Our business plan in 1999 focused on getting business clients, but I then saw that the demand was higher on the leisure side,” he said. About 90 percent of TripData’s current business serves vacationers.

Potential leisure clients start out by completing a questionnaire that covers information like when, where and how they visualize their trip. What they want TripData to research unfolds from the collected data. “Some of our clients are professional couples who are experienced travelers that know the amount of effort it took them to plan their last vacation,” Powers explained. “They’re people who typically spend several thousands of dollars on a trip.”

Sometimes the leisure-trip clients involve a family of 10 where one person has been assigned the task to research the trip. “Maybe they had to do it last year and decided they’d never do it again,” Powers said.

What these leisure clients have in common is unique and personal desires they’re looking to satisfy. “Sometimes it’s physical reasons,” Powers said, describing a road trip through Ireland he researched for a man with multiple sclerosis. “He needed bed and breakfasts with first floor bedrooms and a special van he could drive.”

Powers started TripData with a personal credit card investment of $8,500. Out of that he purchased the basic computer and fax equipment as well as membership in the Boulder Chamber of Commerce. “I attribute over 75 percent of my business to my chamber involvement,” he said. “That includes the different networking events, educational forums and advice from other small business owners who are also members.”

Since his first investment, Powers has borrowed another $8,000 from his credit cards. “It takes money to make money,” he said. “For the first three years this was a side business while I worked with the State Division of Wildlife. I had a good, flexible work schedule they knew I was doing this.”

Now he spends his days on the Internet, going through guidebooks and magazines, and on the phone researching trips.

Following 9-11 there was a surge in road trips that resulted in an increase that still continues in TripData’s business. “This year is our busiest,” Powers said. “In terms of clients, I had a dozen in the first year, and we’re on track to serve over 50 this year. Our business plan projects 110 leisure travelers per year by 2005, plus at least 25 business clients by that time.” Clients pay an average research and/or booking fee of $350 to $650 per trip.

Powers attributes the increasing business to better exposure at booths, better advertising and google.com links. “About one-quarter of the proposals we’re sending out now are from inquiries from the Web site (www.tripdata.com) from Google.

“This year we’re partnering with businesses on a small scale,” Powers added. “We’re negotiating to be on retainer with them.”

Services include planning off-site meetings. “We can help (businesses) determine if taking a trip to the mountains will work or be beneficial with the time available,” he said. TripData also maps out short road trips for business professionals to travel to conferences and meetings a tactic for increasing attendance. Powers researches and collects information on overnight accommodations and enticing activities along the way.

In addition to helping businesses increase conference attendance and make off-site meetings appealing and productive, TripData is targeting small companies that don’t have travel agents on staff.

Why would someone choose TripData over a travel agency? “We don’t make any kind of commission on our research,” Powers said. “I use the credit card of the actual traveler if they want me to book something for them.”

He adds that for most people, travel agencies are the appropriate choice for help with travel plans. “I’m not trying to undercut them sometimes I actually refer clients to travel agencies if that seems more right. I’m looking to serve a fringe market of travelers.”

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