A company you can find at www.inspirato.com just raised US$11 million in venture capital. As it supposedly had an innovative business model, I took a look. The result is one of puzzlement at the value proposition, but also some lessons and ideas.
The business model is actually not dissimilar to a timeshare as offered by the likes of Marriot. Basically, you pay $15,000 up front then $2,500 per annum for the right to get access to their lists of luxury properties at a reasonable price and with personalised service.(you still have to pay for the vacation, these sums are just subscriptions for the service).
Their value proposition revolves around what I would regard as straightforward common sense when offering high end holidays and is little more than personal service at high quality destinations. They make a big deal of being given a 'Personal Vacation Advisor' who seems to be offering little more than the type of personalised service my wife used to give as a travel agent (ie knowledge of a destination and a resort), and a concierge at the resort.
However, it does give me some pointers and ideas. I continue to believe (perhaps naively) that $11 million in funding means something. One interpretation would be that as vacation bookings have moved on to the internet, personalised service has disappeared before booking. Moreover, perhaps, there are few destinations that offer the type of personalised service that I feel is desired. I guess that the people that have sunk this investment into Inspirato agree!?
The conclusion therefore may not be to create a clone of Inspirato, but to highlight the opportunities available to existing companies in the travel space.
