IMGuest or HelloTel in the United States, Hurrybirds and Wombee in France: will these social networks one day be as famous as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, which are now part of everyone's daily lives? Probably not, primarily because they are aimed at a very specific niche of users: business travellers. On the other hand, there's a good chance that soon one of these, or a solution launched by an even more inventive start-up, will establish itself as an essential travel companion, the ultimate application that will make it possible to encourage business meetings and relieving the boredom of mobile executives during a business trip.
Loneliness, whatever Bécaud may say, does exist. Many men and especially businesswomen have experienced it during their travels. They all remember evenings spent in their rooms, between club sandwiches ordered from room service and films on demand to wait for the next day. Of course, they could have - in bleisure modeBut in a solo version - set off to discover the city. Or scour Facebook to see if, by chance, one of their friends might be there at the same time. But either because fear of the unknown held them back, or because they couldn't find anyone to talk to, they declined the invitation from the outside world.
Today, thanks to technological solutions, these moments of disinterest can be transformed into exchange opportunities. French start-up Hurrybirds has recently embarked on this adventure with the idea of creating a community of travellers called the Business Travellers' Club to encourage "casual networking". After registering with their LinkedIn account and using instant messaging, mobile executives can indicate their presence in a hotel to meet other "Hurrybirds". To this end, Hurrybirds provides a diary to make it easier for them to make appointments.
The idea of creating social networks around travel is not in itself a new one, as the desire to get away from it all is one of the most widely shared desires in the world. Launched in 2005, WAYN - for "where are you now" - brings together a virtual community of nearly 20 million members, a gigantic forum where travellers exchange tips and useful information and can agree to meet up during their travels. Similarly, the creation of social networks tailored to the business world is not new either. Not to mention LinkedIn and its 400 million users, the European professional network XING, for example, has eleven million members.
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On the other hand, many candidates want to combine travel with the professional world. In the United States, the first business travel-oriented social networks appeared at the turn of the last decade with the application Business Traveler Socialcreated in 2010, or IMGuesta solution that enables hotel guests to get in touch with each other. The fact remains that, judging by their activity on Twitter over the last two or three years, the brain cells of these players are hopelessly flat.
Were these platforms underperforming? Or did they have the mistake of being right too soon ? Today, a new generation of social networks is emerging. In the middle of last year, Wombee has offered its services to independent hoteliers to encourage meetings between guests. This platform enables users to contact other travellers staying at the hotel, for example to go golfing together or talk business over dinner. For the hotelier, this solution is a way ofimprove the customer experiencebut also as a source of income. Indeed, what better place to meet than in the hotel bar... For its part, the start-up HotelUb in early 2016 launched its app, which not only allows you to plan your evenings at the hotel, but also to book the establishments. In the United States, it works in the same way, HelloTelnow available via the Apple Watch, raised two million dollars last year to accelerate its expansion.
But these matchmaking solutions are not just about hotels. While business travellers no doubt remember evenings spent alone in a big city, they certainly also remember plane journeys in bad company. So, to avoid this lottery of the unwelcome neighbour and turn a long-haul flight into a fruitful exchange, KLM was the first to launch its service at the end of 2011. Meet & Seat. 30,000 passengers used it last year and, after connecting via LinkedIn or Facebook, were able to consult passenger profiles and select a seat next to them.
While this initiative remains limited to the company's customers, since last year the Flyght Club organises networking on a broader scale, both in-flight and on the ground. In a similar way to the solutions developed for hotels, users can find out about their contacts' forthcoming trips and decide to travel together if they are booked on the same flight, or arrange to meet at the airport if they have a connecting flight. This idea of using waiting time at the airport to enrich one's professional network is also shared by Aéroports de Paris. As part of the opening in early 2015 of its Business lounge at Paris Orlythe airport operator is giving business travellers the chance to expand their contacts via the application My Airport. Through it, passengers registered in the digital space can contact potential customers or suppliers travelling at the same time. A clever way of kill time and make money at the same time.
