Hey guys, I've been a fulltime traveller for almost five years now; leaving behind a career in finance and IT sales. Being a traveller on either side of the pandemic meant a lot of things...good and bad. One definite con has been the increasing price of accommodation, specifically related to Airbnb. When I first began roaming the world in 2019, Airbnb was my default option for places to stay, and it worked well. Lots of supply. Reasonable prices. Reliable. Safe. Since the pandemic, it's just not a viable long-term solution. So here's how I overcame the challenge of finding a reasonably priced alternative to Airbnb: 1. Often the same accommodation is also listed on booking.com. Compare to see if you can save on costs. 2. Try and contact the owner directly to see if there's an opportunity to save by paying cash in hand. Note: I've had mixed experiences with this one. 3. It's funny how many hosts know other hosts! If you've connected well with your host - find out who their fr...

Hi, my name is Benoit and I'm passionate about how technology can disrupt the travel industry and ultimately lead to a better end-user experience. I have been conducting numerous interviews over the past few weeks to gain insights into the way people curate, organize and share travel content, with the final objective of identifying opportunities to innovate in this space. I intend to share my preliminary findings across a series of discussions on Travel Massive to engage with the community. The first topic relates to the main information channels used by travellers to discover a specific destination and learn about where to go and what to do. Below a summary from the interviews: - Friends / Family: For 67% of interviewees, friends and family’s word-of-mouth play a significant role in picking the next destination and 42% rely on their recommendations to know what to do on the ground. - Social Media: 75% of interviewees mention social media, and specifically Instagram, as as key ...