Bitcoin tour operator - your thoughts?

[bitourist]

Hello.

I am a tourism student and bitcoin afficionado with an ambition to start a bitcoin-exclusive tour operator/travel agency. My idea is to not only let you pay for the hotel and the flights with bitcoins - but your entire itinerary.

I am contemplating whether I should have my internship at a large, established travel agency to learn their workflow and methods. I am also in the process of looking into which booking system I should use.

But, first I need to know whether the community is interested in this or not...

I have some questions, I hope some of you take some time to answer them:

What is your budget for a holiday?

Do you prefer to book your own flights?

What type of tours/travel packages would you spend your bitcoins on?

Where do you like to travel? (I am based in Northern Europe, so with my knowledge, this region will most likely be my specialty)


Thanks for your time!  

[calkob]

In general i would say learn the basics first, bitcoin at least in mu country, Ireland is not there yet no one is using bitcoin to book holidays.  learn the basics from reputable tour operators now and when bitcoin takes off then you will be the 1st to jump in..... 

[Velkro]

I am a tourism student and bitcoin afficionado with an ambition to start a bitcoin-exclusive tour operator/travel agency.

I don't think it will be very popular selling point. There is no so much bitcoin users comparing to travel "users".
Good luck but i think u will need it.

[franky1]

before working out how they will pay or how much they are willing to pay.

you have to work out what would be worth seeing.

you already said you want to focus on your area. so make a listing of all the places in your area that might attract people.
this can be done just by looking at the competition and seeing what they offer and then looking at the costs of duplicating the same thing.

you can try to think of offering different levels of service.
EG
5star + limo service and personal butler
3star + tour bus and self service all inclusive

also if you are planning on having all of the vacation based in bitcoin. find out which stores accept bitcoin already.
think about what stores would happily accept bitcoin. EG usually its independent stores where the manager actually has direct decision making
responsibility, rather than national chain stores where the local manager is a glorified storekey holder/supervisor.

the reason for this. is no one can tell you a budget unless they have an idea of what to expect.

EG you have suggested northern europe.
so im guessing it wont be a sunbathing summer sports vacation. but more so hiking skiing northern lights vacation.
or even an amsterdam club 18-30 night life vacation

give some suggestions of what is available that way you can get a better answer out of people
no point throwing out an empty question and get random answers like
$4000 summer sports where its expectant to be 4-5 star all inclusive.
where reality due to location is more like 3-4star evening buffet and a hike into the mountains to see the northern lights.

without knowing what your capable of offering.. EG city night life.. fortnight cruiseship, mountain cabin ski/hike. its harder to get defined answers.
like i said you may end up with lots of people shouting for celebrity tour bus rides and beach sunbathing vacations which are not that viable for northern europe.

[Shiroslullaby]

It is a good idea, but a lot of it will depend on location.
What country are your customers in and what country are you offering trips to?
If you are located in a country in Europe or China that has many Bitcoin users, you may get some customers.

Also, it may become more popular over the next few years.
If you start now it may be slow at first, but as more people are exposed to Bitcoin business may pick up.
In three to five years from now it may be a huge business for you.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[bitourist]

you can try to think of offering different levels of service.
EG
5star + limo service and personal butler
3star + tour bus and self service all inclusive

Yes, spot on: I actually had this in mind for the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, where there is a 4 star hotel with a private lagoon and a cheaper BnB right next to eachother.

In three to five years from now it may be a huge business for you.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks for your optimism, it really makes my day 

[European Central Bank]

How high of a commission are you willing to pay in order to pay for your tour in bitcoins?

i don't get this attitude. i'm not willing to pay extra just because it's bitcoin and you wouldn't attract new customers considering it usually costs them extra to obtain bitcoin in the first place. no one's gonna pay more to pay more.

[franky1]

Yes, spot on: I actually had this in mind for the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, where there is a 4 star hotel with a private lagoon and a cheaper BnB right next to eachother.

airbnb? hmm
http://www.coindesk.com/airbnb-no-plans-bitcoin-industry-startup-acqui-hire/

[bitourist]

Yes, spot on: I actually had this in mind for the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, where there is a 4 star hotel with a private lagoon and a cheaper BnB right next to eachother.

airbnb? hmm
http://www.coindesk.com/airbnb-no-plans-bitcoin-industry-startup-acqui-hire/

Hehe, no, not Airbnb – an actual Bed & Breakfast 

[cpfreeplz]

How high of a commission are you willing to pay in order to pay for your tour in bitcoins?

i don't get this attitude. i'm not willing to pay extra just because it's bitcoin and you wouldn't attract new customers considering it usually costs them extra to obtain bitcoin in the first place. no one's gonna pay more to pay more.

I think the wrong question was asked. Don't ask people how much they're willing to pay for something. Show them the value of what you offer then set a price based on you giving better value than the competition.

How much am I willing to pay in terms of commission? 0%. Why? Because you left the door open and I would much rather not pay you to plan my vacation. I'd like you to do it for free. If I did it myself it wouldn't cost me a dime, so why should I use your service and pay 10-20% commission. That's the question that needs to be answered.

[bitourist]

How high of a commission are you willing to pay in order to pay for your tour in bitcoins?

i don't get this attitude. i'm not willing to pay extra just because it's bitcoin and you wouldn't attract new customers considering it usually costs them extra to obtain bitcoin in the first place. no one's gonna pay more to pay more.

I think the wrong question was asked. Don't ask people how much they're willing to pay for something. Show them the value of what you offer then set a price based on you giving better value than the competition.

How much am I willing to pay in terms of commission? 0%. Why? Because you left the door open and I would much rather not pay you to plan my vacation. I'd like you to do it for free. If I did it myself it wouldn't cost me a dime, so why should I use your service and pay 10-20% commission. That's the question that needs to be answered.

Yes, you are so right... Think I should edit that out  

The reason I asked this is because I know Cheapflights.com proudly offer bitcoin payments on flight bookings, but they are, well, not really cheap when you compare them to other ticketing companies. But clearly people are paying for it even though there are cheaper alternatives, so I was guessing the bitcoin payment option, as a niche, played a major role in their profit margin.

[European Central Bank]

Yes, you are so right... Think I'm gonna edit that out  The reason I asked this is because I know Cheapflights.com offer bitcoin payments on flight bookings, but they are, well, not really cheap when you compare them to other ticketing companies. But clearly people are paying for it even though they are cheaper alternatives so I was guessing the bitcoin payment option as a niche played a major role in their profit margin.

i think a lot depends on market timing. that's a huge factor in the willingness of people to spend. if there's been a huge rise you feel like you've had a bunch of free money land in your lap so you might be more inclined to spend. that's not a great thing to bet a business on though.

[cpfreeplz]

Yes, you are so right... Think I'm gonna edit that out  The reason I asked this is because I know Cheapflights.com offer bitcoin payments on flight bookings, but they are, well, not really cheap when you compare them to other ticketing companies. But clearly people are paying for it even though they are cheaper alternatives so I was guessing the bitcoin payment option as a niche played a major role in their profit margin.

i think a lot depends on market timing. that's a huge factor in the willingness of people to spend. if there's been a huge rise you feel like you've had a bunch of free money land in your lap so you might be more inclined to spend. that's not a great thing to bet a business on though.

Absolutely. I wouldn't exclusively accept bitcoins if you're able to accept whatever your local fiat is (euro?). If bitcoin crashes, your sales / customers drop off like flies.

[bitourist]

Yes, you are so right... Think I'm gonna edit that out  The reason I asked this is because I know Cheapflights.com offer bitcoin payments on flight bookings, but they are, well, not really cheap when you compare them to other ticketing companies. But clearly people are paying for it even though they are cheaper alternatives so I was guessing the bitcoin payment option as a niche played a major role in their profit margin.

i think a lot depends on market timing. that's a huge factor in the willingness of people to spend. if there's been a huge rise you feel like you've had a bunch of free money land in your lap so you might be more inclined to spend. that's not a great thing to bet a business on though.

Absolutely. I wouldn't exclusively accept bitcoins if you're able to accept whatever your local fiat is (euro?). If bitcoin crashes, your sales / customers drop off like flies.

You do have a point, and it would suck if it happens over night in the middle of a booking process...

Speaking of fiat, another idea of mine was to indeed include either GBP or Euro as a payment option, but reward bitcoin users with free City Passes (with funds taken from the profit margin) to get more people to use bitcoin.

[MingLee]

I'm going to cut to the chase, there's no way I'd be able to afford something like this right now, so my opinions and answers to your question are relatively irrelevant and I probably won't be much of a help.

However, though, if you can find a market for this, I think you might be able to do fairly decent. I would expect for budgets to exceed $1,000, depending on the trip.

[bitourist]

  would expect for budgets to exceed $1,000, depending on the trip.

Hey, I could always book you on Ryanair to Lisbon, Portugal for a 7 day stay at the Hans Brinker Hotel 

Jokes aside, thanks for your input. I don't think your opinions are invalid; there is a huge market for tourists on a budget as well, something the Nordic region is struggling a lot with.

[clickerz]

I am a tourism student and bitcoin afficionado with an ambition to start a bitcoin-exclusive tour operator/travel agency.

I don't think it will be very popular selling point. There is no so much bitcoin users comparing to travel "users".
Good luck but i think u will need it.

Not a popular selling point but I think he is clear that it is exclusive for bitcoins enthusiast.Though it is unique for bitcoin users only,I do not think it will turn out a good number of clients.Since the bitcoin market is not yet saturated,as its new I think this is a new opportunity.

[jacktheking]

Great idea you have there! However I really doubts if this will take off smoothly. The amount of Bitcoiners may be getting higher but I really doubts anyone will want to buy a travel package from an operator using Bitcoin. Unless, of course they are truly  Bitcoiners and want to support a Bitcoin tour operator. If your business does accept fiat and Bitcoin then it is a good idea.

What is your budget for a holiday?

My budget for a holiday really depends on the place I want to visit. If it is near, maybe around 2000 to 3000 USD or so for one person. I have never travel faraway from my homeland so I do not know what is my budget for long-distance yet (probably around 6000?).

Do you prefer to book your own flights?

If I am booking with a tour operator, I'd expect them to book the flight for me.

What type of tours/travel packages would you spend your bitcoins on?

If I am going to spend my Bitcoin traveling, I'd like to visit some Bitcoin-friendly places.

Where do you like to travel? (I am based in Northern Europe, so with my knowledge, this region will most likely be my specialty)

I don't have an answer for this one ...

[bitkilo]

Very interesting idea, a bitcoin holiday cool 

If Virgin are still offering space flights for bitcoin you could always add space as a destination. Limo ride to the craft and maybe a meal afterwards paid for with bitcoin at a nice restaurant.
I think you could be onto something here.

[DimensionZ]

I have been planning a trip to Scandinavia for quite some time and I will probably do a tour of the region next year hopefully. I have always wanted to see the amazing Northern Lights. And a part of my travel money will be funded by my Bitcoin wallet   So to answer some of your questions : I prefer to get a package of air flights and hotel deals because it's cheaper that way, I don't usually use the services of travel agencies and book flights on my own online, my budget for travelling can vary depending on the location but is usually at least $2000 for distant and expensive locations for prolonged journeys and I usually book local tours when I have arrived in the country and am ready to explore around like boat tours, scenic bus tours etc. Hope this helps