Things that would normally be done manually, like email responses to customers, are now done instantly. The tools save a lot of time for suppliers, because they provide customer relationship management. That work is probably more extensive than you might be aware. Ruzwana: For the last couple of years, we've been very focused on Peek Professional. Tnooz: What’s the balance of your business now? Those tools evolved into Peek Professional, a suite of software tools helps operators get inventory online and available via mobile in real-time. That’s why we started building B2B tools. There’s a lack of real-time availability. Most of the activity inventory is not online bookable. But there isn't a massive brand in this space yet. Just as OpenTable is solving problems on both the consumer and the supplier side of the equation in the restaurant space, we’re doing something similar in the activities space.Ī couple of companies have potential in tours and activities. Tnooz: Peek has a consumer offering and a B2B offering. The following transcript has been edited for brevity. Tnooz recently spoke with Bashir by phone. She worked at Gilt Groupe and Art.sy before co-founding Peek with Oskar Bruening, an MIT grad who has worked at businesses like VMware and Symantec. After investment-banking and private-equity gigs at Goldman Sachs and Blackstone Group, she earned her MBA at Harvard as a Fulbright Scholar. This year, it won the Tribeca Film Festival Disruptive Innovation award.ĬEO Ruzwana Bashir, 32-years-old, has had a storied career, to date. In 2014, Peek was named one of Fast Company’s 10 Most Innovative Companies in Travel, and one of Time magazine’s 50 Best Websites. Peek has raised $6.9 million and is backed by investors such as Eric Schmidt, Jack Dorsey, Carl Sparks, and David Bonderman. Yet the economics remain challenging, according to a report from the consultancy Phocuswright, and a lively panel talk at World Travel Market. On the supplier side, dozens of other companies worldwide have attempted to offer similar tools and product suites, such as FareHarbor, Musement, RezGo, RezDy, TicketingHub, and TourCMS (which was just acquired by Palisis). Another player, Zerve, has raised $20 million. That company also has some (basic) tools for suppliers.Ĭompetitive, too, is Expedia Inc -estimated by analysts to sell a roughly comparable number of tours and activities as Viator. In 2014, TripAdvisor acquired Viator, the largest consumer player in tours-and-activities, for $200 million. Last week GetYourGuide received a $50 million Series C, in the sector's biggest funding round yet - led by venture capital firm KRR. Peek has competition on the consumer front. On its business-to-business side, Peek offers a suite of software tools to help activity operators run their companies. Activities include ziplining, swimming with sharks, and taking a cooking class. It's a tours-and-activities platform with two sides: one aimed at consumers and the other at suppliers.įor consumers, Peek offers a curated list of 20,000 things to do in selected destinations in the U.S. Peek is a San Francisco startup that launched to fanfare at a rooftop party in autumn 2012.
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