The Blog at Hitwise.com writes:
According to Hitwise US, internet users aren’t giving up on planning summer vacations, even considering the current economic conditions, with traffic to website Yapta having increased 805% for the week ending 05/31/08 versus the previous week. The majority of households (33%) visiting the site make $30-$60k annually. Now you know.
Tags: Yapta
SEATTLE, WA — 04/11/08 — Yapta, Inc. (www.yapta.com), an online travel shopping service that tracks airline ticket pricing for leisure and business travelers, today announced that it has been named as a finalist for the Red Herring 100 Award, a selection of the 100 most innovative private technology companies based in North America.
Each year for the past decade Red Herring’s editorial staff diligently surveys entrepreneurship around the globe in an effort to discover the most promising startups that will lead the next wave of disruption and innovation. Yapta was selected from more than 800 private companies across North America based on its quality of management, execution of strategy, financial data, and dedication to research and development.
“This year’s impressive list of finalists demonstrates that North American companies continue to raise the bar and produce innovative technologies that benefit the global technology sector,” said Red Herring Editor-in-Chief, Joel Dreyfuss. “The exceptional accomplishments of these technology startups are a testament to extraordinary technological innovation and the drive to bring products to fruition.”
“Being recognized by Red Herring as one of the most innovative companies in North America is a tremendous honor that underscores the early progress Yapta has made towards improving online travel planning,” said Tom Romary, president and CEO of Yapta. “We are committed to providing the hundreds of thousands of travelers that use Yapta with a more personalized travel shopping experience and the online tools that deliver maximum value. Through continued innovation and hard work, we look forward to reaching the same level of success that past Red Herring 100 winners such as Google, Skype and YouTube have achieved.”
About Yapta, Inc.
Yapta, Inc. was founded in January 2006 with the mission to help frequent travelers receive the optimal value out of their online travel planning. Yapta enables travelers to bookmark their preferred flights while shopping airline websites and to be alerted when the best prices on those flights become available. Yapta is used by hundreds of thousands of travelers and many small businesses to not only obtain the best deals on airfare, but also to quickly and easily consolidate all preferred flights into a single, online list that reflects updated pricing. Bringing to light pro-consumer “guaranteed airfare” policies offered by many airlines, Yapta also helps air travelers obtain travel vouchers — and in some cases, cash refunds — when the price decreases on tickets that have already been purchased. For more information about Yapta and how to optimize your travel planning, visit www.yapta.com.
Contact:
Jeff Pecor
Yapta, Inc.
206-625-2301
Email Contact
Tags: Yapta
Kyle Monson of AppScout.com writes:
My feature story today on PCMag.com, Web Sites for Cheap Flights, has 10 sites worth checking out if you’re planning on flying somewhere in the near future. I’m actually planning a trip myself right now, so I know the headache of schlepping from site to site in search of the best price. The good news is that prices are nearly the same across all the travel sites if you buy tickets far enough in advance. It isn’t until the last minute that some sites start offering cheaper flights than others.
If you’re planning a trip, the sites you’ll definitely want to check out are Airfarewatchdog.com and Yapta.com. Several of the sites in my article offer ticket searches, but these two offer shopping tips and/or price-tracking features that can save you some cash.
Tags: Yapta
PC Magazine listed Yapta as one of their ten favorite:
We put together a list of our favorite air-travel sites to help you plan your journey. Most of them are aggregated ticket searches, meaning they crawl lots of different sites for data, from airline Web sites to other travel sites, such as Orbitz, and then present you with a huge list of results that you can narrow down according to your preferences. Almost all of them include hotel and car rental searches as well.
We also threw in a couple of other sites that can make your trip smoother. Once you’ve found your perfect flight, let SeatGuru help you find the most comfortable seat on the plane. And after you’ve made your purchase, enter your flight info and ticket price into Yapta. If the price goes down later, Yapta will send you an e-mail so you can call the airline for a refund or voucher.
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If you’re interested in searching strictly on price, take a look at our price comparison table . We compare the prices for two flights on 18 different search services, tracking the prices and the number of available flights on each service. For flights that are more than a month away, the price differences were minimal, but some of the sites (especially the big ones like Expedia and Hotwire) can save you money on next-weekend trips. And the number of available flights varied widely between services, so if you want more flight options, some services will be better than others.
See their 10 Sites for Cheap Flights slideshow.
Tags: Yapta
Bruce Watson of WalletPop writes:
I don’t really like buying plane tickets. Apart from all the cost, there are all the difficult questions that it raises: aisle or window, how many transfers should I take, can I sprint through the Atlanta airport in 15 minutes, and how long can I hang out in the Cincinnati airport before I go completely stir crazy.* The worst problem is the lingering belief that, no matter how cheap my tickets were, I still got taken for a ride.
If my tickets were $400, I’m convinced that I should have paid $250. If they’re $250, I’m sure that somebody else paid just $200. While I’ve managed to get some really good deals over the years, every time I board a plane, I do so with the knowledge that the guy sitting next to me paid less.
Because of this, I was particularly excited about Yapta.com. Short for “Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant,” Yapta enables you to track specific flights on several different airlines. If the price of your fare drops, Yapta sends you an e-mail alerting you that this might be a good time to buy.
The best part is that Yapta also helps you take advantage of the “guaranteed airfare rule.” Apparently, many carriers will give you a refund if your ticket price drops below the amount that you paid. Yapta will continue to track prices after you buy your ticket, ensuring that you get any refunds that you deserve.
If you’ve already bought your ticket, you can still use Yapta. Either e-mail them at flights@yapta.com or visit their site to enter your confirmation number and ensure that you end up with the best price available.
*The answers to these questions are: “Duh, window!,” “No more than one,” “Absoutely not!” and “15 minutes; half an hour if the chili joint is open.”
Bruce Watson is a freelance writer, blogger, and all-around cheapskate. Oddly, he isn’t freaked out by the idea of dying in a fiery crash, but the thought of paying a few extra bucks makes him wake up screaming.
Tags: Yapta
Via MarketWire:
SOURCE: Yapta, Inc.
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Mar 26, 2008 08:00 ET
SEATTLE, WA–(Marketwire - March 26, 2008) - Yapta, Inc. (www.yapta.com), an online travel shopping service that tracks airline ticket pricing for leisure and business travelers, today announced that more than 250,000 travelers have registered for the service since it launched in May 2007. Yapta also announced that its users have tracked over $400 million worth of flights and that it has alerted travelers to more than $25 million in total airfare savings.
“Serving as the personal travel assistant for a quarter of a million people is not only a milestone achievement for Yapta, but it also represents the increasing demand for an easier way to plan travel online and to optimize travel spending,” said Tom Romary, president and CEO of Yapta. “Yapta’s users are savvy and appreciate having travel planning tools that make finding the ideal flight more convenient and provide assurance that they’re getting the most value for their travel dollar.”
According to current customer data, 73 percent of all flights tracked by Yapta are tracked during the planning phase prior to purchase, meaning the majority of travelers use the service to shop for the lowest available price on the flights they want to take. Meanwhile, the remaining 27 percent of flights are being tracked on a post-purchase basis, allowing travelers to be alerted when they’re eligible for travel credits or refunds from their airline. Approximately 44 percent of all flights tracked by Yapta have resulted in a price drop below the initial tracking price.
“As a small business owner, I travel over 100,000 miles a year and it’s impossible for me to be constantly re-checking prices on my own,” said Warren Avny of Mt. Prospect, Illinois. “In addition to saving me a tremendous amount of time and effort, Yapta has also helped me save approximately $600 on airfare since I registered in January.”
Earlier this year, Yapta was named the “2008 Consumer Product or Service of the Year” by the Washington Technology Industry Association and one of the “Best New Airline Web Sites” by Travel + Leisure Magazine. In 2007, TIME.com named Yapta one of the “50 Best Websites” and PC Magazine listed Yapta amongst its “Top 100 Undiscovered Websites.”
“We’ll continue to build upon our early success by providing travelers with enhanced price-tracking ability, broader shopping functionality, and a more personalized travel planning experience,” Romary said. “Yapta is committed to innovating new services for the frequent traveler and to making travel planning quick, easy and as personable as possible.”
About Yapta, Inc.
Yapta, Inc. was founded in January 2006 with the mission to help frequent travelers receive the optimal value out of their online travel planning. Yapta’s freeware enables travelers to bookmark their preferred flights while shopping airline websites and to be alerted when the best prices on those flights become available. Yapta is used by hundreds of thousands of travelers and many small businesses to not only obtain the best deals on airfare, but also to quickly and easily consolidate all preferred flights into a single, online list that reflects updated pricing. Bringing to light pro-consumer “guaranteed airfare” policies offered by many airlines, Yapta also helps air travelers obtain travel vouchers — and in some cases, cash refunds — when the price decreases on tickets that have already been purchased. For more information about Yapta and how to optimize your travel planning, visit www.yapta.com.
Contact:
Jeff Pecor
Yapta, Inc.
206-625-2301
Email Contact
Tags: Yapta
Yapta was mentioned as one of two best new airline web sites in this March 20 story:
Best New Airline Web Sites
Momondo.com: Best for searching far and wide in a hurry. When price is paramount, try this Denmark-based aggregator, which swiftly scours more than 450 sites, including major booking engines, national carriers, and no-frills airlines, to unearth cheap flights to destinations around the world.
Yapta.com: Best for watching for price drops, and scoring refunds. This site keeps tabs on fare fluctuations before and after you book your flight, so you can get any applicable credits, or even cash back from the airline if the price drops. Caveat: Refund policies apply only if you book directly with the carrier.
Tags: Yapta
SEATTLE, WA–(Marketwire - March 19, 2008) - Yapta, Inc. (www.yapta.com), an online travel shopping service that tracks airline ticket pricing for leisure and business travelers, today announced the appointment of David Falter, former President of Galileo Americas, to its Board of Directors. Falter brings more than 20 years of combined technology and travel industry experience to Yapta, including an expert understanding of online travel distribution and services.
“David’s acumen for travel technology is without peer and he is among the industry’s most respected voices on travel distribution, merchandising and retailing,” said Tom Romary, president and CEO of Yapta. “As Yapta continues to innovate online services that make travel planning easier and that optimize the value for travelers’ spending, David’s knowledge and insight will be a tremendous asset. We’re thrilled to have him as a member of our board and look forward to his contributions in the years ahead.”
Prior to serving as President of Galileo Americas, a leading global distribution system (GDS) and a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group, Falter was President and CEO of Cendant Corporate Travel Solutions, which he grew into one of North America’s top corporate travel agencies. Prior to Cendant, Falter served as CEO of various technology companies and as an educator and executive director of the Center for Technology Commercialization at Northwestern University.
Falter has an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, an MA in English Literature from the University of Virginia and a BA in English and Political Science from the Miami University in Ohio.
“Online travel shopping is a process that is ripe for change and Yapta represents a significant watershed in technical innovation,” Falter said. “Yapta’s approach to providing personal travel assistance is redefining the online shopping experience — enabling leisure and business travelers to effortlessly obtain the maximum value for their travel spend. I’m excited to serve as a trusted advisor and to help usher in the new era of online travel planning.”
About Yapta, Inc.
Yapta, Inc. was founded in January 2006 with the mission to help frequent travelers receive the optimal value out of their online travel planning. Yapta’s freeware enables travelers to bookmark their preferred flights while shopping airline websites and to be alerted when the best prices on those flights become available. Yapta is used by hundreds of thousands of travelers and many small businesses to not only obtain the best deals on airfare, but also to quickly and easily consolidate all preferred flights into a single, online list that reflects updated pricing. Bringing to light pro-consumer “guaranteed airfare” policies offered by many airlines, Yapta also helps air travelers obtain travel vouchers — and in some cases, cash refunds — when the price decreases on tickets that have already been purchased. For more information about Yapta and how to optimize your travel planning, visit www.yapta.com.
– via Marketwire
Contact:
Jeff Pecor
Yapta, Inc.
206-625-2301
Email Contact
Tags: Yapta
Thanks to TwoOrThree.net for including Yapta in their list.Last Update: 03.15.08
1. Product research
You can also find specialty sites that review specific types of products - often a great source of detailed reviews.
2. Finding current bargains
Before you use any of the deal sites, including those below, you really should NOT go to these sites directly (though you can). Instead, add their RSS feeds to your feed reader (if you don’t have one, I recommend Google Reader). Then, you can search against them all at once. NOTE: there are lots of great bargain sites, these are just my time tested favorites.
3. Product agents
4. Finding the cheapest price for specific items
You don’t have to do much work comparison shopping if you have these tools nearby:
5. Finding coupons
There are tons of great coupon sites, but my favorite by far is RetailMeNot - not only can you search their site, but they have an awesome Firefox plugin which basically removes the work for you.
6. Finding used stuff
7. Best times to buy
8. Checking vendor reliability
9. Safe methods of payment
10. Tracking price drops
11. Tracking rebates
If you know of any other great shopping tools, pls. let me know. Thanks.
Tags: Yapta
Tired of searching far and wide for the best deals and coming up empty handed? Frustrated with the state of affairs on the biggy booking engines. Have any of them had an original offer in the past 5 years?
Click on over to our new favorite airline sites and fulfill your travel needs - and desires!
OrbitzTLC: A veteran in the travel industry, Orbitz wows us with real-time updates from fellow travelers who text-message security line-ups, cab queues and traffic jams from their cell phones. The color-coded map lets you zero in quickly on arrival and departure details.
ExpertFlyer: Flight is cancelled and already behind the 8-ball with your boss? Get the real-time scoop on more than 100 carriers that may rescue your schedule and your job. (Basic subscription: $4.99/month)
Yapta: Keep track of flare fluctuations before and after booking your flight. If you booked directly with the airline (often the cheapest way to book) you may be eligible for refund of cash and/or credits.
Tripology: An airline matchmaker service that pairs your interests, wants and needs with a travel agent picked from a pool of more than 6,000 global experts. Fill out the questionnaire and get personalized service from a real person who can answer your questions and deliver the kind of travel you’re looking for.
Tripit: Organize everything from flight and dinner reservations at OpenTable to adding in your trip-specific details like SeatGuru suggestions, weather reports and Google Maps. You email your itinerary and the information is then loaded onto a password-protected website for simple, paperless organization.
Mommondo: When price is more important than a direct flight, this Denmark-based aggregator quickly combs through 450 sites (including major booking engines, no-frills airlines and national carriers) to get you the best price.
MileMaven: Max out your airmiles by searching limited-time offers specifically for those bonus miles. Search through thousands of carriers, routes, airlines, cities or frequent flyer programs.
Tags: Yapta
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