Tnooz has a great article a few days ago, answering the question of “Who is the next generation traveler?”

tripchi has thought a lot about our target market, about the people who really need and want to make the best use of their time in airports. Since airports are unavoidable burdens of travel, we want to make the airport experience as good as possible for the traveler. Whether that means helping people find a better place to eat, a quiet place to work, a charging station, or neat souvenirs to buy (at a discount) – we’re here to facilitate that. But, who are the people that could make the most use of this?

Frequent business traveler – these are the road warriors travelling once a month, typically out of the same airport and to the same airport. Therefore their airport experiences immediately become routine and mundane. These travelers care most about saving time and easing “pain.” Hipmunk had it right with it’s “agony” factor, and that’s why that brand has resonated well with these travelers. As mentioned in this Forbes article, Hipmunk’s main philosophy “is that we want you to spend as little time on our site as possible with the least amount of pain.” Completing the booking happens at other online travel agency (OTA) or airline sites, with Hipmunk making revenue from lead generation. Says the Hipmunk co-founder, Steve Huffman, “Like a lot of people, when I get home from work, I don’t want to think….You only have so many decision-making units in your head per day.” This message resonates well with the overly-tired, always “on” frequent business traveler road warrior persona.

When road warriors do use technology to plan their travel, they don’t want to put in a lot of effort but still want maximum utility in the least time possible because their energy is so precious.

With tripchi, road warriors can also lessen their airport agony, through saving time, effort, and money. That’s because we serve up recommendations of things we know they would enjoy rather than bombarding them with all sorts of content, most of which would be irrelevant. We also include a dashboard that rolls up the most commonly searched for airport items:

• Food & Drink
• Shopping
• Charging Stations
• Lounges
• Meeting Others

And when you browse into one of these dashboard items, you’re presented with the most relevant recommendations, based on your location, time available, and interests, first. The idea is that we only give you the information you want, when you want/need it to help you save time, money and effort.

For example, if we know you like gourmet food and wine (and, moreover, that you can expense it), we’ll point out that there’s a restaurant nearby that fits your tastes (e.g. Legal Sea Foods in Boston Logan). If you want to find a quiet place to get work done, we can help you find that too, as well as give you directions. Finally, we include tips and hints to reduce your airport “agony” factor, and serve them up as you move through your airport journey (and this even starts prior to leaving your house, because we can advise on things like parking, too!).

Now, there’s also another type of traveler we cater too, and that’s the one covered in the article I initially mentioned in the beginning of this blog. This is the “next generation traveler” – the new to business traveler, excited about traveling, Gen Yer. This person loves technology, loves social media, and always combines business trips with leisure activities and “fun-time.” They are less concerned about easing the agony factor than about increasing their fun quotient. Since they have to be at the airport anyways, they want to find ways to enjoy it.

According to the Tnooz article, these travelers:

• Are tech-savvy, and “have the ability to sift through mounds of information and pull out the important-to-them bits.”
• Want personalization and the ability to “and prefer to “create own unique path in between” since “world is there to be discovered” – this is what I like to call the pursuit of uniqueness. Very hipster.
• Value “connectivity to family and friends via social media while they travel.”

tripchi has exactly what Gen-Y travelers need to make their airport experiences not only less painful, but more enjoyable. Personalized selections of things to do to make the airport experience your airport experience. Because there actually is a lot to see and do at the airport, most people just don’t realize it! tripchi suggests cool restaurants to try and stores to visit to find that perfect memory. Or interesting or unique places to visit in the airport that actually don’t require any money at all. And, if one of your friends from you social network happens to traveling through your airports when you are, we’ll let you know, so you can stay connected your family and friends through your travels (don’t worry, this is an opt-in feature).

So, whether you’re a corporate jetsetter or a Gen Y new-to-travel traveler, whether you want your pain factor minimized, or you fun factor maximized, the tripchi app can help make your airport experience better!

If you want to learn more, read the Amadeus Next Generation Travel Trends report.