The Original Experienced-based OTA, Reserve Direct, Consolidates; Rebrands as Tripster

New Brand Aligns with Company’s Focus on Experience-Based Travel

Saint Louis, MO – Reserve Direct, an online travel agency (OTA) specializing in tours and activities in over 20 destinations across the U.S. and Canada, announced effective May 1, 2019 that the company is operating under a new name—Tripster. The new brand better relates its services to make experience-based travel simple and affordable to its 1.2m+ customers that use their websites to plan, book and review more than 1,400 experiences over the past 18 years.

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“We are truly excited to be at this moment,” said John Johnson, CEO and President of Tripster.  “When it all began, I’m not certain we envisioned the growth we’ve experienced,” continued Johnson.  He added, “We are grateful for our travel supplier partnerships and equally grateful that we’ve been able to build something that, as Tripsters ourselves, helps travelers make the most of their trips, big or small.”

Up until now, the company operated independent destination websites for every market they promoted, including websites like Reserve Branson (the company’s original destination), Reserve Orlando, Reserve Pigeon Forge, and Reserve San Diego, among its 20+ additional destinations, each featuring exclusive content and products.  The content is now consolidated into a single platform under one national brand with newly added features to search and discover more experiences.

When Johnson founded the company in 2001, they were one of the first to provide the tour and activity market with an extranet-based inventory and rate management system, whereby amusement parks, theater shows, outdoor adventure, museums, and the like could directly manage and distribute their products through the company’s B2C destination websites.  Since then, their system has evolved to address the multitude of complex variables related to the booking of hundreds of different types of activities.

The tour and activity segment itself has become an industry buzz in the past few years. With the acquisition of Viator by TripAdvisor (founded only one year ahead of Reserve Direct) and new companies that have come into the space such as GetYourGuide (2008), Musement (2013), and more recently Tiqets (2014), Tripster looks to place themselves within that same conversation.

Over their history, the company has also worked to develop the connectivity to work with its over 2,000 domestic travel partners.  From hotel channel management systems such as Sabre Synxis, TravelClick, and SiteMinder, to ticketing platforms for tours & activities like FareHarbor, Rezdy, Gateway, and Omni Ticket, the company makes the order process dynamic for both suppliers and travelers.

Tripster also provides a white label platform, giving its partners the ability to bundle area activities and/or hotels in a variety of ways. And because the white labels are designed with the partners’ brand, they can sell vacation packages, post-purchase product upsells, all while adding value for their own customers without investing in their own ecommerce solutions. This has been especially successful with its travel suppliers in markets where they can bundle their own products with other area experiences.

To date, the company has processed over $350 million in domestic, experience-based travel.  This equates to more than 1.8m individual bookings for travel products from upwards of 220,000 purchases annually.  With year over year gross bookings growth and the third year in a row of more than 15% growth in both orders and revenue, 2018 marked the company’s best year to date by exceeding $41m in gross sales.

ABOUT TRIPSTER
Tripster is wholly-owned and operated by Reserve Direct, Inc., a private, Nevada-based corporation.  Founded in 2001, the company promotes and sells travel products in over 20 different markets across the U.S. and Canada.  The company has offices in St Louis and Branson, Missouri with over 40 employees.