Q&A with Tom Romary, CEO of Yapta.com

You might not even know it but you have your own personal travel assistant, and an amazing one at that. Yapta.com opened their doors to the public this summer and has since wowed the likes of The New York Times, Travel Leisure, WIRED and TIME who named them one of the 50 Best Websites for 2007. I got a chance to talk to Tom Romary, the CEO of Yapta, and he gave me good reason to start using their website. Read on and you’ll get the inside scoop on new features they are launching today, in a few weeks and shortly down the road.

Below is an interview with Tom that covers:
* The inspiration behind the creation of Yapta
* How to get money back after you’ve already purchased your ticket
* How much money Yapta has saved for travelers to date
* The new feature that’s launching today
* Why MAC users will want to tune in, and mobile applications coming soon…

Jen Leo: Hi Tom, lets get formally and informally introduced. Please tell us a little bit about your travel background before coming to Yapta.

Tom Romary: Sure Jen. I’ve done a bunch of adventure travel, business travel, and family trips over the past few years. Along with my wife I have been to the Himalayas, Alaska, Southeast Asia and South America on various climbing/adventure trips (long flights but worth it!). Having worked for internet start ups in Silicon Valley and Seattle, I racked up a lot of miles in the sky and spent a lot of nights in hotel rooms (and tents, too, for that matter). And now when I travel with my kids (several tykes still under 6 years old), I get pretty selective and only consider the non-stop options. So, I have spent a lot of time on the web hunting around for the best airfares on the exact flights I really want to take.

Jen: Sounds like you have a lot of energy Tom. What’s in your business background?

Tom Romary: Prior to Yapta I got into the business side of travel as Vice President of Marketing at Alaska Airlines. I learned a lot about how people were using the internet to plan travel. I also learned how truly volatile airline prices are. It was clear that there were still many unmet needs for travelers when it came to using the web to really make it easy to find the best deals and to track prices consistently. Given the yo-yo nature of airfares, it seemed there was an opportunity to let a computer do all of that price checking and shopping for me.

Jen Leo: Have you been itching to start your own travel website for a while—how long?

Tom Romary: I was actually itching to find a way to make my own travel planning easier. The idea to start a new travel website came out of the fact that my “ideal” online travel solution did not exist. So I hooked up with my pal and former colleague, software innovator Brett Allsop, in early 2006 who had a very simple yet brilliant idea to build a “personal travel assistant” for consumers (Yapta means “Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant”). The concept we developed, along with some very talented people in Seattle, is to have the “assistant” do all of the work for you…like check prices regularly, and telling you when prices drop so you can purchase the best deals, and also telling you when you can get a refund or credit back if the price drops AFTER you buy.

Jen Leo: I would’ve never thought to break down Yapta’s meaning like that. That’s great! So, what travel websites do you use to book your family’s travel?

Tom Romary: I only use the airline websites to book air travel. They actually have the best deals, they sometimes give you bonus miles, and the airline sites don’t charge you a booking fee. The main reason I buy from the airline sites is that the airlines actually provide you with price protection: if the price drops after you buy a ticket, you can get a travel credit or refund from the airline. I do think, for vacation packages, Expedia and Orbitz have some very good solutions…and many of the airline websites’ vacation offerings have caught up and are pretty good too.

And, of course, I use Yapta when I’m shopping on these sites so I can “tag” the flights I like, and let Yapta continually track prices on those flights for me.

Jen Leo: Ok, so before we get into the explanation of tagging, explain to us how Yapta is different from the other travel comparison booking sites like Kayak, Orbitz, Sidestep and Booking Buddy.

Tom Romary: Yapta is very different. Yapta is a “personal assistant” that goes with you as you shop around for flights on airline websites, and on a few of the best online agency sites. When you see flights that you like, you simply bookmark (or tag) those flights using Yapta, and Yapta then starts tracking prices on those flights multiple times a day. You can go to your kids’ soccer game while Yapta checks prices for you.

If the price drops, Yapta sends you an email alert with a link to go buy it directly from the airline (or your favorite online agency site). Yapta doesn’t book the ticket for you so we’re not an agency. If you’ve already bought a ticket, Yapta will alert you if the price drops further, and tell you how to get a travel credit or refund. None of these sites track pricing on specific flights and tell you when you can get a refund. Yapta brings price transparency to a new level.

Jen Leo: That does sound helpful, but how many of the flights really drop in prices?

Tom Romary: Airline prices are volatile, it’s no secret, and Yapta has done tens of millions of price checks on flights for people. We found that 43% of all of the trips we’ve tracked have had a price drop (below the initial price when “tagged”). The average ratio of “high” to “low” price (for the same economy seat) for domestic travel is about 5:1. So a $150 seat will be $750 at its high point. These price drops happen frequently, but you don’t know when and you can only benefit if you know when it happens. With Yapta alerts, we’ve saved over $8M dollars for travelers to date.

Jen Leo: Can you give us some examples?

Tom Romary: Sure. A couple from Boston planning their Honeymoon to Europe was considering a flight for $1,100 each. When they received a Yapta price drop alert (telling them the price had dropped to $660), they immediately bought the tickets, saving them $880. That’s real money!

Another traveler from San Clemente, CA, using Yapta recently received an alert of a price drop on tickets she had already purchased, which resulted in her receiving $1,100 in “travel credits” that she can use on future trips on that airline. That’s a free trip overseas!

Jen Leo: I can see why you’re so excited. I would be too.

Tom Romary: It’s the same excitement you get when winning at roulette! If you travel a lot, and use Yapta to track prices methodically, you’ll save money. People are using Yapta primarily as a travel planning service to track fares before they buy a ticket: in fact, 70% of the flights currently being tracked by Yapta are during the pre-purchase stage. We send alerts with “buy it now” opportunities when prices fall. 30% of the trips we’re tracking have already been purchased, and the alerts we send are “found money” – a travel credit you might not otherwise have known about.

Jen Leo: Tom, these refund alerts sound one-of-a kind. Can you really get money back from airlines after you’ve bought your ticket?

Tom Romary: Yes, even if you’ve purchased a non-refundable ticket. The airlines have “guaranteed airfare” policies that allow you to receive a travel credit (and in some cases, a cash refund) if the price drops after you buy a ticket. The policies vary by airline, but the amount of the credit…which is valid for 12 months…is typically the difference in fare, and some airlines deduct a change fee. You can use the credit as a form of payment to take another trip on that airline. Alaska, United, JetBlue and Southwest do not charge change fees to receive travel credits. The airlines honor these policies only if you buy your ticket directly from the airline (and not from a travel agency).

Jen Leo: OK, I’ll pretend that’s not too confusing.

Tom Romary: It’s not. Here’s an example on Alaska Airlines: If the price drops from $500 to $350 on a non-refundable ticket, they will issue you either a voucher for $150 or a cash refund of $100 (your choice). And, the next time you travel, you’ll pick Alaska because you’re holding a $150 travel credit with them. So it’s another form of a loyalty program, but there are no seat restrictions/black out days since the credits can be used for any seat on any Alaska flight.

Jen Leo: I didn’t know about the guaranteed airfare rule. Has this been a big secret in the industry or have I been living in a cave?

Tom Romary: You’re right, it’s been a bit of a secret, and there are many experienced travelers who do not know about these policies (and they aren’t living in caves either!). I’ve actually had conversations with tenured airline executives where they are learning about these policies for the first time. However, these policies have been around since the early days of deregulation, and thrifty travelers have been diligently tracking prices themselves after buying, and taking advantage of these guaranteed airfare policies when fares drop. The Department of Transportation website actually provides this as a good consumer “tip” to check prices after you buy. But in general these policies haven’t been promoted by the carriers. I actually think these policies are a great loyalty builder for the airlines (like Nordstrom allowing returns) and another differentiator versus the travel agency channel for them.

Jen Leo: So, if we use Yapta, you’ll let us know if a refund is available?

Tom Romary: Right, now there is no need to call or continually check online: you can use Yapta to check prices for your flights and get alerted by email when you’re eligible for a credit or refund. The key is you have to know WHEN the price drops. The airlines will honor the new price only if it is still available. So when you get a price drop alert from Yapta, you have to act fast and call the airline to get your travel credit.

Jen Leo: And now you’re launching a new feature to Yapta, what’s that?

Tom Romary: We’ve continued to add more airlines to the site, and now have 11 major US airlines (for both domestic and international flights). Yapta users have asked for a way to easily “compare” trips they’ve already tagged while they shop. So, we’re launching today our new online “notepad” feature, where Yapta lets you conveniently see all of the flights and prices on your selected trips while your comparison shopping. The notepad is an extension of your browser. All of your selected flight options and purchased flights can also be accessed from the users’ personal “My Trips” page on yapta.com.

Jen Leo: Ok, so I’m excited to start using Yapta, but I use a MAC and can’t tag. Are you going to help us Apple lovers out any time soon?

Tom Romary: Yes! We will be launching within the next few weeks a Firefox version. That means MAC users (using the Firefox browser) can use this new Yapta notepad feature, and tag flights while they shop. So stay tuned MAC-heads!

Of course, MAC users TODAY can still track flights they’ve already purchased by going to www.yapta.com and entering their six-digit confirmation codes, or by sending their flight itineraries to flights@yapta.com (and we’ll store the info, and start tracking prices for you).

Jen Leo: Sounds great! Now just one more thing…do you have any plans to take Yapta mobile?

Tom Romary: I actually use my Blackberry to receive all of my price drop alerts (since they are sent by email). So if you have email on your mobile device, then you can get alerts from Yapta. We are now looking at solutions to send “text” message alerts in addition to email, and exploring more ways to “tag” flights from mobile browsers.

Jen Leo: Many thanks for your time Tom, I think it would be cool if you had some kind of McDonalds-style hamburger counter on your website to show how much money you’ve been saving travelers.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 at 12:12 am by Jen Leo and is filed under Business Travel, Frequent Flier, News, Tips & Advice, Travel Q&A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.