Travelling to new and exciting places for business or leisure is a wonderful experience. However, you would not be the first person to dread that endlessly torching stopovers or layovers where you are practically jailed in an airport. Well the good news is that there is soon going to be an app in town that will end your ordeal.
Suitably named as Flystay, it was a creation of avid travelers and long stopover victims, Dennis Keller and Steffen Wirth. The absolute mundane nature of the period is what inspired them to conceptualize this idea. Dennis, the co-founder and CEO, has years of experience in the banking and telecom industry whereas Steffen, the co-founder and CTO in IT. Together with the backing of a small power-team are on their way to developing an app so unique.
What do they have to Say About It?
“It’s all about making airport stopovers and layovers an enjoyable and awesome experience. This means providing tailored recommendations of what you can do based on your time available until the next flight, time of day, your history, likes and interests” Dennis says.
Flystay helps you make the most of your airport situation. Come on, even exploring an airport can culminate into an adventurous feat. With the help of the app, you can see airport amenities, user reviews and rate facilities. You can also engage in a social experience and see friend’s recommendations, who’s using the app around and be eligible for special promotional offers. For users it’s a great way to get good deals for things they like whereas for airport retailers it’s a great opportunity to increase their visibility and to get to know their customers.
A lot of the destinations the founding team travel to are far and a bit complicated to get to, “Chad for example! So we spend a lot of our travel time on stopovers, and as anyone who has had a stopover knows, it’s frustrating. You’re exhausted, maybe hungry, and usually don’t really know what you can do in the airport. And even when you go explore, you usually don’t know whether it’s worth going for, say, a spa in a small Indian airport. Out of necessity to improve our own stopover experience the idea for Flystay emerged. Let’s make stopovers awesome” he adds.
Dennis says that Flystay has received huge response from the early adopters. And their challenge now is to get the right investors on board to make it the best imaginable product.
Flystay emerged from an actual problem i.e. any stay at an airport. It is most often a frustrating situation whether you have to either idly wait to fly out or have to kill time during a stopover/layover. Even as a frequent traveler when you have access to a lounge, there is often a lot more you can explore at the airport that you are either unaware about or disinterested in checking out.
That’s when Flystay comes in! This app evaluates your interest and what you usually do to give you best possible recommendation. Be it a soothing massage at an airport spa to promotional offers on your favorite brand at an in-airport store, this app keeps you informed about things that will make your wait seem short and fun.
“The combination of specific features and partnerships they offer, with the simplicity and intelligence of our recommendation algorithm, is unparalleled. We want to be across the globe in all airports. We want to be THE app for anyone who ever sets foot in an airport. This is ambitious, and exactly what we like. The launch will be more moderate focusing on the world major airports first.” he says.
Their target audience is users for whom airport is virtually their second home. However, anyone and everyone that travel frequently or even take a few trips a year can enjoy the benefits of Flystay.
Their revenue model is based on specific deals offered, promotions and Flystay+, a premium service that offers more advanced services in and also around the airport.
