The Scenario
The founders of Teeming Vacation Rentals, Jeff and Gina Paglialonga, have been in the travel industry for over 10 years. They are avid travellers and have explored distant lands and immersed themselves in the culture of some of the world’s most stunning cities and fascinating countries on cruise ships, with ships becoming their floating hotels. After recently branching out from “ocean cruisers” to “river cruisers”, they recognized a need for a different kind of river cruise. They have designed their new river cruises with the traveller in mind, inspiring the additional tag line “~ Teeming River Cruisers, “by Travelers for Travelers”.
The Opportunity
Teeming aspired to bring a more affordable approach to the river cruise industry, offering their guests the option to pay only for those experiences in which they wish to participate. They wanted cruisers to be able to be free to explore on their own and at their own pace, to have more time for personal exploration and shopping instead of being regimented to a short window of time on group tours. They needed a cost-effective tool which helped travellers in their free time and allowed for local mapping while using their ship as “home”. They wanted to have an efficient channel for communicating insider knowledge on local attractions for their clients along with the possibility of suggesting excursions and walking itineraries.
The Solution
Teeming was one of the first companies to pioneer the use of POPGuide, a state-of-the-art content audio guide of the most sought-after ports, with the addition of an offline map (no roaming costs), offline navigation between the points of interest and a “Get Me Back To The Ship” button. This app was branded with their logo and available in multi-language, and above all, the new technology fit perfectly with Teeming’s business model of more freedom and personal control for the river cruise guest.
The Result
The Teeming branded app reached the company goals of offering “more affordability, more flexibility, more active-lifestyle options, more control for each individual cruiser, more hands-on experiences, more time in port, and more immersion in the local culture” consequently leading to better passengers’ satisfaction. Moreover, Teeming received constructive feedback data on visitor behaviour and activity trends, which was invaluable for planning. Subsequently Ralph Grizzle, founder of RiverCruiseAdvisor.com, gave the following review “…. I believe its founders fill a void for those seeking river cruises with equivalent costs to do-it-yourself land-based trips in Europe. And while I am not endorsing Teeming River Cruises, I feel that its product is worth a look for those who have always dreamed of doing a river cruise but could not justify the cost.”
