“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”             -Marcel Proust

Taken a voyage lately? Start your discovery today with FunnelScope, a new Social Network for Hotels. It’s a great way to start your journey, discover new places, and engage with fellow travelers.

Have an amazing trip!

Night Lights in Varna, Bulgaria

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” — Clifton Fadiman

When was the last time you took an adventure? Start your adventure today and see the world using FunnelScope, a new Social Network for Hotels. It’s a great way to start your journey, discover new places, and engage with fellow travelers.

Have an amazing trip!

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru

When was the last time you took an adventure? Start your adventure today and see the world using FunnelScope, a new Social Network for Hotels. It’s a great way to start your journey, discover new places, and engage with fellow travelers.

Have an amazing trip!

Sunrise on Machu Pichu

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine

Get inspired and go somewhere. Start your travels today with FunnelScope, a new Social Network for Hotels. It’s a great way to start your journey, discover new places, and engage with fellow travelers.

Have a wonderful trip!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  – Mark Twain

Get inspired and go somewhere. Start your travels with FunnelScope, a new Social Network for Hotels. It’s a great way to start your journey, discover new places, and engage with fellow travelers.

Have a wonderful trip!

2. NY
NEW YORK
19196

3. FL
MIAMI BEACH
17306

4. SC
MYRTLE BEACH
14693

5. IL
CHICAGO
13414

6. KY
HULEN
12822

7. IA
BEAVER
9524

8. NC
FARMVILLE
8009

9. FL
VERO BEACH
7151

10. DC
WASHINGTON
7039

12. KS
BURDEN
6574

13. MI
DETROIT
6325

14. FL
PENSACOLA BEACH
6195

15. KS
CORNING
6061

16. FL
ORLANDO
5905

17. TX
HOUSTON
5821

18. CA
LOS ANGELES
5711

19. KS
ENTERPRISE
5694

20. KS
ANDOVER
5659

We all know the way to get the best price on anything is to go direct to the source. Remove the middleman (or the pimps) and there is one less person that needs to be paid. Plus when dealing direct, you can negotiate with the source. For this reason wholesalers are cheaper than retailers, buying a house is cheaper without a broker, and so forth.

So why do we use pimps middlemen? It’s the convenience factor. Middlemen aggregate all the information, content, or products for us. So we pay a higher price for that convenience.

It’s no different when we book a hotel online through Expedia, Priceline, or Hotels.com. They are hotel pimps, extracting a huge commission (built into the room rate) for each room they push.

Pimpin' Gnome

Recently hotels have gotten smart– using their Facebook fan-page to sell direct and offering a Facebook rate. And online consumers have caught on, realizing they can get a better rate if they circumvent the middlemen.

The problem? For us consumers, it’s still takes time and effort to check each Facebook fan-page. And you can’t conveniently search on Facebook by location for direct hotel rates the way you can on sites like Expedia.

So FunnelScope decided to solve that problem. We created a Social Network for finding and booking hotels. It let’s you search by location and engage directly with hotels in that location. And guess what? By connecting directly with the source, you are guaranteed to get the best hotel rate. It’s simple economics: by removing the middleman, you give yourself the best chance to lower your hotel rate since you are dealing with the source.

Well, if you haven’t signed up by now, it must be because you feel sorry for the pimps or have a soft spot for that gnome. Unfortunately that gnome is really a pimp in disguise. Just ask the next time you stay in a hotel.

Sleazy Car Salesman

Few people like dealing with a pushy salesperson when buying a car. But would you prefer walking into a car dealer and being handed a brochure? Would you be able to make a decision just by looking at the photos, reading the specs, not having access to anyone to ask questions, and then making a purchase decision?

For most people, probably not. Our brains are not structured to just read a brochure and make a decision. It’s the dialogue that helps us frame our understanding when making decisions. Dialogue also helps us make decisions more quickly than just reading a brochure in a silo.

This has been one of the flaws of the web: the belief you can just put static content on the web and people will find it easy to make decisions. This assumption does not take into account information and selection overload. Yes we have lived with it to date because we haven’t had an alternative- but it’s not optimal. Frustration occurs when we need to make a decision all by ourselves and there is a large selection. Lucky for us there is progress and social networks are leading this movement.

I hypothesize that over the next 3 – 5 years dialogue will overtake static reviews as the prominent process for online local search. And why wouldn’t it? This is how most decisions are made offline. This becomes even more likely on mobile web platforms where reading long reviews strains the eyes and is not practical. Plus mobile is inherently a communication platform. It would be flawed to think static content will dominate on an interactive communication device.

Yes reviews will still be valuable, but do you honestly think it will be better to read a ton of reviews on Yelp or Trip Advisor if you have the option of asking real people specific questions and engaging in a dialogue? No chance. I admit for this social dialogue to be successful and overtake reviews, there needs to be a framework that lets you know who is best qualified to answer questions or who best matches up with your tastes.

Going back to my original question whether you would buy from a brochure, I believe this dialogue must go a step further and occur directly with merchants. Whether it’s a car dealer, local restaurant, or hotel, if you can engage in dialogue with merchants you will have more confidence in your buying decision and you will be able to make a decision more quickly. And less time spent researching and contemplating, means less frustration. The merchant also wins because they can build a relationship with you before you make a decision versus after you made your decision. So it’s a win-win. The only question is what’s the optimal process that makes this all work?

FunnelScope has a view and created the first Social Network for Finding and Booking Hotels. It connects users directly with hotels as part of the search process so they can engage in a dialogue. We expect this will be a massive improvement versus relying on static content reviews. Try it first hand, sign up today and let us know what you think.  We think you will enjoy experiencing the future!

22. GA
ATLANTA
5610

23. MO
CALLAO
5517

24. MA
WILBRAHAM
5305

25.NM
SANTA FE
5175

26. FL
FORT LAUDERDALE
5158

27. CA
SAN DIEGO
5156

28. FL
MIAMI
4889

29. AZ
PARADISE VALLEY
4833

30. MS
BILOXI
4831