Tourlane, Germany: Private Custom Tours, the Beginning of a Dream Tour

"When many people think of Africa, they actually think of Tanzania." The African savannah, the animal world, Kilimanjaro, the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, even the beaches of the Sea Islands...... almost everything you can imagine about the good things about Africa can be found in Tanzania.

Ecuador, the "equatorial country" of South America, has not only the beautiful roses, fresh and large white shrimp, the football team in the World Cup, but also the Galapagos Islands, which inspired Darwin to write "The Origin of Species". The island is known as the Museum of Biological Evolution, where giant turtles and lizards crawl on the sandy beaches under the blue sky.

New Zealand, the filming site of the famous film "The Lord of the Rings"; Scotland, the filming location of the renowned movie "Harry Potter" and "Braveheart", both have a strong and spectacular scenery, high mountain lakes, like a fairyland.

Wherever travel destination you think or hear, Tourlane Berlin. the online travel company brings together travel experts to make your travel dreams come true. You just click buttons in the company's webpage or App, your trip planning is done, you are waiting for your next fabulous trip to come.

 

Tailor-made travel to create a comfortable lifestyle

People are becoming keener to travel,  pursuing the lifestyle through the journey, and personalization is becoming a trend. However, many travellers do not know the exact local conditions and spend a lot of time searching,  they find themself dazzled and bored when planning their trip, and the travel arrangements are not as good as they expected when they arrive at the destination, deeply disappointed.

Tourlane Travel Berlin, not a traditional travel agency, but a travel technology company, helps global travellers tailor their dream trip with a team of expert consultants, unique software systems, and a wealth of travel service resources. Tourlane can customize travel planning online for travellers based on their preferences and requirements, saving them time and effort in their search and making it easy for them to travel with a lifetime of memories.

Users only need to log on to Tourlane's official website or the APP, fill in a simple questionnaire, tell Tourlane where to go, when to schedule, how much to pay, etc. The software system will analyze the data, transmit the user's customized information to three senior travel experts in the destination. The destination travel experts will contact the user in time, send the quotation through the system or email, complete the travel planning, users can enjoy the "one-on-one" private and premium service after the tour begins.

One user praised, "Within a minute of sending the booking request, I received a call from Tourlane."

Tourlane has established in-depth partnerships with over 100 travel service providers in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Australia, who provide travellers with a full-service business across 50 destinations, including flights, transportation, accommodation, dining, tours, activities, attractions, and more, making it easy for travellers to realize the ideal travel experience.

 

The founder's dream for better travel

In 2016, in the German capital Berlin, Tourlane was founded by two founders, Julian Weselek and Julian Stiefel. Since its inception, the company's revenue has grown by up to 800% annually, and its employees are close to 300.

The two founders were childhood playmates and used to travel together when they were in school. At the time, it was difficult for them to plan their trip, both time-consuming and frustrating.

Julian Weselek later graduated from the London School of Economics and worked for the German internet investment group "Rocket", helping to build several successful internet startups. Julian Stiefel studied at the WHU-Otto-Besheim School of Management and founded the first student online housing rental platform Accoleo, which was acquired by Airbnb in 2011, where he joined in a key role. In 2016, they started Tourlane in central Berlin.

It was a tough start to the company, with the two founders funding the company for more than a year, at a time when Tourlane had yet to attract investors. "No one trusted Tourlane to bring the complex process into personal travel online, many investors knew that the travel market is so competitive, they were afraid to enter into."

So, the two founders decided to focus on product development first, continuously improving the user experience, and then convincing investors by growing the number of users. Later, the company became more and more famous in the tourism industry, and investment started pouring into the company in a steady stream.

After four years of development, Tourlane has become Europe's largest personalised travel provider and has also been named as one of the top 10 German startups to watch on, creating new experiences for countless travellers.

In August 2017, Tourlane received a $1.5 million in seed round; in March 2018, Tourlane received an $8.5 million in Series A; in December 2018, Tourlane received a $24 million in Series B; and in May 2019, Tourlane received a $47 million in Series C with cumulative funding of over $81 million as the company continues to grow.

Investors include Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and CTO of Airbnb;  Johannes Reck, co-founder and CEO of GetYourGuide, a European ticketing travel giant who received $484 million in financing from SoftBank in 2019; Fritz Demopoulos, former CEO and co-founder of Qunar, the world's largest Chinese online travel site headquartered in Beijing.

The investors also include public venture capital funds such as DN Capital, Spark Capital, Sequoia Capital, and others.

Founder Julian Stiefel said: "I am delighted to continue working with our senior investors and proud of the hard work and dedication of our wonderful team at Tourlane."

The financing funds will be used for international business expansion and new service product development, with each of the two founders holding a 14% stake after the financing.

 

Transforming the industry paradigm, the beginning of a dream journey

"No matter where you're going or how you get there, we'll plan your dream journey together."

"Personally, I want to spend more time with my family and travel more in the new year." It is Julian Weselek's 2020 travel plan.

Tourlane co-founder Julian Stiefel said, "People want a different, authentic travel experience and want a deeper exposure to the culture of a country." The number of users has more than tripled for the entire year of 2019. Compared to the 2-day average booking time on Booking.com, Tourlane achieved a 15-day average booking time.

"Tourlane streamlines the booking process, reduces costs and provides a unique and enjoyable trip for travellers." Andrew Reed, a partner at Sequoia Capital, commented.

Travellers who receive Tourlane's consulting services are free of charge and will only pay a little percentage, which varies from country to country, of the fee after successful booking,  the travel service provider should pay fees if they wish to join Tourlane's partnership system.

"At first glance, some companies target in an outdated market, say travel market, but a closer analysis reveals that this segment has tremendous growth potential,  Tourlane is such a case, a vertically integrated, technology-driven travel company, with the market size and profitability of an online business. Tourlane combines the respective strengths of offline agents and online booking, which will replace the existing travel booking model." Spark Capital thinks highly of Tourlane.

"Tourlane brings out your inner explorer spirit. As your travel experts, we will customize the trip and beautiful memories of a lifetime."

Speaking of plans, founder Julian Weselek is somewhat excited: "In 2020, we will further attract travellers to Tourlane and hope to become the hub of dream travel on the Internet."