FAQ's

MyTravatar is an intuitive, one-stop platform that combines revolutionary trip planning, loyalty and deals. By inputting your preferences and interests, MyTravatar automatically pulls together a personalised itinerary (complete with options, maps, walking times and estimated visit times) for every day of the trip. You can swap or drag and drop to organise your day, whilst picking up deals and loyalty points along the way.

We want to stop £billions of pounds leaving our local communities in commissions. Social impact is in our DNA and we are passionate about helping local businesses and communities to thrive. That’s why we are giving 25% of our profits directly back to the places where our revenues are raised.

MyTravatar will democratise the commission-led bookings market, putting power, and money, back into the hands and pockets of local businesses and communities. We do this by not charging any commission for sales generated as a result of connecting our users and businesses.

These platforms take between 10% and 30% commission from every transaction. Some ‘deal’ or voucher sites demand up to 50% and also demand significant discounts. In 2017, booking.com and expedia alone generated over $27 billion in commissions from local businesses. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This puts a hefty strain on margins and sends money out of the independent businesses and local areas, at a time when they need it most. This model has gone unchallenged for over 20 years. Until now. This ‘brokerage cost’ significantly impacted our local economies in normal times but given the current economic climate they will destroy local businesses and economies across the world. At a time when our communities need more support than ever, every penny really does count.

We believe the model needs to be challenged, and the seismic shift in values among consumers towards supporting their local community will be a catalyst for the biggest disruption to the commissions-led bookings industry since booking platforms first came on the scene.

No commission means:

• More money stays within a business

• Capital saved can create jobs and fund local investment

• More money stays within a local area bringing more prosperity

• Our donations are focused on investing in local communities

MyTravatar encourages users to explore more by bringing together personalised trip planning, loyalty and deals into one convenient platform. Right now, we offer the best tool for personalised trip planning and this is a core function of MyTravatar. As the UK starts to emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown, MyTravatar can help people discover hidden gems and new places to eat, shop and visit in their local area.

By tailoring people’s preferences and interests, MyTravatar directly connects our users and businesses, without taking hefty commissions, keeping more money in the pockets of our businesses.

MyTravatar is available now as a web-application (PWA). We will potentially develop native ios and android APP versions in the next phases of development, but currently the PWA approach gives access to all, as well flexibility for us to develop and market our leading-edge technology as we see fit.

Google has made it second nature for consumers to search the internet for things to do, including trip planning and that makes sense to us as the place to start.

From 2022, MyTravatar will generate revenue from a low monthly subscription from businesses to access and enhance their customisable page. Given the global economic crisis created by COVID-19, we know that every penny counts for businesses right now. This is why MyTravatar will be free of charge from now until 2022 for all businesses and Approved Partners [APs].

We will be listening to businesses and destinations throughout 2021 to understand the best pricing structure for MyTravatar.

Our social impact is two-fold:

1. Removing commissions and keeping money within businesses and local communities which is immediate

2. 25% of our profits will be donated, via our Foundation, to invest in local skills, jobs and clean/green growth

We are already delivering positive social impact by enabling businesses to connect with customers without needing to pay commission. We will look to launch the Foundation in late 2021.

MyTravatar will always be free for our users. From 2022, MyTravatar will generate revenue from a low monthly subscription from businesses to access and enhance their profile. MyTravatar charges no commissions and has no hidden fees, gimmicks or tricky affiliate links.

Every business automatically gets a free, fully customisable business page. They can add videos, photos, opening-times, reviews and specific information related to them, such as COVID-19 measures, takeaway, vegan, dog-friendly, wheelchair access etc.

Once MyTravatar has verified and authenticated their business details, they will be given a unique username and password and will become a registered business partner (BP). Then they are off and running – they can customise their page, add videos and images, add special information and consider exclusive deals to help them stand out.

We will create a charitable Foundation to donate / invest directly into local communities. We envisage it will work with not-for-profit organisations, approved partners and other charitable projects to deliver skills, jobs and clean/green growth. It will a fully-independent and arms length organisation with no involvement from MyTravatar Executives.

We hope to launch the MyTravatar Foundation in late 2021.

It is very simple – businesses who promote exclusive deals will create their own unique code, which MyTravatar users redeem at the point of purchase, online or at the venue. In addition, MyTravatar has advanced analytics that show all businesses management information about how our users are interacting with their page, offer and deals. Businesses can then tweak and adapt their page based on real analytics, data and user feedback.

We will be continually improving how businesses can measure the positive impact MyTravatar is having on their business.

Growing loyalty is just one of the many benefits of MyTravatar. What makes us different is our role in directly connecting businesses and consumers, and that we have removed ourselves from 'brokering' the transaction, hence our disruption to the commissions-led model. We are also focused on giving businesses powerful and cost-effective tools to market themselves to our users globally in order to generate more spend.

Users will be rewarded the more they explore, and will be encouraged to find new and different places to visit and spend in. So, rather than keep going back to the same place, our loyalty programme actively motivates people to seek new things, and find new favourite places.

We know destinations often invest significantly in marketing and advertising yet there is a dearth of tools which directly connect the consumer with businesses in the local area. MyTravatar will save time and money, enabling sizeable marketing and advertising budget to be redirected to other important initiatives, in order to help local economies thrive again as we come through COVID-19.

MyTravatar will enable local authorities, umbrella business organisations and operators of destinations to encourage less people, to stay longer and to spend more. All these benefits come at a fraction of the cost of running complex and time intensive consumer facing websites, which MyTravatar can simplify and provide a more effective business-led solution. MyTravatar is what destinations have been waiting for – a ‘one stop shop’ for destination campaigns, local knowledge, venues (POI’s), exclusive deals and loyalty. They can come on board as an Approved Partner [AP].

We connect businesses directly with our users based on tailored preferences and interests, not swishy algorithms.

Approved Partners [APs] are recognised organisations charged with supporting local economies everywhere. In the UK this includes, but is not limited to, BID’s (Business Improvement Districts), DMO’s (Destination Marketing OR Management Organisations), Council and Private-led Tourism Boards, Business Partnerships, Economic Development Departments, National Parks and other business groups e.g. FSB (Federation of Small Business), Chamber of Commerce and many more. If in doubt contact us and we will let you know if you meet the criteria.

Never was it more important to work together than now, as every penny counts to your businesses and local communities. Contact us to see how we can work together to boost business and help your local community.

If you are a member of an Approved Partner (AP) of MyTravatar you can also register through their website, assuming they have integrated MyTravatar of course. If they are not, encourage them to better support you and your local area by investing wisely and becoming an Approved Partner.

If they won't, then just register with us directly.

MyTravatar is the brainchild of entrepreneur Paul Sherry. Formerly a City trader, he moved to the New Forest, Hampshire, where he has founded several initiatives, including for children at risk of exclusion. In January 2019 he opened 49, a business-led innovation centre in the New Forest to support start-up and early stage businesses. Paul has also served and continues to serve on the board of a number of tourism and business support organisations and works closely with a wide range Government and cross-sector partners.

He is supported at MyTravatar by a fabulous array of talent, including designers, developers, creatives and marketers who have all been at the top of business for many years. The team has a wealth of collective experience in the technology, travel and tourism industries, ranging from management of the world’s best known visitor attractions, museums and theme parks through to Destination Management, Online Travel Agents, visitor economy, shore excursion and much more.

The team is full of exciting and emerging talent full of fresh ideas and boundless energy. The opportunity to put our region on the map for disruptive technology and social impact drives the whole team forward.

It's all about the team and we have the team.

Yes. Following a successful Beta Testing phase, we are receiving positive feedback from both users and businesses. We have big ambitions for MyTravatar, and additional functionality to develop and deliver to keep us ahead of the game. We are now ready to scale and significantly boost our offer to users and service to businesses and will be seeking investment to enable our growth plans.

As disruptive innovators, we are always seeking ways to try new models. Therefore, we will manage our seed raise through a DIY campaign and invite any interested potential investors to reach out directly to us.

Email jeff@mytravatar.com to find out more.

As with most APP's in the marketplace we all rely on 3rd party data, most of which is user generated and some of which is generated by businesses. Bottom line, some of it isn't good. Our own data is rich and powerful, as there is no substitute for an individual business keeping their customisable page as sharp and uptodate as possible.

We will continue to do what we can to minimise issues, but be in no doubt, our own data will supersede all other sources. As we grow, we will prioritise and recommend only those businesses who are registered on MyTravatar, assuring our users of the most personalised, tailored and good fun options, locally and further afield.