Travelocity is launching a beta-version of the RoadTrip WizardTM, a new tool that streamlines and simplifies the road trip planning process. First to launch the RoadTrip Wizard platform, Travelocity customers can now benefit from a new way to plan every aspect of their road trip all in one place - a task that previously required multiple Web sites. This tool is available through an alliance with LeisureLogixTM, a new travel and navigation services company.

“Road trips are a part of the American culture,” said Andres Fabris, vice president business development Travelocity. “What our customers were missing was one place to plan their road trips based on what they want to see and do. The RoadTrip Wizard will not only fill this gap, it will also allow them to personalize plans based on what they want to get out of their trip.”

A shift away from date and destination-based search, the RoadTrip Wizard’s personalized search process generates filtered results based on user personas that vary by trip (romantic trip, trip with kids, girls’ getaway trip, etc.) and preferences such as preferred vehicle type (car, RV, motorcycle), hotel ratings and desired drive time. Focusing on the “who,” “what,” and “how” of road trip planning, the RoadTrip Wizard’s process mimics a conversation with a travel agent, allowing the user to explore options and ideas while planning.

“We developed the RoadTrip Wizard to serve a much neglected population of leisure road trip travelers. Before our tool, there was no Web site merging the capabilities of planning, booking, mapping and routing for road trips with our degree of personalization,” said Michael Hulley, CEO of LeisureLogix. “Eighty-eight percent of leisure travel is done on the road and the online marketplace was overwhelmingly focused on air travel before the RoadTrip Wizard.”

The RoadTrip Wizard’s intelligent advice engine scours one of the broadest location-based services databases with more than five million points of interest (from wineries to festivals, dry cleaners to national parks), making it easy to get ideas and plan any length of road trip. Merged with sophisticated mapping and routing tools, potential trips are mapped out and then supported with step by step driving directions.
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