A Website For Travel Cash Generates Both Funds And Fun
Travelers spent $1.159 trillion on international tourism in 2013, according to statista.com. The tourism industry is so big that airline and hotel companies use formulaic websites to divvy up as many of those dollars as possible. While juggernauts, like priceline.com and expedia.com, are long entrenched like skyscrapers in the tourism landscape, a website called myTab -- launched five years ago -- has succeeded in sharing the gift of travel.
The brainchild of founder Heddi Cundle, myTab is a U.S. and U.K. travel gift card site where "you save travel cash and alert your contacts to put it on myTab so friends and family contribute towards your dream trip," Cundle said. The funds are redeemed from thousands of flights and hotels, all within myTab. Cundle says that myTabbers have a "happier pre-booking experience because their cash tab helps them avoid price frustration, which leads to more excitement in funding and booking their trip."
"The more you save and fundraise cash for travel, the better we can negotiate exclusive deals," Cundle says in describing her business model. "We're taking crowdfunding to a whole new level!" In reaching this level, Cundle's engaging personality and strong creative streak may be her strongest assets, rounded out by her work experience in marketing and education in business and public relations.
She received a master's degree in logistics and supply chain management from London Metropolitan University. Prior to that, she received a bachelor's degree in marketing, public relations and retail management from Newcastle University and earned a separate bachelor's in business, marketing and public relations at Airedale and Wharfedale College (which closed as of August 1998). Armed with the degrees, Cundle worked at a variety of jobs in the tourism and entertainment industries for nearly 20 years.
Initially, she took a position as conference manager at Marriott Hotels and then served as marketing manager and public relations manager at CME, which operates TV and radio stations in Europe. She worked as director of marketing and PR at Maxwell's Restaurant Group, and subsequently moved from London to California where she worked in various marketing leadership roles before founding myTab.
Residing in the San Francisco Bay Area, Greg is a patented inventor, technology enthusiast and intrepid journalist. He finds inspiration in diverse experiences, organizations, people and places -- from restaurants to politics, movies, music and, most of all, his daughter.