Lonely Planet has acquired TRILL Travel, an artificial intelligence-driven travel marketplace that turns Instagram posts into bookable experiences.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The travel guide brand will use TRILL’s technology - which analyses images and creates links to booking sites for hotels, experiences or restaurants - to make content on the Lonely Planet platform bookable.
“We are looking at this acquisition from an asset perspective - we want to incorporate TRILL's tech and capabilities into our digital products and soon reimagine our Pathfinders program,’’ says Lonely Planet president and CEO Luis Cabrera.
The Pathfinders program is the guidebook’s network of “travel experts.” By combining that with TRILL’s “tastemakers” network - comprising digital influencers who are rewarded with cash every time a user books from their post - Lonely Planet hopes to create “one of the largest influencer networks in the market.”
Lonely Planet will adopt TRILL’s revenue share model, which automatically pays out commissions for confirmed bookings tied to each individual post.
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