Wanderfly.com Launches as Travel Inspiration Site that Puts Simplicity, Personalization and Soul-Stirring Inspiration Back into Travel Planning

NEW YORK, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Travel is inspiring; researching and booking it is not. This is the simple premise behind Wanderfly.com (http://www.wanderfly.com), a ground-breaking travel recommendation engine launching today after three months in beta with 7,000 registered users. In as few as five clicks, Wanderfly provides stunning trip recommendations tailored to travelers' budgets, trip dates and interests.

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Wanderfly's streamlined interface begins just how a person would when planning a trip: how much can I spend, when can I go, and what do I like to do? The site offers themes, from food and culture to eco-friendly and nightlife.

Wanderfly searches over 20 trusted sites, including Expedia, Foursquare, Yelp and Lonely Planet, to recommend a trip complete with destination, flight, hotel and activities. Travelers may customize these options and book, or flip to the next suggested trip. They may also connect through Facebook to locate friends in any of the destinations.

Since travelers seek inspiration, specifying a destination is not required. Travelers can make the world their oyster and receive destination recommendations across the world or they can contain their inspiration to a specific region (e.g., Asia, South America, U.S.) or a city.

"On average, travelers spend 7 weeks visiting 25 sites* before they know exactly what they want, yet there's no easy way for them to get inspired online," says Evan Schneyer, CEO and co-founder. "We are advocates for travelers, first and foremost, because Wanderfly is a solution to frustrations from our own experiences. Travel itself is such an inspiration, and we believe the fun should start from the very moment you decide to go. It's our mission to spark people's journeys with meaningful recommendations and an amazing user experience."

Sample searches:

Departure: New York, NY

Budget: $700-900/person

Dates: 11/5-11/7

Interests: Beach, Party

RESULT: Miami, American Airlines at $189, Standard Hotel at $602 (2 nights), Club 50 @ Viceroy, Light Project **

Departure: Dallas, TX

Budget: $3,000-4,000/person

Dates: 11/9-11/19

Interests: Shopping, Culture, Food

RESULT: Istanbul, Delta Airlines at $813, Sultanhan Hotel at $2360 (10 nights), Grand Bazaar, Konyali Restaurant **

Wanderfly offers a unique combination of features:

Recommendation engine mirrors the human decision process - The site's simplicity hides a tremendous amount of technology that lies under its hood. A typical recommendation runs a user's search criteria through proprietary algorithms, dynamically normalizes information from 10 sources and seamlessly presents them as one cohesive recommendation.

"Curated aggregation" brings together content from 22 partners - Wanderfly launches with 1,200 global destinations, paired with content from best-in-class companies including Expedia, Foursquare, Yelp, Lonely Planet, American Park Network, Not For Tourists, Rough Guides, Jauntsetter and Find. Eat. Drink.

Stunning, rich media interface guides travelers - The site's design is beautiful and simple, devoid of distracting disclaimers and ads. To bring trips to life, Wanderfly has handpicked photography for every destination.

Social functionality helps plan trips - Tapping Facebook's social graph, Wanderfly's destination recommendations factor in where a user's "friends" live, providing the opportunity to share itineraries with friends.

Wanderfly's founders are a trio of young, passionate travelers. Schneyer and co-founders Christy Liu and Cezary Pietrzak have paired their enthusiasm for travel with expertise in programming, marketing and design to bring a fresh approach to the industry.

Wanderfly is currently working on an iPad application and expanding upon its partnerships, destinations and activities. The company will soon offer concierge packages, restaurant reservations, travel products and event tickets. In addition, Wanderfly plans to add more user-generated content, group-planning tools and a widget for outside travel parties to integrate into their sites.

* According to Google study      ** October 6, 2010 rates

About Wanderfly

Wanderfly is a travel inspiration site that helps people discover where they can go based on their budgets and interests. Its simplified end-to-end experience enables users to plan, share and book complete trips, including flights, hotels and activities. Powered by a sophisticated recommendation engine, it currently features 1,200 destinations worldwide and content from over 20 best-in-class brands such as Expedia, Foursquare, Yelp and Lonely Planet. For more information, visit wanderfly.com (http://www.wanderfly.com).

SOURCE Wanderfly