With Growth Surging, Gogobot Signs New Member Every 15 Seconds; Doubles Number of Trips Planned Per Day; Surpasses 1 Million Registered User Mark

SAN FRANCISCO, May 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Gogobot (http://www.gogobot.com), the world's leading source of trusted travel advice, today reveals insights into the accelerated usage of both the online and mobile services. 

Less than 18 months after launching in private beta, the company is celebrating its 1 millionth registered user, while continuing to see unprecedented growth:

• Every 15 seconds, a new member joins Gogobot.
• Overall member growth has exploded 65x year-on-year.
• More than 5 million places have been shared on the service to date.

Gogobot's mobile app has been a major driver of growth. Since launching the iPhone app in October:

• The number of reviews submitted by users each day has doubled.
• The number of photos uploaded by users each day has increased by a magnitude of 5x.
• The number of trip plans created per day has doubled.

Gogobot this week unveiled a new version of the application that integrates richer social features, including commenting on postcards, as well as richer options for search, including the ability to search for restaurants by cuisine or attractions by type (e.g. museums versus theme parks), as well as to filter results by distance or rating. 

Gogobot CEO and co-founder Travis Katz was inspired to launch the service to solve the problems that he encountered when planning trips and holidays: Instead of buying guidebooks, surfing the web, or asking around to see if friends or colleagues had been to places that they could recommend, Gogobot brings you trusted advice from friends and your wider social circle via Facebook and Twitter. Gogobot uses social tools to provide every user with a unique, personalized experience, always delivering the most relevant places and reviews based on where people in your network have visited.

"Gogobot has become a go-to, reliable source of travel information for a community of more than 1 million in-the-know travelers. With Gogobot, every user has a unique, personalized experience because we automatically sort reviews and photos of hotels, restaurants, and attractions based on their popularity in your personal network," said Katz. "By far the largest and fastest growing in the increasingly hot social travel space, so many people have adopted Gogobot because the advice comes from friends and like-minded users in your network, rather than anonymous strangers." Katz's Gogobot travel passport can be seen at http://www.gogobot.com/user/travis-katz.

Amit Anandwala, a 26-year-old management technology consultant in Austin, Texas, recently used Gogobot to plot an upcoming trip to Spain, Portugal, Sweden and the UK based on suggestions for restaurants and lodging provided by his network on Gogobot. A veteran traveler who's visited 45 countries on six continents, he "can look at someone's review on Gogobot, see where they have been in a city, and really understand just how they travel," Anandwala said. "I travel for business and pleasure, but I travel a specific way, so it greatly helps when the advice comes from someone I can relate to. When I have some insights on their personality and interests, their suggestions are more valid to me." His Gogobot profile is at http://www.gogobot.com/user/amit-anandwala.

McKenna Hoof, a junior at Florida State University, uses Gogobot to share her travels with friends, such as her recent trip to Austria. With plans to study in Florence, Italy, this summer, Hoof will use Gogobot to document her experiences in Italy as well as map out an extensive tour of Europe that will take her through Spain, France and the Low Countries. Her Gogobot profile can be found at http://www.gogobot.com/user/mckenna-hoof_2.

"Gogobot gives me such a great way to organize my travels," said Hoof, who will study comparative politics at Florence's University of the Arts. "(It's) almost as if you are experiencing it with your friends there. And Gogobot is always giving me ideas about where I want to go next, which will be a great help when I am looking for tips in those places in Europe that I haven't yet visited."

Named one of Time magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2011, Gogobot is the first social travel service that leverages social media to help protect users from falling prey to review fraud. 92 percent of Gogobot users connect to the service using their real identities via Facebook. As they browse reviews, Gogobot allows them to easily see shared connections they have to anyone on the service, ensuring that users are confident they are reading a real review from a real person. By allowing users to tap their universe of friends and associates on Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter for personal advice and reviews, Gogobot has built a reliable, easy and fun way to plan a trip, share memories and photos with friends, or dream about the next travel adventure.

In celebration of the 1 million registered-user milestone, Gogobot sent one lucky user, Rachel Slough of Salt Lake City, on a continent-hopping trip to see how her Gogobot friends could help her out in four new cities in three different countries. To check out the Rachel's Excellent Adventure video, go to: http://youtu.be/fKw4-SNFO_o.

Gogobot for iPhone and iPod touch is available for free from the App Store at: http://itunes.apple.com/app/gogobot/id459590827. For more information, go to http://www.gogobot.com.

About Gogobot

Gogobot is the world's most popular source of trusted travel advice from people like you. Launched in November 2010 and named one of Time magazine's 50 Best Websites of 2011, Gogobot was the first travel company to refocus online travel planning on friends, not strangers. By allowing people to tap into their personal networks on Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter for personal advice and reviews, Gogobot has helped millions of people create, share and enjoy extraordinary travel experiences. As a result, Gogobot works with global partners - including Expedia, Hotels.com, Kayak and Priceline - that enable users to book their travel directly from the site. Gogobot is available on the web, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Whether you are seeking advice on the best hotels in Las Vegas, tips for visiting Walt Disney World or reviews of things to do in New York City, Gogobot offers advice you can trust from people like you.

Gogobot has raised $19 million, more funding than all other companies in the sector combined, from leading venture investors, including Battery Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Innovation Endeavors. Gogobot is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, with an office in London.

Contact for U.S.
Mark de la Vina
Consort Partners
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 415-282-4795

Contact for Europe
James Gilheany
Speed Communications
Email: [email protected] 
Phone: +44 20 7842 3210

SOURCE Gogobot