Ever wondered if you could find a cheap flight deal to your favourite destination in the world with as much as a 90 percent discount off the ticket price? Granted, that could be a challenge, yet Scott Keyes, founder and chief flight expert at Going, figured out a way to do just that while growing members for his expanding website.
Initially starting as a travel service called Scott’s Cheap Travels, Going emerged as a strong rebrand for Scott’s ever-increasing number of subscribers, almost edging over two million and counting.
With more than $500 million in flights offered, Going promises to revamp the travel experience by providing deals to entice people to take more vacations at affordable prices. Below, Scott discusses the secret sauce behind his website and app.
Where did the idea behind Going start from?
Most founders really wanted to start a company and search around for their million-dollar idea. I was the opposite.
I never intended to be a start-up founder, but I was a recent college graduate with dreams to travel and little money to do so.
The only way I could afford it was through cheap flights. For years I studied airfare and watched its behavior until it culminated in 2013 with the best deal of my life: nonstop from New York City to Milan for $130 roundtrip.
When I got back from a trip spent skiing in the Alps and hiking in Cinque Terre, friends and coworkers kept coming up to me with the same question:
“Next time you find a deal like that, will you let me know?” The simplest way not to forget anyone, I realized, was to start a simple email list. For the next two years, I found cheap flights and sent them out to the list as a hobby, until 2015 it had grown large enough that it was time to explore turning it into a business. Today, Going has millions of members and 75 employees—something I never would’ve expected.
How does your website and app facilitate flight deals?
We search for cheap flights all day, every day. You tell us your home airport and when a cheap flight pops-up from there, we send simple alerts to members notifying them and giving details like when it’s available and how long we think the price drop will last. Why is your motto “Take more vacations?” Most people want to travel far more than they actually do. The biggest barrier for many is the price of flights. Ask yourself: If flights to Europe were $200 roundtrip, how many more trips would you take? My goal isn’t to convince people to take more vacations; it’s to allow them to take the vacations they already want.
You are obviously well-travelled. What country would you want to visit again and why?
Taiwan. It’s an incredibly lush country with delicious and affordable food and beautiful outdoorsy options.
Driving a moped through the Taroko Gorge— you could imagine the Grand Canyon but instead of being brown and desert it’s green and forested— it is among the top five travel memories in my life. As soon as I left, I have been pining to return.
Can you tell us about your book “Take More Vacations: How to search better, book cheaper and travel the world?”
The goal of the book is to give people the tools to find cheap flights and to show them how they’re even more valuable than we thought. Airfare is the most confusing and volatile purchase we make. This dissonance results in people overpaying for flights and taking fewer trips. But if you understand how airfare works and start making cheap flights a reality, your travel life opens up.
Not only can you take more trips for the same amount of money you used to pay, but you can also visit more destinations along the way.
What advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs wanting to establish their own business?
Don’t underestimate the role luck plays. Every entrepreneur works extremely hard, but only a small percentage of start-ups achieve some level of success. Don’t put your life savings into an idea right away. Be quick to test your product among users.
If you’ve got product-market fit, you won’t feel you have to ask for donations; people will want to pay you to use it. If you’re not sensing that fit, you’ll be glad you didn’t liquidate your life savings, and you’ve got resources for the next idea.
Aaron Levinson | Contributing Writer
