Business Showcase, 2 years on : TravelWifi

By @SimonCocking. Delighted to feature our first Business Showcase follow up feature. Two years ago we began featuring lots of talented upcoming Irish, (and later also global startups). With so much talk about the high attrition rate of new businesses it’s great to present the first in a new series of pieces of companies that have thrived and grown since we last featured them. TravelWifi tell us their story.

Well done on still being in business 12(+) months later.

Thank you for featuring us again, it has been a great journey since last time we spoke. It has actually been 24 months since we first featured, (almost exactly to the day!) I remember we had the privilege to be within the very first businesses to be showcased on the Irish Tech News.

Did it always seem like you were on a smooth path to greater success or were there moments during the year when you wondered if you were doing the right thing?

There is no certainty about smooth path to success but we definitely believed in our cause, to help tourists avoid data roaming charges, and we saw a tremendous opportunity for our service / product. This has been validated over the last 2 years as we have seen a growing demand from our customers.

We couldn't agree more @suzannestavert! #blogger #wifi #travelling @GreenWithRenvy pic.twitter.com/373XJSeIBr

— Travel WiFi (@TravelWiFiIre) February 5, 2016

How was your progress over the last 2 years? 

One of the things we mentioned in the previous showcase, we said that we were planning to expand to the US market and so we did later that year. We knew that the States was a big opportunity for us to expand there, so we didn’t wait too long to take action. Things work quiet well since we launched there, most of our customers traveling there would be Irish and many of them were delighted to use our service. We are now actually considering to open our own office in New York, hopefully next year.

Coming back to our local presence here in Ireland, we must say the past year has been really productive to us by far. We felt that our presence on the local market picked up quiet well, as we were approached not only by an increased number of customers but also businesses. We are now in the process of signing a contract with two big car rentals, Sixt and Europcar. This is really exciting for us.

What challenges, if any, have you came across during this time?

In terms of challenges, the most obvious one for us is the seasonality. Because our service is primarily offered to tourists we are facing with huge service demands during the summer season, which is about to start (March –September) and for this reason we aren’t doing so well on the winter season (October –February) when the traveling is not so good. However, this evens off I guess.

#WiFi connectivity even on the @CliffsofMoher1 . #Travelwifi #pocketwifi #Ireland #travel @DiscoverIreland pic.twitter.com/QDugUcg2FI

— Travel WiFi (@TravelWiFiIre) February 2, 2016

How you feel about July 2017 when there will be no roaming charges in Europe? Will this affect your business?

Looking at the industry trends, we actually saw a dramatic decrease in data roaming charges during the last two years. This can be a relief for many, we know that in July 2017 there will be no roaming charges in Europe which is great, however visitors from US will still have to pay data roaming charges if traveling to Ireland for example. This applies to someone from Europe traveling to US too.

Although Wi-Fi accessibility becomes easier year by year to the end-user, we are conscious of that and so we already started to diversify our service towards B2B. As mentioned earlier we are now dealing with two big players in the travel sector and we plan to increase our B2B portfolio in the near future. This will ensure that our business will keep growing.

How did your business grow in terms of people joining the company?

We are still a small team running the business. However we feel this year it will be a big year for us and we need two talented individuals to join our team. As a matter of fact we are now offering two intern positions in Digital Marketing and Logistics, so if anyone interested please check our website and drop us your CV at [email protected].

Fallow the roadmap…#saveMoney and get #unlimitedWiFi service while #traveling! #TravelWiFi #holidays #vacation pic.twitter.com/yTxGjZhO6u

— Travel WiFi (@TravelWiFiIre) January 20, 2016

What is the best way for people to get in touch with you?

We can be found online through our website  or social media (T: @TravelWiFiIre, F: /Travelwifiire).

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at [email protected] or on Twitter: @SimonCocking