Travala released its update for the first month of 2019, highlighting social media growth, booking partnerships, platform growth, plus more. Additionally, the team announced a traditional funding round and incorporated a fiat payment portal, which was covered by NEO News Today.

To increase the marketing campaign in an “accelerated growth” phase, Travala will seek US $5 million in funding via traditional Series A round. However, Travala is also conducting a “crowdfunding round for equity share capital in the company to give the community a chance to be part of [Travala’s] growth.”

Booking Data

The 136 total room nights booked in January was an increase of 248% from that of the previous month. Additionally, the number of registered users on the platform increased from 1,728 to 2,160 from December to January.

Travala reported the top booking destinations included places such as the USA, Italy, Thailand, Spain, UAE, Greece, Belgium, Malaysia, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden and the Philippines.

Partners and Community Growth

With regards to social media growth, Travala’s two largest platforms – Instagram and Telegram – saw noticeable increases in subscribers. Whereas membership decreased on the Facebook and Twitter social media accounts.

Travala partnered with Dida Travel, a Chinese-based supplier that expanded Travala’s inventory by 580,000 properties across the Asian region. Additionally, the travel booking platform partnered with Emerging Travel Group, which provides Travala to a “an amazing portfolio of over 1 million different types of accommodation ranging from hotels and hostels to apartments.”

Platform Development

Development updates were made to the Travala wallet, which included two-factor authentication (2FA) support, booking payments using AVA, and the giveback and referral programs currently in development.

Later in the month, Travala announced another platform update that incorporated a fiat payment gateway. Users can now make purchases with payment methods via PayPal, Mastercard, Visa, and AMEX.

In addition to the fiat gateway, Travala also developed its “built in crypto payment gateway” and currently supports six coins (BTC, LTC, ETH, BCH, TRX, NANO).

Lastly, the UI/UX was updated to include taxes on the search, property, and checkout pages. This was done to remove hidden fees and show the user the whole price they can expect to pay at checkout.

Looking forward, Travala aims to incorporate the recently completed research and development of the referral and giveback programs. Other goals for Q1 of 2019 include beta launch of the marketplace, increased marketing, and scaling the platform.

The full January 2019 update can be found at the link below:

https://blog.travala.com/roadmap-for-q1-2019-of-the-travala-project/