28 March 2008

Holiday experiences website makes debut

Want to learn to fight like a gladiator in Rome, do the salsa in Spain or pick up Arabic on your hols in the UAE?

A new site devoted to selling holiday experiences claims it can book a range of activities for customers at very low prices, thanks to its business model that asks only for a deposit on booking, with the balance payable to the supplier at the start of the course.

GoLearnTo.com, which sells a diverse range of courses in sports, well being, languages, food and drink and creative categories, is the brainchild of former MyTravelLite managing director Vanessa Lenssen who set up the site after spotting a niche in the market whilst working at STA Travel as managing director of global product.

The company contracts wholesale rates directly from learning product suppliers and generates revenue mainly through the site and through white label partnerships with the travel trade including STA Travel.

Said Lenssen: Ã¢â¬ÅâœWe offer a guarantee to our customers that they wonÃ¢â¬â¢t be able to buy the same course cheaper anywhere else. And we are entirely focused on providing the learning elements of our customersÃ¢â¬â¢ holidays. This means that we can concentrate solely on providing courses that best satisfy our customersÃ¢â¬â¢ needs for self-fulfillment, as well as bringing the Ã¢â¬Ëœbrag factorÃ¢â¬â¢ to their holidays. We donÃ¢â¬â¢t sell flights or packages, so our customers have complete flexibility to dynamically package their own trips. Ã¢â¬Åâœ

by Dinah Hatch