Empower Female Travelers
Inspired by my 30-day Europe trip before starting graduate school, I wanted to create an organization dedicated to improving the travel experience for females.
In my Fall 2017 Social Entrepreneurship course, I used my design toolkit to create Peregrine—an organization that empowers women to confidently travel the globe by providing them with safe physical spaces in destinations worldwide. These spaces facilitate the creation of genuine human connections and an unparalleled sense of comfort and “home” on the road. Peregrine can be used as a casual resource and place to receive tailored travel advice, or it can also offer increased engagement through memberships, day trips, and events. While Peregrine is analog-led, the digital components keep female travelers constantly connected to a team of supporters who can help them in even the stickiest of situations, as well as help them foster new relationships they develop on the road.
How might we empower women to feel comfortable, confident + connected while traveling?
Inspired by my 30-day (partially solo) Europe trip before starting graduate school, I wanted to create an organization dedicated to improving the travel experience for females.
In my Fall 2017 Social Entrepreneurship course, I used my design toolkit to create Peregrine—an organization that empowers women to confidently travel the globe by providing them with safe physical spaces in destinations worldwide. These spaces facilitate the creation of genuine human connections and an unparalleled sense of comfort and “home” on the road. Peregrine can be used as a casual resource and place to receive tailored travel advice, or it can also offer increased engagement through memberships, day trips, and events. While Peregrine is analog-led, the digital components keep female travelers constantly connected to a team of supporters who can help them in even the stickiest of situations, as well as help them foster new relationships they develop on the road.
Phase 1: research
In order to understand female feelings surrounding travel—other than just my own—I developed a research plan. If my future organization was going to succeed, it needed to be grounded in real user needs as well as occupy a new space in the market.
First, I created and sent a survey to 35 women from around the globe—some experienced travelers and other, less experienced travelers. Next, I selected another seven women to interview in-depth about their travel experiences and needs, and even delved into some co-creating techniques to get them more involved in my ideation process. Finally, I conducted some secondary research to understand the problem space and the current state of the female travel landscape, and to assess demand for an organization to address specific needs. What are these needs? How might I best meet them with my offering?
Here are some of the women I spoke with during my project:
the market
58% of all solo travelers worldwide are women.
The spending potential for global female travelers is $19 trillion.
Key Learnings
90% of women that I surveyed reported that they had an experience that made them feel unsafe or uncomfortable while traveling
100% of women that I surveyed said that they do not feel as though men have as many concerns on the road.
Common concerns of female travelers included: loneliness, cancellations/delays of travel plans, illness, theft, and sexual harassment/assault.
“For me, traveling exaggerates my concerns [related to being female] because of a lack of knowledge of which streets are safe, lack of people to call in case of concern, and sometimes, in the case of travel abroad, even language barriers or lack of access to a cellphone.”
“I think there is strength in numbers so I obviously feel more comfortable when I am with more people... I also feel more comfortable if I am going somewhere or taking a specific route to a location that someone else I know has taken before or one that I have researched ahead of time. ”
“Knowing that whatever destination I’m headed to will have other like-minded female travelers would help with my comfort levels. I really wish there was a way to do this proactively before heading off to a new destination by myself!”
Phase 2: finding a niche in the competitive travel market
In looking at existing organizations that are tailored to improving the female travel experience, I found that they all had one thing in common—they primarily live in the digital space. I assembled all of these organizations into a spreadsheet, adding information as I even experimented with many of them myself.
Blogs
A female travel expert provides readers with travel guides for specific locations and general tips about safety and packing, among other features. These blogs generally fostered a one-sided conversation, with little to no engagement between travelers.
Examples: We Are Travel Girls, The Travelettes, Globetrotter Girls, World of Wanderlust
Mobile Apps
Some of these apps operate much like blogs—providing advice about specific travel destinations—while others operate similarly to dating apps—helping to connect female travelers with others on the road. Many of the latter did not have many members, so they were not as effective as they could be.
Examples: Tourlina, Tourbar, BungeeGirl, Magpie
Social Media Groups
Much of the female travel space is housed on social media and operated through closed-member groups. These groups, while offering a great opportunity to engage with other travelers and ask questions, are nearly impossible to search and have little to no organization of information.
Examples: Wanderful, Girls Love Travel
Analog Offerings
When female-focused travel offerings are NOT in the digital space, they are all centered around group tours, requiring women to give up their independence and travel with a group for the entire duration of their journey and do not receive support beyond the duration of the group tour).
Examples: Adventure Women, Damesly, FP Escapes, REI Women’s Adventures
Through this exercise, I was easily able to conclude that the female travel industry needs more offerings in the physical/analog realm, putting authentic human connections back into the travel experience while allowing women to confidently maintain their independence on the road.
Introducing Peregrine…
“Peregrine empowers women to confidently travel the globe by providing them with safe physical spaces in destinations worldwide. These spaces facilitate the creation of genuine human connections and an unparalleled sense of comfort and “home” on the road.”
Phase 3: developing the experience
Peregrine manifests itself primarily as physical brick-and-mortar locations in cities around the globe where women can go to meet other like-minded travelers, receive travel advice, and get more immersed—safely and comfortably—in the city around them.
While designing the Peregrine experience, I wanted to bear in mind the wide variety of needs of female travelers. While some expressed a clear desire for a very involved service with all the “bells and whistles,” others seemed to want something more passive that allows them to participate minimally and as-needed. As such, I designed the experience in 3 “levels,” all of which marking a different amount of engagement.
overview of the user journey at all levels
Engagement Level 1: casual resource
At this level, users view our Peregrine locations as simply a “casual resource,” mirroring the engagement level one may experience at a tourist information bureau.
Engagement Level 2: increased involvement
At this level, users go beyond simply seeking information and become more engaged with the Peregrine location, attending events and spending time in the common areas. This may be comparable to a hostel common room, except focused solely on women and not exclusive to those just staying in one place.
Engagement Level 3: loyal membership
At this level—which involves a paid membership—users have become an official part of our global network. By personally checking in at the Peregrine location in any given city, they receive access to additional support that extends their experience with Peregrine.
Some feedback I received on my prototype:
“The features I appreciate most are the 24/7 local emergency support and the safety alerts. I feel like this is unique—along with the idea of having a physical location as a safe space to meet people and do activities.”
“Peregrine gives me a feeling of trust—I know that this would be a safe space where I could meet new, real friends while traveling. Exactly what I’ve been looking for!”
“I just checked out your idea and I am so excited about this—seems like it’ll fill a lot of the gaps that I’ve felt in my travel experiences... which would be SO NICE to have a trusted resource for.”
“If a service like this this existed, then we would definitely pay for a membership FOR you. At least then we would have a greater peace of mind when you’re in a foreign country.”
My friend Sari filling out her written Peregrine prototype
Phase 4: the Pitch and beyond
On December 4, 2017, I pitched my business model to adjunct professor Erin Huizenga, my fellow classmates, and a panel of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists assembled specifically for the event. My ideas received rave reviews from the audience, and I have been encouraged to proceed with securing capital and making Peregrine into a reality.
continued work on peregrine
In Fall 2018, I took Patrick Whitney’s Whole View Planning course at the IIT Institute of Design. In this course, which focuses on “sketching” a company and how strategic business decisions will affect all aspects of its operations (customer aspirations served, values exchanged, offerings provided, key differentiators, and core capabilities), I chose to focus on Peregrine—both as an MVO and with the future expansion into a membership model. Check out the images at right or the downloadable documents below to see how Peregrine can prove to be a viable business.
Long story short…
I would LOVE to make this dream happen and see Peregrine come to life to help millions of women worldwide feel more confident, comfortable, + connected while traveling. So if you know of anyone who would:
Like to become my business partner and help me get this off the ground while I also get my post-grad school career off the ground,
Like to hire me to make this happen as an intrapreneur within a company with strategic alignments,
Like to help me make some contacts with venture capitalists, startup incubators, or even others who will tell me that I CAN and SHOULD do this…
…then please let me know!
Here’s to many more confident, comfortable, + Connected travels
Where in the world am i now?
