Product Overview of Despegar
Despegar.com, Corp. is a leading online travel company that provides a comprehensive range of travel and travel-related products to leisure and corporate travelers across Latin America and the United States.
What Despegar Does
Despegar operates as a one-stop travel marketplace, enabling users to seamlessly find, compare, plan, purchase, and finance various travel products. The platform is accessible through its websites and mobile applications, catering to a vast user base with a user-friendly and intuitive interface.
Key Features and Functionality
Comprehensive Product Offering
- Despegar offers a broad suite of travel products, including airline tickets, travel packages, hotels, vacation rentals, car rentals, bus and cruise tickets, and travel insurance products.
- Users can choose from over 230 airlines, 660,000 accommodation options, 1,260 car rental agencies, and 800 destination services providers, along with more than 7,700 leisure activities throughout Latin America.
Multimodal Travel Planning
- Despegar has recently introduced “Sofia,” a travel assistant tool powered by generative artificial intelligence. Sofia provides multimodal functionality, allowing users to plan trips using text, voice, or visual options. It inspires destination ideas, visualizes travel options, and integrates payments for a seamless booking experience.
Financial Services
- The platform offers flexible payment solutions, including loan origination services, payment processing, fraud identification, credit scoring, and IT services. Despegar also operates Koin, an online payment and consumer lending services platform, particularly popular in Brazil.
User-Centric Features
- Despegar guarantees the lowest possible prices for its users and provides the option to hedge against inflation and exchange rate risks by allowing payments in installments at a fixed exchange rate, which is particularly beneficial in Latin American countries.
- The platform ensures trust and reliability by operating directly with well-known regional companies, rather than unknown entities, which is crucial for travelers in foreign countries.
Technology Platform for Suppliers
- Despegar provides a robust technology platform for its travel suppliers to manage the distribution of their travel products and access a large customer base. This platform enhances the suppliers’ ability to reach new customers and expand their product offerings.
Mobile and Online Accessibility
- Despegar’s award-winning mobile app has seen significant adoption, with over 60.1 million cumulative downloads as of December 2021. The mobile platform accounts for approximately 71% of user visits and 46% of transactions, highlighting its importance in the travel planning process.
Mission and Market Presence
Despegar’s mission is to create the best travel experiences to enrich people’s lives. With operations across 20 countries, it serves over 17 million customers and is recognized as the leading travel technology company in Latin America, operating under brands such as Despegar, Decolar, and Best Day in different regions.
In summary, Despegar offers a holistic travel solution with a wide range of products, advanced AI-driven travel planning tools, flexible payment options, and a robust technology platform for both users and suppliers, making it a premier choice for travelers in Latin America and beyond.