A luxury travel designer has launched a new website for agents to access hotel marketing tools, after noticing a gap in the market for a more efficient way of sourcing visual content.
Speaking to TTG Luxury, Emma Squire revealed she was inspired to start the company following years of battling “clunky systems” for content sharing.
Determined to find an alternative to the likes of WeTransfer and DropBox, she partnered with former hotel sales and marketing director Alan Ball and tech expert Gary Mudie to build the AI-powered site.
The ES Travel Design owner is now keen to highlight the benefits of using Pixi, which is finally complete after an 18-month-long development period, for both hotels and agents.
“At its core, Pixi is a smart content system for a hotel to get organised,” Squire said. “But when you zoom out, it’s a powerful platform connecting hotels with travel designers, driving leads and therefore bookings.”
The idea behind Pixi is simple – agents register on the site for free, and once their account is approved, they will have limitless access to hotel media galleries.
Suppliers pay an annual fee, which will allow them to store all their visual content, including images, reels and videos, in one location.
The aim is to end the constant requests to hotels from agents for their official content, which is often stored in cluttered folders behind password encrypted links. File transferring can also be a painstakingly long process, causing headaches for both the advisor and the supplier.
“We have the most aspirational and sexy content of any industry, but it mostly sits in every hotel’s cloud or under lock and key in a media gallery,” Squire said. “It’s a totally outdated way of marketing your product. It’s like designing a haute couture dress just to leave it in a cupboard in your back room.”
“We have the most aspirational and sexy content of any industry, but it mostly sits in every hotel’s cloud or under lock and key in a media gallery”
Currently, Pixi members will be able to comment on, ‘like’, save and download the hotel’s images, which are all automatically approved for use by being on the site.
Squire also teased a number of upcoming features, including a “mood board” function that agents will be able to curate and email to their clients.
“Pixi is the catwalk of the industry, an opportunity for brands to tell their story, showcase their brand, and be discoverable by the global trade that sells them,” she added. Squire’s sentiments were echoed by Ball, who compared the website to a “trade show you can attend everyday.”
Pixi will also be a valuable resource for smaller travel suppliers, receiving equal visibility to their larger counterparts.
“If a designer searches for a luxury safari camp, they will see both the well-known brands, like Four Seasons, as well as small independent properties that don’t necessarily have a huge marketing budget,” Squire said.
Agents from a number of luxury travel companies, including Little Emperors, Hummingbird and 360 Private Travel, have already registered for Pixi, which goes live on 4 June.
