Travelllll.com
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Travelllll.com was a travel-industry media site launched in autumn 2011, pitched as the 'Mashable for travel'. It covered blog trips, tourism boards, travel technology and the rise of travel bloggers and writers in the digital world through news, analysis and opinion. Its five founders — including Alastair McKenzie, vice-chairman of the British Guild of Travel Writers, Melvin Boecher of TravelDudes and John O'Nolan — quickly won industry attention: Expedia, KLM, large hotel chains and tourism boards came on board as partners, and the site drew 10,000 page views within 48 hours of launch.
02 / Travelllll.com FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Travelllll.com was a part-time project wearing a full-time business's clothes. All of the founders had other jobs or were constantly traveling — a poor fit for a media operation that needed daily editorial output. When co-founders Melvin Boecher and travel writer Mike Sowden left, they were not replaced; Sowden's departure was the turning point, because the site effectively needed two editors or writers to keep content flowing. With the editorial core gone, the founders pulled the plug.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Launched
Travelllll.com launches in autumn 2011 as a trade-style news site for the travel blogging industry, founded by five travel writers and technologists.
- Founders depart
Co-founders Melvin Boecher and Mike Sowden leave and are not replaced, gutting the site's editorial capacity.
- Shutdown
Travelllll.com announces its closure; the lights go off on June 1, 2013, about 18 months after launch.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
On June 1, 2013, Travelllll.com shut down, roughly 18 months after its autumn 2011 launch.
- 02
Co-founder John O'Nolan open-sourced the site's custom WordPress theme on GitHub after the closure.