Go Real Travel
Go Real Europe: a travel platform built from the ground up
Go Real Travel offers personalized, stress-free itineraries in 41 destinations across Europe and Southeast Asia. TopMonks turned a founder's spreadsheet into an automated platform that scaled with the business.
About the client
In 2008, David Manley founded Go Real Travel after moving to the Czech Republic and discovering the authentic experiences missed by tourists in popular destinations. Inspired by his own travels across Central and Eastern Europe, he set out to offer more genuine, local travel experiences beyond the crowded tours in Prague.
Drawing on insights from his Czech wife and a network of trusted guides and drivers, his company now offers personalized, stress-free itineraries in 41 destinations across Europe and Southeast Asia.
Challenge
A simple Excel spreadsheet and a ton of experience from the travel industry were what GRE's founder turned into a business that took off extremely fast. As the customer base kept rapidly growing, however, scalability did not. This is where TopMonks stepped in.
Solution
For every destination, GRE's experts combine local knowledge with first-hand experience. Plenty of tips, hacks and travel wizardry go into a uniquely structured database that enables GRE's proprietary algorithm to instantly create a customizable itinerary for anyone. GoRealEurope travels are now fully automated.
GRE runs on 18 technologies behind the scenes, including Docker, MongoDB and Ruby on Rails.
A seamless experience
- Collect what you want. Customers pick their ideal dates, location and activities.
- An all-in-one crafted trip. A unique, personalized itinerary is presented. The plan includes transportation, accommodation, tours and transfers, all generated automatically for each client.
- Triple-checking so clients don't have to. The itinerary reflects the travelers' preferences while also accounting for seasonal activities, date restrictions and transportation schedules.
- A personal guide on the go. The itinerary includes smart navigation for self-guided travel, one-step package booking, and plenty of opportunities for special activities such as symphony concerts, cycling trips, private guides and cable cars to mountain summits.
Result
With the right automation process and room to scale, GRE hit $2.3M in 2018, doubling its sales from the previous year. As GRE grew, it needed more space and we helped once again: TopMonks helped raise $200K to make this happen. GRE is now raising an additional $1.5M to expand around the whole globe.
One of our monks teamed up with one of GRE's developers and moved the platform from Rails 3.2 to 5.2. GRE has also partnered with Prague startup SmartGuide to integrate its mobile travel app into GRE's itineraries.
In numbers
- 5 years in production
- 4,000+ travelers
- 9.6 ✩ reviews
- 200% year-to-year revenue
Watch the video about GoRealEurope.
Working with TopMonks was an amazing experience from day one. They developed an instant itinerary creation platform that was truly groundbreaking, demonstrating flexibility and creativity throughout the development process. All of the developers we worked with at TopMonks possessed a remarkable blend of responsibility, diligence, and inventive thinking, enabling us to achieve our vision as we intended it to be. I wholeheartedly recommend TopMonks for any project requiring innovative solutions and a dedicated, professional team.