FindersKeepers matches personalities and travel destinations

Kathy Jennings | Thursday, August 22, 2013

The idea behind the startup FindersKeepers is that people who rely too much on the advice of others when planning their vacations could be in for a big disappointment.

Matt Rumora, studying Management and Economics at Western Michigan University, says referrals from others can lead to only seeing the most popular attractions when visiting new places.

The premise behind FindersKeepers is that people have a persona, or personality traits, that can be determined by taking a short test and that a more satisfying travel experience comes from finding the places that best fit your persona. FindersKeepers will match events and activities to the persona determined through test results.

FindersKeeper provides destinations for the Adventurer, Independent, Thinker and Partier.

"The result is travel plans are easier, less complicated, when they are keyed to your personality," Rumora said as he described the company he has spent the summer developing in WMU's venture accelerator, Starting Gate. Rumora talked about the company as part of Demo Day for the five companies that have been participating in the pilot program.

Rumora distributed a test to help people determine their travel type as part of his demonstration. When some members of the audience became confused with the instructions he said that when the test can be taken online it will be easier.

Rumora's work demonstrated one of the advantages of working in an environment like that of Starting Gate where he learned early on that his first idea for his business -- a Smartphone app which could be used to create new friendships via virtual-world game-like experiences -- was not feasible. He pivoted and came up with the travel plans to fit your personality idea.

Since then he has been doing a lot of research into personality tests and taking many trips with friends to Chicago to test out the accuracy of his travel recommendations based on personality types.

His presentation sparked many questions from the audience and the caution that what people say they like to do and what they actually do often do not match.

Others suggested finding a way to aggregate information from sources like Trip Advisor and 4Square that would show what people do compared to what they say they like to do and perhaps give a more accurate recommendation.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave Media
Source: WMU Starting Gate Demo Day