Business Editor: A local Web site enhances traveling

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By Arundi Venkayya Cox, Staff Writer 12:53 AM Sunday, November 15, 2009

The best trip I’ve ever taken was to Munich in 1997.

I tagged along with my dad on one of his business trips. While he spent the day in meetings, I wandered to the Marienplatz, the square in the center of town.

I am far from a seasoned traveler, but I felt very grown up and independent while wandering around downtown Munich.

Back then, it wouldn’t have occurred to me that some day I’d be able to get online and have access to “insider” information about the best places to visit, eat or stay.

A new travel site developed by Dayton-based Excellence in Motivation does just that for group travel professionals, meeting planners and “travel addicts.”

ZipSetGo.com is Excellence in Motivation’s new online community that focuses on information about luxurious travel locations.

The goal of the site is to help group travel professionals, meeting planners or “travel addicts” plan trips much more quickly than they could have by taking advantage of a vast amount of information that’s already been researched.

ZipSetGo.com pulls together best practice information from corporate America to help people plan trips for 100 or 1,000, said Bob Miller, president and CEO of Excellence in Motivation.

The 14-year-old Dayton-based company is a full-service incentive agency. The company decided to create ZipSetGo.com for a couple of reasons, Miller said. As the economy plummeted, the company had to be a bit defensive. But more importantly, creating the site was a way to “leverage core competencies into new products and applications and new sources of revenue.”

The site allowed the company to diversify, create a new revenue stream and get engaged in the online community.

“The new thinking of the social media generation is that information is shared on a broad basis,” Miller said.

And, ZipSetGo.com already is getting some national recognition, Miller said. It is one of about 30 projects out of 100 selected to compete this week at the Travel Innovation Summit at the PhoCusWright Conference in Orlando. Company representatives will demonstrate the site for 10 minutes on Tuesday, Nov. 17. If the company makes the cut, it will move to the final four and will demonstrate again on Thursday, Nov. 19, with the hope of being selected the most innovative project of the summit.

Do you know about a bright spot in the region’s economy? DaytonB2B wants to hear from you. Send ideas to avenkayyacox@coxohio.com.

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