Creating travel hacks in Chicago

Eager tech and travel aficionados alike came together in Chicago at TechNexus to participate in Expedia’s third public hackathon. Participants were provided access to Expedia APIs and engineer experts to build unique travel ideas in less than 48 hours.

Kicking off the weekend on Saturday morning, participants gathered, formed teams, and brainstormed. Some teams were comprised of strangers with a common love for tech and travel, while others came pre-established. Teams discussed and brainstormed ideas and sketched out plans on whiteboards about how to solve travel challenges they have faced in the past and quickly got to work, coding nonstop through Saturday night (maybe with a few naps!).

Sunday afternoon came quick, and judging began, with demos and presentations the teams had practiced and built after a mentorship session with our API and product gurus. Our panel of judges—Tye Radcliffe from United Airlines, Philippe Deschenes from Expedia Canada, and Pascal Collet, Ryan Kowalczyk, and Coral Xu from Expedia Chicago—reviewed each concept during pitches throughout the afternoon and asked tough questions challenging each team. With a lot of quality submissions, our judges had their work cut out for them. At the end, the judges could only choose the top three solutions, with one grand prize winner.

Here’s an overview of the winning teams and their ideas.

Third Place: Explorem. This app was created by a grad school duo from Illinois Tech, who leveraged multiple Expedia APIs and Google maps to provide an experience for travelers who seek out events/things to do in popular locations. The app featured a slick UI with sliders to dynamically update events based on cost and proximity.

Second Place: Travel2gether. This app was a concept built specifically for millennials, whether a group of friends or someone in a long distance relationship who want to meet up in a mutual destination. The team utilized the package, flight and suggestion APIs to create a solution that allowed customers to find their perfect trip based on budget and preferences and split costs evenly. The AngularJS single page application integrated with Twilio, a mobile phone messaging service to push text updates to the team’s phones during their demo.

First Place: Travel Discovery. This android-based application featured a mix of an open-sourced artificial intelligence API (wit.ai) to map natural language speech inputs to search criteria, Expedia activities, flight, and hotel search APIs. Using the destination, a comfortable 8-hour day and distance derived from Google maps, the app recommended an optimum list of attractions and events. The judges were impressed with the wholesomeness of the app and revenue potential in cross-selling leisure activities. The traveling trio—each member was from a different city—grabbed the $5,000 prize to close out the competition.

The event marked the first time Expedia has hosted a public hackathon in the Windy City and the third of many public Expedia Hackathons. We were thrilled with the passion and focus throughout the weekend, the ambition in the room was contagious. The travel industry has incredible growth opportunities, and our technology communities will be integral in pushing us forward. We can’t wait for our next Hackathon. Stay tuned for more info!

What kind of travel apps would you love to see?