India:
MeTripping Technologies Pvt Ltd
United States:
Pathfndr, Inc
United Kingdom:
Pathfndr LTD
Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started
If you’re new to Pathfndr and looking for some quick answers, this guide will help you with how to begin.
Subscription Management
Looking for answers related to Pathfndr Subscription and its management. Click here.
Getting Started
The easy explanation is that Pathfndr is the Shopify++ for travel. Not only do you have the control to change the look/feel and functionality of the site, but it also gives you innovative features that are one-of-a-kind in the world.
Pathfndr can be used in any country in the world. However, it does come with 2 limitations:
- Settlement will have to be in INR/ USD / Euro / GBP, and
- It cannot be translated into the local language (at present). We are hoping to add multi-language support in the coming days, but until then, English is the only available language.
On average, you will save approximately 10% on hotels and activities and about 2-3% on flights. 7-8 times to 10 times, you’ll find our B2C fares cheaper than other B2C websites (you’ll need to go on the last payment page in these sites to determine your final cost). Overall, Pathfndr is much cheaper on average compared to any other OTA, especially if you login, as many special fares are behind our login.
To enable the most amount of global inventory, we work with aggregators and not just a specific GDS. Going one by one with every GDS and every LCC will make this a far more subpar product.
No. There are no setup fees on any of our plans.
Yes. If you ever decide that pathfndr isn’t working as a travel operating platform for your business, simply cancel your account. No questions asked.
You place your trust in us by using pathfndr.io services and we value that trust. We’re committed to protecting and safeguarding any personal data you give us. We act in our customers’ best interest and we are transparent about the processing of your client’s data
We record user access and users are given administrative privileges based on roles. Very few authorized personnel from the tech and travel operations team have the authority to see your client’s data for operational purposes and this is in a highly secure environment. The team can’t download the entire data and transmit it outside the organization. Key pieces of information, we encrypt user data while storing data and at regular intervals test for vulnerabilities and security audits. All our software is kept up to date with the latest version and required security patches.
Yes, we have a customer success team that ensures that your dealings on the site are seamless. We are confident that you would not require their assistance as we’ve built our award-winning Travel Operating system in the most user-friendly manner. However, if you do get stuck somewhere along the way, our team will assist you.
There are a lot of features on the site and in the admin panel, so we’ve split up the videos into four. However, as we are constantly launching features, these videos are already well outdated but should help you get an idea of the capabilities of the platform:
- Registration + Site Setup: https://youtu.be/78IUtZTWLfU
- Trip recommendation search: https://youtu.be/nQaz1n4ViRA
- Dynamic Packaging + Trip Editing functionality: https://youtu.be/rHoWt06grMY
- Activities Itinerary Creation + Booking Flow: https://youtu.be/T8P7p5NdyIA
This is a travel operating system. On the backend admin view, you get a way to control your Site Settings (with over 35 controls), have User Management, Order Management, automated invoices, vouchers, etc.
On the front end, you have a platform with product capabilities unlike any other travel platform in the world. You have trip inspiration within budget, intelligent dynamic packaging, instant day-wise activity itinerary creation within budget, flight rankings, and hotel rankings.
On average, you will save approximately 10% on hotels and activities and about 2-3% on flights. 7-8 times to 10 times, you’ll find our B2C fares cheaper than other B2C websites (you’ll need to go on the last payment page in these sites to determine your final cost). Overall, Pathfndr is much cheaper on average compared to any other OTA, especially if you login, as many special fares are behind our login.
The data is coming possibly from over 200 vendors of different kinds. It comes through our partners as well as separately so we can’t provide an exact number. Invariably, that number also keeps growing with time.
Yes. You will need to pick a plan and enter your payment details. This will be used to auto-debit every month. No worries, you can cancel anytime and your billing will end at that billing cycle.
Absolutely! You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time.
We use Google Cloud Service for our servers and Google encrypts your sensitive data while they’re being transferred and stored. Google stack builds security through progressive layers that deliver true defense in depth at scale. HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is a protocol used to provide security over the Internet. HTTPS prevents interceptions and interruptions from occurring while the content is in transit. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is another necessary site protocol. This transfers visitors’ personal information between the website and your database. SSL encrypts information to prevent others reading it while in transit.
You can make changes to your site as frequently as you want. Barring a few things which will require accompanying DNS settings changes (which will take a little time to reflect), all modifications will update in real-time.
Domain Related
Yes. You can purchase a domain name or use an existing one that you own. We also provide a free default Pathfndr.io domain name for all who sign up.
There are none. All Pathfndr plans include unlimited bandwidth for free.
Yes, you can. A recent example of this is Beds and Trips where we gave them the code to our search widget to be inserted on an existing site. However, we must specify that the mobile flow is very different, so we recommend just planting a button on your mobile site saying “Search Now” or “Book Now”, which opens up your Pathfndr site.
Yes, you would have checked the T&Cs checkbox while signing up for Pathfndr. The T&Cs and Privacy Policy listed on your site is the de facto contract between you and your users. We separately have our agreements with our supplier partners.
Yes the Powered by Pathfndr can be removed by paying a one-time fee, please reach out to us for the latest pricing on the same.
The voucher comes with only your branding. Pathfndr is not mentioned anywhere in the entire experience, except in the footer of the site, which says ‘Powered by Pathfndr’. That can be removed at an additional cost.
You can do either. You could also set up a subdomain for your existing site so your URL is something like “booking.xyz.com”. Our customers use all variants.
What you must bear in mind are the accompanying DNS additions and SSL Certificate requirements if yours is not a Pathfndr subdomain. Our onboarding manual walks you through the necessary steps in all the above scenarios.
You can learn about how to choose your subdomain here and how to make the required DNS changes here.
Yes, you will need an SSL for the subdomain for the site to run under secured mode
Agreement is available online when you register and it is a document that you read before accepting the terms and conditions. There is no notice period, if you do not pay the subscription fee, the system will be automatically shut down until you renew the subscription.
Yes, the guidance is shared on request, and if comfortable in sharing the Server (GoDaddy/ other) credentials, our team can do the DNS setting on your behalf.
Yes, both from a security point of view and SEO perspective, it is imperative that you have an SSL certificate.
Subscription Management
The subscription charges will be auto-debited using the card that you have placed on record. If you cancel the subscription before the recharge date, you will not be charged for any subscription thereafter.
f unpaid, we will follow the protocol laid out below:
10 days from the due date — the site is suspended
180 days from the due date — the customer account is deleted and will have to be recreated in the Pathfndr system
During this period, if the subscription is renewed at any time, the site will be reactivated immediately.
We can provide an upfront discount only because an advance payment has been made. The site will remain active through the annual subscription period.
We may from time to time make changes to our pricing. Price reductions, if any, will be applicable immediately, For price increases, we will provide a minimum of 3-month notice. From the expiry of that notice, all subscriptions falling due will be made at the new price.
No, we will not be able to accept any payments offline.
No, there’s no setup fee. We have removed all the barriers to making this accessible for all our customers globally with a pay-as-you-go option.
Yes, the platform will be kept active for 10 days after the due date to ensure that any payment issues or exigencies are excused. However, the billing period is consistent from the due date to the period of subscription.
You may pay with a credit card only. In time, we will add additional payment options.
All subscriptions will be on auto-renewal. In the event of failure to charge the card on file, a reminder will be sent with a payment link to register a new card. You may also change the card on file in advance through the Subscription Management tab in your Admin panel.
We believe that the world has reached a point where credit cards are both safe as well as ubiquitous. Credit cards make it easier for you and for us to process subscriptions and are the only mode of payment available.
You are advised to download and store your transaction details and other information before the cancellation of the subscription.
Technology Related
Over the last 6 years we’ve built many intellectual property (IP) software and algorithms to enable the AI powered Travel Operating System. Broadly we use IPv6, Cloudflare, Angular JS, CKEditor and es6 promise. However this is just the tip of the iceberg, there are multiple other in house and outsourced applications that we use for the smooth functioning of the system.
The simple answer to this complex question is, we do not cache information. We bring your realtime data, every time. Apart from that, we also have some of our proprietary algorithms which we run upon receiving the API feeds, so a few extra seconds are taken up there. Also the speed of the site depends on the internet connectivity of the user and the device used to access our platform. It is our constant endevour to increase the site speed and you will see significant improvements as we deploy newer technologies and optimizations.
Please note the widget does not render properly in a mobile browser. For the mobile site, you will have to add a button redirecting to the Pathfndr site. The desktop behavior can be tested on https://www.bedsandtrips.com or https://www.idmemory-travel.com but please be reminded that it’ll take about five seconds for the form to load if opted for the widget addon.
Please note the widget does not render properly in a mobile browser. For the mobile site, you will have to add a button redirecting to the Pathfndr site. The desktop behavior can be tested on https://www.bedsandtrips.com or https://www.idmemory-travel.com but please be reminded that it’ll take about five seconds for the form to load if opted for the widget addon.
We have planned down times, generally when traffic to our site is very low and typically these planned down times are in minutes. Our average up time is 99.7%
No, ours is a no code approach for making the website. For SSL & Email configuration our tech team can assist you. In case you take our widget, then a few minutes of your developers time is required.
We have an upgrade option for a separate Android + iOS app. That upgrade option is for ₹15,000 ($200) for both platforms and ₹8,500 ($120) for either one of those platforms. You can explore this Android app to get a better understanding of how it looks and works: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tbv.pathfinder
We do not currently have an SDK that can be integrated into an existing app (since having an app is a less common occurrence).
SEO ability
- From a search engine’s perspective — usefulness (i.e., quality) and perception of quality (i.e., popularity). Sites can be built to the best extent but they wouldn’t rank up unless there’s the perception of popularity (i.e., backlinks).
- From our development perspective, there are two components to SEO — technical SEO and non-technical SEO.
- Technical SEO
- Within our code, we are constantly writing and revisiting code to ensure it’s SEO-compliant.
- We have worked on speed, Google readability of the site, etc.
- We are working on creating several additional landing pages that can be indexed by Google.
- Non-technical/ Content SEO
- This is where we expect our partner brands to work on their own content. Behind the scenes, we have bloggers/ video bloggers/ etc who can be contracted by you to create content for destinations/ special niches that you focus on. Of course, you can have your content generation done as well.
- The content becomes useful for the travelers even when they are not immediately looking to travel giving Search Engines the perspective that the site is useful
- The content can also enable other people talking about your site/ content to give a backlink. That tells Search Engines that you have useful information as evidenced by people talking about it… social proof if you will.
So SEO is a bit of everything and as coding practices become standardized, content becomes a heavier component of SEO. However, that doesn’t mean we take our eye off the ball. Search engine algorithms keep evolving and we do various things to ensure we stay in sync with those developments.
Disclaimer: Please be informed that above FAQs are only for educational and guidance purposes.