Review of Isango
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I was intrigued by Isango as one of the co-founders and CEO, Aseem Sadana, did a great presentation at the World Travel Market in London, last month, about Web 2.0 and social networking, yet he spoke very little about his own site.
Isango is the Zulu for gateway and their strapline is “Activities. Tours. Getaways.” Isango aims to allow you to browse, select and book leisure and tour experiences all over the world, from the comfort of you own computer before you leave home. They say they can give the information to make informed decisions in your own language, saving you money and giving you more free time during your trip if you plan and book your activities in advance.
Now I’m sure that’s merit in all these advantages but it depends on how structured you wish you trip to be, do you really want to have a series of timetabled experiences? I suppose it partly depends on the type of trip you’re undertaking, the time you have in your destination(s) and the your personal preferences for an pre organised trip or a more laissez faire approach.
There’s also a degree of flexibility as you can cancel bookings for activities which last for one day up to 7 days in advance with no charge. For tours lasting more than one day you’ve to cancel 30 days prior to departure to avoid cancellation fees.
I was impressed by Isango’s price guarantee where they will refund double the difference if you find the same activity or tour for a lower price anywhere else, whether that be online, off line of in destination. Most price guarantees have all sort of caveats rendering them virtually useless.
I read some pretty favourable reviews of Isango on Viewpoints.com but wanted to look for myself to see what they have on offer in my home country of Scotland. It was all pretty standard fare, hop off and on bus tickets in the main cities, day trips to St Andrews, Rosslyn Chapel and short breaks to the Highlands and Islands. However if you’re only in Scotland for a couple of days it might be your best option to have everything organised in advance.
I did have a quick look at their “out of the ordinary trips” and there were trips to lavender fields in Provence and a half day subcat excursion off the coast in Fuerteventura in the Canaries. Still not exactly wildly original.
The website is very user friendly and you can carry out searches by destination, date, keyword and type of activity. The search results appear quickly. There is a UK landline phone number prominently displayed if you wish to talk to a member of staff.
If you like to pre-plan your activities the Isango site is a useful resource to visit with the reassurance of the price guarantee.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Do you work for isango??
December 17th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Ram, I don’t work for Isango but I am one of their affiliates. I try to be objective in my reviews and mention good and bad points.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Be objective by not reviewing a company that makes money for you.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Thanks for your comment, Don. I do try to be objective even when I’m an affiliate of the company about which I write. You’ll see that I do make some negative comments about Isango. My blog is a business blog with the aim of promoting my travel business and therefore I need to see a return on the investment of my time spend researching for and maintaining the blog..
February 7th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Karen i think you have done a fair assessment of the site. I went and checked out the site and think it is really good.
February 8th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I’m relieved to hear that you thought my assessment of Isango was fair. It’s one thing to think you are being objective but better to have this confirmed by other people too.
October 8th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
One thing that will hold back Isango is the senior management of the company. Only in different hands will it have a chance of success.
An example is the messyness and bizarre useabilty of the site design. Get an IA, a good designer, efficient developers - and don’t let any management ‘jack of all trades’ into the room to intrude. Oh and sort out fulfillment too!