Service takes away pain of planning group getaways

What: TripHub, www.triphub.com, a Seattle Web-based service for planning group getaways.

Who: Founder Josh Herst, 36, worked on Expedia during its early days at Microsoft. More recently he was a venture partner with Madrona Venture Group, which funded TripHub along with Herst.

The problem: Herst, drawing on his own and others' travel experience, says no one was helping those challenged by planning a group trip. One friend told Herst about the hassle he faced coordinating a guys' surf trip to Mexico. The group exchanged "hundreds of e-mails" to decide when and where to go. "That was no fun and sucked all the joy out of the planning experience," Herst says.

Solved: An organizer can build a TripHub homepage for a trip, with descriptions, dates, a photo and activities. The site has tools to invite others, who can chat about whether they're coming, who they're bringing and comment on the itinerary.

Picking a hotel: Herst says the linear shop-select-purchase model typical of e-commerce sites doesn't fit how groups want to plan travel. "What we've heard is that they want to shop, discuss, compare, research, vote, shop some more and then purchase," he said. "Our service is designed to support this more dynamic and collaborative experience." TripHub also tackles the sometimes-uncomfortable subject of tracking how much each traveler owes for the trip.

Revenue: The company, which launched its site in early March, is generating revenue, but Herst didn't disclose specific numbers. The aim of the free service is to create a marketplace for vendors to reach group travelers.

Market: TripHub estimates there are 20 million group leisure trips taken in the U.S. each year. The company is targeting everything from family reunions to amateur sports outings.

Partnership: The 10-person company teamed with Alaska Airlines to build a co-branded service available from the airline's Web site.

— Benjamin J. Romano