Lonely Planet has agreed to acquire TRILL Travel, the visual technology that makes photographs on Instagram instant bookable travel experiences. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “Lonely Planet is the perfect platform to fully realize the potential of TRILL. I’m extremely excited to be part of this new chapter at Lonely Planet and look forward to finding other ‘TRILLs’ out there looking to push the envelope and thrive,” remarked Eric Shepard, TRILL’s Founder & CEO.
Lonely Planet is the perfect platform to fully realize the potential of TRILL. I’m extremely excited to be part of this new chapter at Lonely Planet and look forward to finding other ‘TRILLs’ out there looking to push the envelope and thrive – Eric Shepard
TRILL was founded by Shepard, who was previously at SEVENROOMS, in March of 2017. TRILL does not appear to have taken on any external capital since its founding. Shepard will join Lonely Planet and oversee the integration of Trill’s technology into Lonely Planet’s offerings. “We are looking at this acquisition from an asset perspective – we want to incorporate TRILL´s tech and capabilities into our digital products and soon reimagine our Pathfinders program,” says Lonely Planet President and CEO, Luis Cabrera, who joined the company in February of this year.
We are looking at this acquisition from an asset perspective – we want to incorporate TRILL´s tech and capabilities into our digital products and soon reimagine our Pathfinders program – Luis Cabrera
Lonely Planet was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Australia. A leading company in travel media starting with physical guide books, the company has ramped up its digital offering in the last few years. The company’s Instagram account boasts 2.1M followers who will soon be able to book travel experiences with a few clicks thanks to TRILL’s technology. TRILL’s technology also enables the original content creators to earn revenue from any sort of booking derived from their posts. Thus, Lonely Planet has unlocked influencer marketing with this transaction as well.
