New App Arms Travel Advisors With Real-Time COVID-Related Intel

A game-changing new app called DragonSlayer is soon to launch, which promises to provide both travelers and their trusty travel advisors with centralized, real-time information on the reopening status of all 50 U.S. states, as well as a growing list of 124 countries worldwide.

Plus, it readily displays each destination’s COVID-19-related requirements and restrictions, such as quarantine protocols and what you can expect to see in terms of local conditions upon arrival.

For consumers and travel advisors alike, the ever-changing landscape of restrictions and regulations on travelers—plus, borders reopening and sometimes spontaneously closing, hotel and attractions shutting down and flights being canceled last-minute, all occurring unexpectedly and almost on a whim—has become overwhelming and nearly impossible to keep up with. DragonSlayer’s mission is to change all that, helping travel advisors and enthusiasts themselves to regain the confidence they need to book their next trip.

DragonSlayer’s Founder and CEO, Peter Wells, said that when the pandemic hit and virtually shut down travel around the globe, “I thought, ‘there’s got to be a way to use this’, not to my advantage, but to look for opportunity. And, what I saw was this lack of information…in spite of all the technology we have, there’s no one place you can go as a traveler or, now, as a travel agent to find out ‘what are the latest rules on how I can get into fill-in-the-blank, whether it’s a state or a country?’; and then, once you get there, are the bars open?”

Wells saw the need and set to work building DragonSlayer. Using machine learning and propriety analytics, its SAFE-T (Smart Analytics for Educating Travelers) system ranks destinations and assigns them a zero-to-one hundred score in terms of their current travel-ability.

The app can even be customized according to users’ individual comfort levels, and the results are then tailored to match their preferences through a personalized risk-tolerance filter.

“We believe there’s nothing like it on the market,” Wells said.

DragonSlayer’s revolutionary approach supplies its users with comprehensive, accurate and easily-digestible information, and does so through a straightforward interface that allows them to visualize a comparison between various destinations. By applying filters, you can easily narrow your results to reveal, let’s say, which countries are open to U.S. travelers without requiring quarantine upon arrival or which require COVID-19 tests for entry.

You can also delve further into the details and learn about country- or state-specific testing protocols and any necessary documentation, visa requirements or flexible booking policies, to get a more comprehensive idea of what your travel experience might entail. You can also create a watch list so that, if you want to go someplace in particular, but aren’t yet allowed or are unwilling to quarantine, etc., you’ll be notified anytime there is a change in policy at your desired destination.

“We’ve seen countries open and then close again,” Wells pointed out. “We’ve seen Croatia open without testing and then immediately change their mind and say ‘you have to test’. There are questions around transiting…these are all questions that travel agents have and those are the answers we put into the app.”

“That real-time aspect is going to be one of the selling points of it, as well, because people don’t want to get caught halfway across the Atlantic and find out Croatia’s closed when they get there,” said Wells. He also revealed that the company soon hopes to incorporate location-based services that would allow clients to easily and reliably locate the approved COVID-19 testing facilities nearest them.

Because DragonSlayer originally launched in December 2019 as a boutique travel and concierge app, Wells suggested, “Now, you might ask the question, ‘Why are you offering this to other travel agents? Won’t they see you as the competition?’ But, I literally believe in ‘rising tide lifts all boats’. I just think we have to get people feeling confident about traveling again.”

Wells and his team emphasized that DragonSlayer, as a go-to, single-source site for all COVID-related travel information, can be an exceptionally useful tool for travel advisors, whose clients are turning to them for guidance in a confusing market, as well as for direct consumers. The days of relying on booking and search engines to plan your own vacation are (at least temporarily) behind us.

Travel advisors are sure to play a key role in the travel industry’s recovery, as consumers increasingly value the aspects of reliability and security in travel planning that they can provide. DragonSlayer’s creators plan to adapt the platform as the pandemic era evolves and beyond to facilitate interactions between travel agents and their clientele.

The DragonSlayer app officially launches on September 21, 2020. Android users can download the app on the Play Store, while iPhone or desktop users can register to receive a notification by emailing marketing@dragonslayertravel.com.

For more information, visit dragonslayertravel.com.