4 Discount Travel Website Success Stories [2025]
Discount travel websites help travelers save on the cost of travel. Besides, discount travel websites help hotels and travel agents achieve full booking and highlight promotions.
More people search for discount offers on travel websites. Thus, starting your discount travel website can be a lucrative business opportunity.
In this list, you'll find real-world discount travel website success stories and very profitable examples of starting a discount travel website that makes money.
1. Flight Expert Bangladesh ($18M/year)
Salman Rashid, Founder & CEO of Flight Expert, came up with the idea for his business after realizing the potential of online travel agencies in Bangladesh. Seeing the decline in revenue in his family's offline-based travel agency, Salman suggested starting an OTA to his father. Despite initial skepticism, Salman recognized the need for better technology, service culture, and the value of brand trust in the industry, leading to the launch of Flight Expert in 2017.
How much money it makes: $18M/year
How much did it cost to start: $80K
How many people on the team: 60
How a first-time founder grew the first-ever online travel agency in Bangladesh to 700+ airlines and one million-plus hotels worldwide, with a 50% increase in revenue in October 2021 compared to pre-Covid sales and aiming to hit break-even by March 2022.
2. Hotels Etc. INC ($3M/year)
Shawn Pigg, CEO of Hotels Etc, came up with the idea for his business when he saw an infomercial for the company. Recognizing the potential in offering true discounts to travelers, he purchased the company and invested his life savings to bring it to life. Since then, he has negotiated over 3,000,000 discounts worldwide, resulting in Hotels Etc becoming a multimillion-dollar company and one of the oldest membership programs on the internet.
How much money it makes: $3M/year
How much did it cost to start: $600K
How many people on the team: 14
How this CEO created a multimillion-dollar membership business offering exclusive discounts on travel and branched off into over 30 categories of discounts for members, negotiating over 3,000,000 discounts around the globe that are not available to the general public and only available to their members.
3. The Travel Secret ($1.2M/year)
David Adler, founder of TheTravelSecret, came up with the idea while on vacation in Puerto Vallarta. After attending a timeshare presentation for a $2,000 discount, he realized there must be other hidden travel discounts available and wanted to create a platform that would give people access to these exclusive deals. TheTravelSecret now serves a wide range of demographics and aims to help people travel more for less money.
How much money it makes: $1.2M/year
How many people on the team: 2
TheTravelSecret provides a platform where members have access to pricing on travel that is not available to the public, booking hotels, cars, cruises, flights, and vacation rentals at a discount.
4. I Know The Pilot ($840K/year)
"I Know The Pilot" is a free travel deal platform that sends airfare and accommodation deals to subscribers daily, with a focus on international travel.
Garth Adams, the founder of I Know The Pilot, came up with the idea for his business after noticing that people were occasionally sharing cheap flights on shopping deal websites. He decided to start his own flight deals site, separate from his existing site IWantThatFlight.com.au, and launched IKnowThePilot.com.au as a WordPress site attached to a Mailchimp email list. The business grew rapidly, with over 780,000 email subscribers, 110,000 app users, and 550,000 Facebook fans at its height.
How much money it makes: $840K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1.5K
How many people on the team: 0
I Know The Pilot founder Garth Adams shares how he grew his airfare and accommodation deals newsletter from a simple WordPress site to over 780,000 email subscribers, 110,000 app users, and 550,000 Facebook fans on a 100% free business model, and how he's pivoted domestically during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
