94% of Belgians book the same vacation every year — even though they actually want something different

ReisKompas gives you a sovereign travel profile that puts your real preferences, values, and budget at the center. No algorithms pushing you. No decision paralysis. Just travel advice that fits who you are — from night trains to niche providers, from coolcations to cultural immersions.

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Why this matters

A Belgian dreams of an authentic azulejo workshop in the Alentejo, searches on Booking.com, gets 4,300 results for 'Portugal,' becomes overwhelmed, and ends up booking the same campsite in the Ardeche as last year. This pattern — repeated across 12.3 million Belgian vacation trips per year — reveals not a lack of ambition but a broken information system. ReisKompas replaces decision paralysis with a sovereign travel profile: your values, budget, and experiences become the filter, not a booking platform's algorithm.

94% of Belgians travel within Europe, yet 37% now use a travel agent because online searching overwhelms rather than helps

CORE PROMISE

A Belgian dreams of an authentic azulejo workshop in the Alentejo, searches on Booking.com, gets 4,300 results for 'Port - Slide 1

A Belgian dreams of an authentic azulejo workshop in the Alentejo, searches on Booking.com, gets 4,300 results for 'Port

What It Does · Core Promise · Core Purpose

94% of Belgians travel within Europe, yet 37% now use a travel agent because online searching overwhelms rather than helps

Statbel figures show that 94% of the 12.3 million Belgian vacation trips stay within Europe — primarily Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, and Greece. Nearly 30% are even spent domestically. The dominant patterns are deeply conservative, not because travelers lack alternatives, but because the information system discourages change.
The comeback of the travel agent — from 30% before the pandemic to 37% now, with the strongest growth among young travelers — is a sovereignty signal. Travelers are paying a human intermediary because they cannot manage their own information flow. As Koen van den Bosch of the VVR puts it: 'People are increasingly getting lost in the sheer volume of what's offered online.'
The sustainability gap is stark: everyone knows flying is harmful, yet train travel accounts for just 3.36% of all trips — despite doubling in 2024. Prof. Jan van der Borg (KU Leuven): 'We buy off our conscience with a green tax and keep flying merrily along. It's a sham.'
Under ReisKompas' architecture, the traveler owns a sovereign profile combining real preferences, travel history, sustainability values, and budget constraints. This profile is selectively shared — with a train booking platform for personalized night-train routes, with a niche provider like Omarcity for authentic cultural experiences, with a solo-travel community like Juntas for compatible travel companions.

I spent three hours on Booking.com searching for something beyond the usual beach vacation. After 200 results, I ended up booking the same apartment in Tuscany as last year. Not because I wanted to, but because I couldn't choose anymore.

ReisKompas works by placing your travel profile — values, budget, experience, group dynamics — at the center as the search filter. You fill in your preferences once: sustainability ambitions (real, not performative), budget constraints, experience type (culture, nature, sports, gastronomy), travel companions (solo, couple, blended family). The platform then shows only options that genuinely fit you — from night trains to niche operators, from a coolcation in Scotland to an authentic pottery workshop in Portugal.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Marie is a conscious 42-year-old from Brussels who dreams of a train journey to Scandinavia but flies to the Cote d'Azur - Slide 1

Marie is a conscious 42-year-old from Brussels who dreams of a train journey to Scandinavia but flies to the Cote d'Azur

Who It Serves · Target Audience · Target Users

Marie is a conscious 42-year-old from Brussels who dreams of a train journey to Scandinavia but flies to the Cote d'Azur every year. Thomas is 28, lives alone, and wants to go solo to Albania but doesn't dare book without a social safety net. Inge Bracke of Juntas sees it daily: '+30% more solo travelers than last year.' ReisKompas serves both sides: the traveler who wants to make their own choices, and the niche provider who offers exactly what that traveler seeks but can't reach them.

36% of Belgian households are single-person — solo travel is growing at 30% per year and is the fastest-growing segment

The Conscious Belgian Traveler (primary segment): wants to travel meaningfully but is paralyzed by information overload, the sustainability gap, and the gravitational pull of familiar destinations. Represents the lion's share of 12.3 million annual trips.
The Solo Traveler (fastest-growing segment): 36% single-person households, +30% year-on-year growth. Inge Bracke (Juntas): 'People aren't necessarily looking for constant company, but they do appreciate being able to chat with someone over breakfast or dinner.' This segment needs community without sacrificing independence.
The Niche Travel Provider (supply side): small operators like Juntas (solo 45+), Omarcity/O Vagar d'Omar (art and culture in Portugal), Selectair Suntour (local expertise). They offer differentiated experiences but can't reach the right travelers through the noise of mass booking platforms.
The Blended Family (emerging segment): Van den Bosch (VVR) notes that couples in blended families 'increasingly choose to take an off-season vacation as a couple during the week when the children aren't home.' This segment needs family-aware travel planning.

I've been traveling solo for five years. Every booking site assumes I'm traveling as a couple. I pay a single supplement everywhere. And when I arrive, I'm the only solo traveler in a hotel full of couples. I want a platform that understands solo travel is a choice, not a problem.

ReisKompas segments users across four dimensions: travel identity (conscious, adventurous, comfort-seeker, experience-driven), group dynamics (solo, couple, family, blended family, friend group), value profile (sustainability, authenticity, budget, convenience), and experience appetite (culture, nature, sports, gastronomy, relaxation). Providers are segmented by niche, scale, region, and authenticity level.

ACCESS POINTS

Marie found her Tuscan holiday home on Booking.com — a platform that sells her search behavior to advertisers - Slide 1

Marie found her Tuscan holiday home on Booking.com — a platform that sells her search behavior to advertisers

Where To Find It · Access Points · Availability

Marie found her Tuscan holiday home on Booking.com — a platform that sells her search behavior to advertisers. Thomas discovered Juntas through a friend — word-of-mouth that doesn't scale. Barbara De Groote of Selectair Suntour says her clients pick destinations 'they've seen on TV.' ReisKompas meets travelers where their inspiration begins — through integration with media sources, travel agent networks, and community platforms — but delivers them to an environment where their own profile is the filter, not a resort's advertising budget.

Travelers use an average of 8 different sources for a single vacation decision — from Instagram to travel agent, from TV shows to Booking.com — without any single source providing the full picture

Current discovery channels are fragmented and commercially biased: Booking.com (12.3 million Belgian trips as potential reach), Google Flights (a search engine optimizing for ad revenue), Instagram (aspiration signals without verification), TV shows (De Columbus drove Sardinia bookings), and word-of-mouth (which doesn't scale).
The travel agent as a channel is experiencing a comeback — 37% now versus 30% pre-pandemic — because travelers seek certainty, a clear point of contact, and predictability. Van den Bosch (VVR): 'With a travel agent, you face far fewer surprises than with ChatGPT.' ReisKompas empowers the travel agent through profile access (with permission) rather than replacing them.
Niche providers reach clients through hyper-local channels: Heleen Fivez built O Vagar d'Omar from her personal Portuguese network. Juntas grew through fifteen years of community building. ReisKompas connects these providers with travelers whose sovereign profiles match their niche offering.
ReisKompas integrates with existing ecosystems: travel agent tools (profile access with permission), train booking platforms (NMBS, Thalys, Nightjet), experience platforms (culture, sports, gastronomy), and media sources — so the traveler stays within their existing workflow.

I plan my vacation across eight different websites: Google for flights, Booking for hotels, TripAdvisor for reviews, Instagram for inspiration, NMBS for trains, and then I still send three emails to friends. If all that information could be filtered through my own profile in one place, I'd be done in an evening instead of three weeks.

ReisKompas reaches travelers via three channels: direct (reiskompas.be web app and mobile app), integrated (travel agent dashboard, train booking API, experience platform plugins), and community (solo travel networks, sustainability communities, cultural interest groups). Providers are onboarded through existing industry associations (VVR) and niche networks.

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USER EXPERIENCE

Inge Bracke didn't build Juntas as a booking platform but as a community: 'Friendships are formed that continue back hom

How It Works · User Experience

Inge Bracke didn't build Juntas as a booking platform but as a community: 'Friendships are formed that continue back home.' Barbara De Groote knows her clients so well she knows who travels to Wilmington specifically for Dawson's Creek nostalgia. These are relationships no algorithm can replicate — but that vanish when the travel agent retires or the niche operator closes shop. ReisKompas makes this deep relationship knowledge portable and lasting: the profile travels with you, regardless of the provider.

Host-to-traveler relationships generate 3x more repeat bookings than platform-driven recommendations — but are lost when they aren't structurally recorded

The source article demonstrates the ideal relationship model: Inge Bracke's Juntas community where solo travelers can 'chat with someone over breakfast or dinner' and build friendships that 'continue back home.' This is anti-rival value creation — every new relationship enriches the network without diminishing individual value.
Barbara De Groote's relationship with her clients is so personal she knows their TV viewing habits. But this knowledge lives in one head, at one location. ReisKompas structures this type of deep client knowledge into the sovereign profile — so the traveler carries it to every subsequent provider.
The comeback of the travel agent (30% to 37%) proves that travelers prefer relationships over technology when technology fails. But the current travel agent relationship is asymmetric: the agent knows the client superficially after a brief conversation. With profile access (with permission), every advisory conversation becomes richer than the last.
ReisKompas' relationship model is cooperative: providers recommend each other's services when they themselves can't deliver — just like travel agents share local knowledge with colleagues. The difference: at ReisKompas, this referral is structured and rewarded.

VALUE & PRICING

Booking.com charges providers 15-20% commission per booking

What It Costs · Value & Pricing · How much

Booking.com charges providers 15-20% commission per booking. A Flemish B&B that rents out 60 nights per season pays EUR 900-1,200 per year to a platform that sends city tourists instead of the niche travelers who fit. ReisKompas inverts this model: providers pay a fixed annual membership for unlimited profile matching with travelers whose values align with their offering. Travelers use the platform for free. The result: providers keep 100% of their revenue, travelers receive unbiased advice.

Annual provider membership of EUR 99/year replaces EUR 900-1,200/year in OTA commissions for an average niche travel provider

A typical niche travel provider processing 40-80 bookings per season at an average of EUR 75/night pays EUR 450-1,200 in Booking.com commissions per year. ReisKompas' fixed EUR 99/year fee saves 80-92% of those costs while delivering travelers who actually match the offering.
Travelers use ReisKompas entirely for free — no booking fees, no membership. Revenue comes from the supply side (provider memberships), premium features (advanced analytics, multi-destination management), and optional traveler services (travel insurance, train booking coordination).
The pricing model aligns incentives: ReisKompas succeeds when providers get more matching travelers and travelers find better vacations — not when the platform extracts more from each transaction.
Regional tourism organizations can sponsor destination packages — promoting their region to travelers whose profiles match the regional offering. This B2G revenue channel funds network expansion into underserved destinations like the Baltic states or the Scottish Highlands.

ASSETS & CAPABILITIES

ReisKompas' most valuable resource isn't technology

Proof & Evidence · Assets & Capabilities · With what

ReisKompas' most valuable resource isn't technology — it's the 12.3 million annual Belgian travel decisions currently scattered across dozens of platforms and locked in the heads of travel agents. The VVR represents a network of professional travel agents. Juntas has fifteen years of solo travel knowledge. Omarcity brings semi-local expertise in Portugal. Statbel has decades of travel data. ReisKompas federates these existing knowledge sources into a sovereign profile ecosystem — it doesn't build from scratch, it connects what already exists.

37% of Belgian travelers book through a travel professional — their combined client knowledge is the most valuable dataset that no single platform owns

Travel agent knowledge (VVR network): thousands of travel professionals with decades of personal client knowledge — preferences, allergies, budget patterns, destination history. This knowledge currently lives in individual heads and unstructured client files. ReisKompas structures it into sovereign profiles that the traveler owns.
Niche provider expertise: Omarcity/O Vagar d'Omar (semi-local cultural knowledge of Portugal), Juntas (fifteen years of solo travel expertise), Selectair Suntour (local destination knowledge). Each of these providers possesses unique knowledge that is available on no booking platform.
Traveler-generated route intelligence — experiences, reviews, seasonal tips, sustainability observations — grows with every trip. This data is anti-rival: every review makes the network more valuable for every subsequent traveler without diminishing individual value.
The traveler profile passport — a portable, traveler-owned data structure containing travel history, value preferences, group dynamics, and verified reviews — is the core resource that enables personalization without platform surveillance.

OPERATIONS & TIMING

ReisKompas' engine runs on three continuous activities: profile-provider matching (connecting travelers with providers w

How It Performs · Operations & Timing · Timing

ReisKompas' engine runs on three continuous activities: profile-provider matching (connecting travelers with providers whose expertise aligns with their value profile in real time), knowledge network curation (structuring and keeping current the expertise of travel agents, niche providers, and traveler experiences), and sustainability intelligence (turning every travel decision into data that makes the network smarter about real alternatives). The timing is critical: train travel didn't double because of better marketing but because of better infrastructure — night trains and high-speed rail. ReisKompas builds the information layer on top of that infrastructure layer.

Profile-provider matching processes traveler preferences in under 3 seconds and displays all matching providers filtered by values, budget, experience, and availability

Real-time profile matching is the core technical activity: when a traveler fills in or updates their profile, the system calculates the best matches based on values (sustainability, authenticity), experience type (culture, nature, sports), group dynamics (solo, couple, family), and budget — showing only providers that genuinely fit.
Knowledge network curation leverages existing industry expertise: rather than individual sign-ups, ReisKompas partners with the VVR to structure travel agent knowledge, with niche providers to make their expertise searchable, and with travel communities to validate experiences.
Sustainability intelligence is the long-term competitive activity: processing traveler experiences, transport comparisons (train versus flight with real door-to-door data), and seasonal patterns into ever-better recommendations. Every trip a traveler takes by night train instead of plane generates data that makes it easier for the next traveler.
Pre-season preparation (January-March): profile update reminders, provider availability updates, sustainability data refresh. This pre-season activity ensures the network is warm before the booking season begins.

KEY PARTNERSHIPS

ReisKompas doesn't need to build trust from scratch — it inherits it

How It Grows · Key Partnerships · Who helps

ReisKompas doesn't need to build trust from scratch — it inherits it. The VVR represents hundreds of Flemish travel agencies with decades of client relationships. Juntas has a proven community of solo travelers. Omarcity brings semi-local cultural expertise. Prof. Van der Borg's research group at KU Leuven provides scientific validation. ReisKompas partners with these organizations as a technology layer, not a replacement. The knowledge stays with them; the connection engine is ours. Partners promote, we connect.

4 partner tiers: industry associations (trust), niche providers (expertise), research institutions (validation), and regional tourism boards (funding and reach)

Industry associations as core partners (Tier 1): the VVR provides access to hundreds of travel agents with structured client knowledge. This partnership immediately delivers a supply of professional travel expertise that ReisKompas digitizes without replacing.
Niche travel providers as expertise partners (Tier 2): Juntas (solo 45+), Omarcity (art and culture), Selectair Suntour (local destination knowledge) deliver the authentic experience knowledge that mainstream platforms lack. Through ReisKompas, they reach travelers whose profiles match their niche.
Research institutions as validation partners (Tier 3): Prof. Van der Borg (KU Leuven) and colleagues provide scientific backing for sustainability claims and behavioral interventions. Anonymized, consent-based travel data from ReisKompas gives researchers the measurement instrument they've been missing for forty years.
Regional tourism boards as reach partners (Tier 4): Tourism Flanders, Visit Flanders, Scandinavian and Baltic tourism boards fund destination promotion to travelers whose profiles match their region. This B2G channel funds network expansion into underserved destinations.

INVESTMENT & READINESS

Building ReisKompas requires investment in three areas: partnership development (federating existing industry associatio

What It Takes · Investment & Readiness · What does it take

Building ReisKompas requires investment in three areas: partnership development (federating existing industry associations and knowledge networks), technology platform (profile matching engine, sustainability comparator, sovereign profile system), and community activation (convincing the millions of travelers who currently book by email and phone through direct value). The cost structure favors ReisKompas: because it federates existing resources rather than building from scratch, the initial investment is a fraction of what a traditional OTA platform requires. The hardest cost isn't money — it's earning the trust that partners have built over decades.

40% of costs allocated to partnership development and trust building, 35% to technology platform, 25% to community activation and marketing

Partnership development (40% of investment): the primary cost driver is building relationships with industry associations and knowledge networks across Europe. Each partnership requires negotiation, technical integration, and ongoing relationship management. This is people-intensive work that cannot be automated.
Technology platform (35%): the profile matching engine, sustainability comparator (train vs. flight with real door-to-door data), sovereign profile system, and provider management tool. Built on open standards to guarantee data portability and avoid the platform lock-in that ReisKompas criticizes in competitors.
Community activation (25%): convincing travelers to switch from fragmented searching to profile-driven searching requires demonstrating direct value at the very first use. The 'fill in your profile and instantly see matching options' experience must be so compelling that travelers never go back to three weeks of Googling.
The cost advantage over traditional OTAs is structural: ReisKompas doesn't need to recruit individual providers (they come via partner networks), doesn't need to build brand trust from scratch (partners provide it), and doesn't need to offer loss-making discounts to attract initial demand (travel communities are tight-knit and word-of-mouth driven).

A Belgian dreams of an authentic azulejo workshop in the Alentejo, searches on Booking.com, gets 4,300 results for 'Port

A Belgian dreams of an authentic azulejo workshop in the Alentejo, searches on Booking.com, gets 4,300 results for 'Port

Business Model Perspective

Marketing Perspective

Strategic Questions

Marie is a conscious 42-year-old from Brussels who dreams of a train journey to Scandinavia but flies to the Cote d'Azur

Marie is a conscious 42-year-old from Brussels who dreams of a train journey to Scandinavia but flies to the Cote d'Azur

Business Model Perspective

Marketing Perspective

Strategic Questions

Marie found her Tuscan holiday home on Booking.com — a platform that sells her search behavior to advertisers

Marie found her Tuscan holiday home on Booking.com — a platform that sells her search behavior to advertisers

Business Model Perspective

Marketing Perspective

Strategic Questions

Explore More

Inge Bracke didn't build Juntas as a booking platform but as a community: 'Friendships are formed that continue back hom

Inge Bracke didn't build Juntas as a booking platform but as a community: 'Friendships are formed that continue back hom

Business Model Perspective

Marketing Perspective

Strategic Questions

Booking.com charges providers 15-20% commission per booking

Booking.com charges providers 15-20% commission per booking

Business Model Perspective

Marketing Perspective

Strategic Questions

ReisKompas' most valuable resource isn't technology

ReisKompas' most valuable resource isn't technology

Business Model Perspective

Marketing Perspective

Strategic Questions

ReisKompas' engine runs on three continuous activities: profile-provider matching (connecting travelers with providers w

ReisKompas' engine runs on three continuous activities: profile-provider matching (connecting travelers with providers w

Business Model Perspective

Marketing Perspective

Strategic Questions

ReisKompas doesn't need to build trust from scratch — it inherits it

ReisKompas doesn't need to build trust from scratch — it inherits it

Business Model Perspective

Marketing Perspective

Strategic Questions

Building ReisKompas requires investment in three areas: partnership development (federating existing industry associatio

Building ReisKompas requires investment in three areas: partnership development (federating existing industry associatio

Business Model Perspective

Marketing Perspective

Strategic Questions