[a13n]

Hey Blaine! Congrats on your launch.

My co-founder Sarah and I just moved from SF to travel the world while we bootstrap our startup, Canny. I'm also a huge fan of products like Shyp, Instacart, Prime Now, and Gobble that let you trade money for time. I think I could be your target customer.

However, $210 sounds pretty darn expensive for HK. I just went there last Nov. It didn't take much research at all to figure out how to get the 2 of us downtown on the bus for $40-50. The immigration process was smooth.

Maybe I haven't felt the pain point you describe, or maybe I'm not wealthy/spendy enough to be your target customer.

My feedback for you would be to work on crafting a story that sounds like "oh man, that's a life saver" rather than "save a few hours". Or maybe be more obvious that your product is just for the very wealthy and business travelers - like a high end credit card or something?

Just my 2 cents, hope it was useful. Best of luck!

[a13n]

While I'm here, another concern I'd have is stickiness.

With Gobble I'll happily pay a weekly subscription and make dinner all the time. With Solve, most people only travel a few times a year.

Maybe this reinforces that Solve is more for (frequent) biz travelers, where it would be stickier.

I have a few friends who are management consultants who fly literally every week, their companies might pay $200 for them to save a few hours. It's probably easier to charge a fortune 500 a few hundred bucks per employee than it is individuals. Worth noting that it's US-only travel though.

It's kinda like when people started expensing Ubers from the airport rather than taxis.

[blainevess]

I hear your concerns. The key I found in certain airports is that one day immigration might have no wait, but another day you're stuck waiting for over an hour. For people who travel relatively frequently, especially business travelers going long distances, seeing that line is a nightmare.

To your point, $210 in HK isn't for everyone, but a number of people find the cost quite reasonable for the time savings and safety factor.

We're new and still crafting our pitch, so I definitely appreciate your feedback there as well!

[chrischen]

Generally countries offer expedited customs and immigration for frequent travelers. For Hong Kong and most Asian countries, there's the APEC card which costs about $100 (one-time fee) and an interview at the airport in the US.

[throwaway123945]

Since you're an international traveler, I'd like your thoughts on our idea.

Would you think it's a life saver if the hotel you checked into at your destination gave you a smartphone that gives you access to the Internet, Google Maps, and other travel-related apps while you can also use it to Wifi hotspot your own personal phone?

[nicpottier]

I travel a lot and to many different places and I can say no, this isn't a useful service to me. A local SIM card yes, and those are the first thing I do upon arrival at airports (I have a pouch of 30 or so I keep as momentos).

My wife was just in Accra and received an Android device like you described at her hotel. My advice to her was not to use it for anything that involved logging in, because honestly, that just sounds shady.

[tluyben2]

There is something called a Handy (I think) which is an Android phone; it works well for browsing and maps. I have gotten one for free to borrow in a number of hotels around the world. Usually I have a local SIM though.

[a13n]

No. I don't stay at hotels, I stay at airbnbs. Most hotels / airbnbs have Wi-Fi, so you don't need the separate device.

I'd rather just have a SIM card. I buy these at the airport anyway.

[throwaway123945]

Thanks for your input.

[hack_edu]

Dear Blaine/Solve-employee, we know this is you. Be honest with us and just post on the OP account. Faking it is even worse than self-promotion spam. :)

[wutbrodo]

Eh, I don't think this assumption is warranted. It could be a prospective competitor.

[karthikb]

I've had this option several times, however I never actually used it...

[peteretep]

I've had a Korean hotel offer this. It wasn't really that useful; I bought a SIM instead.

[shawnsheikh]

Definitely, not one of our Solve team members but would love feed back on this person's post!