Roamio wants to fix travel’s most expensive drop-off between inspiration and booking

“Honestly, it hurts everyone but in different ways,” says Prasanna Vee, CEO and co-founder of Roamio, when asked who takes the brunt of the drop-off between inspiration and booking. “Planning complex trips still means hours of research, scattered tabs, and emailing multiple operators just to get a usable itinerary,” he tells WiT, adding that “with only 15% getting replies within 24 hours,” enthusiasm often evaporates before plans solidify.

For travellers, the problem is friction but that frustration ripples across the ecosystem. Operators, especially smaller, specialised local providers, feel it acutely. “They receive vague inquiries like ‘what’s your best price?’, spend time responding, and often never hear back,” Prasanna explains. Many lack digital distribution altogether, and “most of them can’t afford high OTA commissions,” which leaves visibility concentrated among larger players. “Meanwhile, larger players dominate visibility simply because they can afford distribution.

“Visitor spending flows to large operators with online presence, while the long tail of smaller, authentic local providers offering authentic experiences remains invisible,” he says. The result, Prasanna argues, is diminished economic impact and weaker destination quality. This also means that for destination marketing organisations, the impact is structural. 

Roamio was built to close what he calls the “intent-to-booking gap.” “We convert conversational planning into structured, high-intent travel requests, then intelligently connect travellers to the most relevant local experts,” he says. The platform, he adds, “addresses the ‘intent-to-booking gap’” by focusing on intent rather than inventory.

Why Africa came first

Roamio’s early launch markets weren’t chosen for convenience. “We started where custom travel is both most valuable and most broken, i.e. experiential destinations across Africa,” Prasanna says. These markets share a familiar pattern, which is “Highly fragmented supply, incredible local expertise that’s digitally invisible, and trips that can’t be booked meaningfully through standard OTA workflows.

“Destinations with incredible experiences often have the poorest digital infrastructure,” Prasanna says. Countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda, where gorilla trekking and multi-park safaris are inherently complex, became ideal proving grounds.

Roamio’s roots in TRIPESA’s venture studio helped accelerate that launch. “We also have deep operator relationships on the ground in these markets, which helped us onboard over 200 providers early and validate real demand from both sides of the marketplace,” Prasanna notes. “Africa first, then Asia, followed by South America before expanding globally.”

The target user is equally specific. “Our target demographic is the ‘considered traveller’… people planning multi-day, experiential journeys who want customization and authenticity, not pre-packaged tours,” Prasanna says.

Monetising intent, not inventory

Roamio’s business model avoids the levers most travel platforms rely on. “In the near term, our primary revenue comes from service providers through subscriptions and pay-per-qualified-lead models,” Prasanna explains. Operators, he says, are willing to pay because the leads are structured, specific and actionable.

Longer term, the platform plans to layer in white-label deployments, booking facilitation, sponsored placements and even traveller subscriptions. But the philosophy stays consistent. “The key difference is that we monetise intent, not inventory,” Prasanna says. “We don’t hold rooms or tours.” That decision reshapes how success is measured. 

“Traditional OTAs optimise for transaction volume and need scale to justify 15–30% commissions. We optimise for relevance, quality, and marketplace health,” he says. Roamio tracks engagement, response times, proposal acceptance and provider retention, not clicks or listings.

“Because providers don’t upload inventory or pay commissions, they engage only when a request genuinely fits their expertise,” Prasanna explains. Additionally, removing commissions changes behaviour. “They compete on knowledge and experience, not marketing spend or product price,” he adds. The north star, he says plainly, is different. “Our north star becomes fulfilled journeys, not listings or clicks.”

“Planning complex trips still means hours of research, scattered tabs, and emailing multiple operators just to get a usable itinerary,” Roamio’s CEO, Prasanna Vee, tells WiT, adding that “with only 15% getting replies within 24 hours,” enthusiasm often evaporates before plans solidify.

AI is infrastructure, not a tastemaker

As AI reshapes travel planning, Roamio is deliberately avoiding generic recommendations. “This is the problem we’re solving, not creating,” Prasanna says of concerns around homogenisation. “By design, Roamio doesn’t replace local expertise, it amplifies it.”

He describes the approach as “Knowledge-Grounded Fulfillment,” where AI structures demand but humans shape outcomes. “We use AI to parse operator websites, brochures, and social media to deeply understand each provider’s specializations and unique offerings,” he says. A gorilla trekking specialist and a luxury safari operator may operate in the same country, but their “DNA” is fundamentally different.

“Generic AI tools stop at recommendations. Roamio goes further by deeply understanding each of its repository of providers’ “DNA”, their destinations, specialties, budgets, languages, sustainability practices, and real-world experience, and matches travelers accordingly,” Prasanna adds, using real operator content and authentic itineraries to power results. Or, as he puts it more succinctly, “AI does the plumbing. Locals shape the experience.”

Sitting upstream and not going head-on

What’s most interesting is Roamio’s positioning in the travel tech ecosystem. Prasanna says he doesn’t see the tool as a replacement for OTAs, operators or destination platforms. “Roamio sits upstream of bookings, at the intent and planning layer.”

OTAs still excel at flights and hotels, tour operators still own pricing and delivery, and DMOs still drive inspiration. Roamio’s role, he argues, is connective. “Think of Roamio as connective tissue,” he says, helping travellers move from idea to execution, operators move from invisibility to demand, and DMOs move “from marketing to economic impact.”

That upstream position also unlocks a new kind of insight for the newly launched Roamio. “Search data tells you what people click. Conversational planning tells you why and how they travel,” Prasanna says. By capturing full planning conversations, DMOs can see emerging interests, budget expectations, response quality and even where travellers drop off before booking.