Since launching a little more than a year ago, Peek is trying to find new ways to help travelers book interesting experiences when visiting new and interesting places. To that end, the company has launched a new iPhone app that will allow users to find interesting this to do even when they’re not in front of a computer.
The new Peek iOS app, released today, will give users the ability to search, discover, and book all the same activities that they might get on the company’s website. But it will also provide more personalized options based on their locations and interests.
When users first open the Peek app, it runs them through a personality quiz to help determine which activities are best suited to their tastes. Once done, it’ll suggest activities to them from a variety of categories, including family friendly, arts & culture, food & wine, sights, walking tours and staying active, among others. They can also filter activities based on price and points of interest.
The app uses geo-location to know where users are and to serve up activities based on what’s nearby. For many activities, it even offers same-day booking. And on the mobile app, it integrates with Apple’s Passbook to enable users to redeem vouchers from their mobile phones. Confirmation can also be received by email, and users can get directions and maps so they know where they’re going.
According to Peek CEO Ruzwana Bashir, most service providers today don’t offer online booking, and even fewer enable real-time booking based on calendar availability. Enabling the ability to book from mobile with confidence that appointments will be registered is even rarer. To deal with that, it’s done a lot of work to provide better calendaring features for service providers.
Peek now has activities available in 17 different U.S. locations, including Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Napa Valley, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and the various islands of Hawaii. It’s also available to book experiences in London and Paris.
The company, which is headquartered in San Francisco, now has 20 employees. It’s raised $1.4 million in seed funding from an impressive group of investors, including Jack Dorsey, Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, SV Angel, and Khosla Ventures.