Desti, the Travel Companion App, Introduces New iPad Features, Including the Easiest Way to Plan Road Trips, Search Vacation Rentals and Organize Group Getaways

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- November 21, 2013 -- Today Desti, a top 10 travel app in the Apple App Store, announces a suite of new features for its marquee iPad application that makes planning trips, far and near, easier than ever before.

Desti has expanded its app to make planning road trips visual and painless, save and search vacation rentals, as well as allow users to connect with friends to organize trips together and log their travel history. This smart travel app provides a unique travel planning experience that cuts organizing time in half by aggregating any information travelers could want about a location, restaurant or activity all in one place, and making it easily searchable.

Download the free app, today: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/desti-weekend-activities-travel/id533728846?mt=8

Whether driving from San Francisco to Los Angeles or cruising down Route 66, road trips are hands down one of the most frequent trip types yet the most underserved vacation experience in the travel market. Today, the smart travel companion app launches the Plan-on-Map feature which makes planning road trips a breeze. Desti’s pinch-to-zoom map allows users to find fun pit stops -- from funky restaurants to local landmarks -- all while being able to gauge the distance along their mapped route to the attraction and again to the next destination. This new version of the iPad app caters directly to this segment of vacationers by creating tools that accompany them along the way. Any GPS can get you from point A to point B but only Desti can show travelers what they can discover when they get there.

This new update makes Desti the best tool for vacationers looking to book a winter ski cabin or a summer beach house. The intelligent planner now aggregates information from two of the largest vacation rentals sites, VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner) and HomeAway , into the app, making it easy for users to find relevant properties, based on parameters like “great for kids,” “close to vineyards” or “Wi-Fi.” Desti shows location, availability and reviews around rentals for users to search and connect directly with owners through the iPad app.

The all-in-one organizer is also expanding its social element by allowing users to connect with their friends within the app. People rarely take trips alone or go somewhere without a word of mouth recommendation. The new “Plan Together” feature allows users to to plan trips together, from spa getaways to snow trips, with everyone providing their own input and suggestions - just like sharing a document on Google. Desti also tracks users’ travel history and recommends new locations, avoiding places they likely won’t want to visit twice. The “Been There” feature also lets users view where their friends have traveled, with the ability to provide insight by leaving a note for their friends.

“Since launching Desti nationally in July, we have been inundated with user requests for more support in planning road trips as well as requests for new content like restaurants and vacation rentals. There’s nothing we like better than satisfied users  -- this release is for them,” says Desti CEO Nadav Gur. “Desti is making the vacation planning process easier by searching through the millions of travel sites on the web and aggregating content into one place. These new updates take the pain out of planning and replace it with an engaging travel discovery experience.”

Desti was founded in 2011 as a spin-out from SRI International. Desti’s unique use of natural language search and artificial intelligence helps users find exactly what they are looking for. Much of SRI’s artificial technology that went into Desti comes from the same source behind the famous Siri and Tempo Smart Calendar, namely the $180M DARPA project, CALO. Desti’s mobile-first platform approach makes it convenient for users to find everything from accommodations to restaurants, right from their tablet device.

For more information please visit www.desti.com and download the iPad app from iTunes today.

About Desti

Desti is an intelligent travel planner, currently available on the iPad. An all-in-one app for travel search, planning and booking, Desti helps travelers plan and research vacations and excursions leveraging semantic search technology and artificial intelligence, packaged into a user-friendly interface. Instead of sifting through hundreds of search results and reading countless travel reviews, users can plan a trip holistically -- where to stay, what to do, where to visit, all beautifully presented and immediately available at the swipe of a finger for browsing, booking or sharing with friends. That’s true travel nirvana.

Founded in 2011, Desti Inc. is an SRI International spin-off led by experienced travel entrepreneurs. Desti leverages SRI International’s immense investment in artificial intelligence research and semantic technology. For decades, SRI International has pioneered technological advancements that are part of our daily lives, including the mouse, interactive computing, the Internet and, more recently, Siri.

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