Munich Startup: What problem are you offering a solution for?
Volker Jahns, founder: Our society is changing: There are more and more single-person households and thus more and more people who travel alone, do sports alone, eat out alone. But hardly anyone truly wants to be out and about alone. Group trips would be the answer, but they are hard to find and you book them anonymously: You don’t know who else is coming along, you don’t know anyone beforehand, and you lose touch after the trip.
That is precisely the gap we are bridging. Clubgefühle is a community and travel portal for group trips in one, featuring an AI travel agent that finds the right trip using natural language, and a mobile app that allows you to get to know your fellow travelers before departure, stay connected during the trip, and keep the contacts afterward. Book alone, travel together.
Munich Startup: What can only you do as of today?
Volker Jahns: We offer a service that doesn’t exist like this anywhere else: not being alone. We remove the biggest hurdle before a group trip: the uncertainty of who you’re actually traveling with. To achieve this, we accompany the entire journey in three phases:
Before the trip, travelers can find the right offer via our AI search and get to know their fellow travelers. During the trip, the group chat connects people for activities, sports, and restaurant tips. After the trip, the contacts remain, and the community gives rise to the next shared journeys. A conventional booking portal ends the relationship once the booking is made; for us, that’s where it all begins. On top of that is reiseagent.ai, which to our knowledge is the world’s first natural-language AI search for group travel. After just a short time, market leaders in the industry have become direct partners and are listing their trips with us.
Search for a Tennis Partner Leads to Founding
Munich Startup: What was the catalyst for founding the company?
Volker Jahns: A very real situation. I was on a Robinson vacation looking for a tennis partner and didn’t know anyone. There simply was no way to reach the other guests, even though someone in the club would certainly have been up for a match. The idea for the whole thing was born out of this necessity: a community where guests and fellow travelers can connect – before, during, and after the trip.
Munich Startup: Was there a moment when you thought about giving up?
Volker Jahns: Giving up, no, but it was and is a major investment: in new technology, in an AI search, in an app that is completely free for users. You have to shoulder that before the first euro comes in. And yes, there was also a large corporation that put obstacles in our way because they didn’t want us to build a transparent, independent community of hotel guests. Moments like that drain your energy. But the positive feedback from users and partners drives us forward and shows us that this exact independence is the reason why we are needed.
Travel should create genuine connections
Munich Startup: How would you know in a year that you are on the right track?
Volker Jahns: By the partners we win over and by them staying with us. And by the demand we feel every day: the inquiries from people who want to know when new trips will be available, whether their preferred region is included, who they will meet on their trip. If this demand continues to grow and initial trips turn into genuine connections and follow-up trips, we’ll know we’re on the right track.
Munich Startup: Would you found a company in Munich again, and why?
Volker Jahns: Yes, immediately. Munich is a city for travel, leisure, and well-being – our target audience lives right on our doorstep. In addition, it is the best location for the travel industry in the DACH region: major tour operators and decision-makers are based here or within easy reach, the startup ecosystem is strong, and Bavaria supports young companies with targeted programs. You can hardly get closer to what Clubgefühle stands for.
Munich Startup: Bootstrapping or venture capital?
Volker Jahns: Both, in that order. We have built the platform entirely through bootstrapping so far because we wanted to create substance first: product, partners, community. Now, we are selectively opening up to strategic investors from the travel industry who share our vision of community travel. Not for quick growth capital at any cost. For us, capital is a means to an end. The end is the community.
