The ASAP Tickets booking platform, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is one of the brands under the Dyninno group in the tourism sector and one of the largest ticket reservation sites in the United States. Over 20% of all tickets purchased worldwide from America to the Philippines and almost 15% from America to Africa are bought through the ASAP Tickets platform. The main technological hub for the operational activities of ASAP Tickets, as well as other companies within the Dyninno group, is the Latvian company Dynatech.
The tourism industry has undergone one of the most challenging periods in its history. The global pandemic that began in March 2020 dealt a serious blow to all its sectors, from airlines and hotels to travel insurance and car rentals. Millions of travelers were suddenly “stranded” abroad, requiring quality service and a personalized approach to resolving their problems. In the midst of this chaos, companies worldwide faced a choice: either adapt and survive or give up. This is the story of a company that faced monumental difficulties with the help of technologies developed in Riga. This is the story of ASAP Tickets.
Like many innovative startups, ASAP Tickets emerged from a small office in downtown San Francisco in 2001. Its founder, Alex Weinstein, was a student working in a travel agency at the time: “I was working part-time in a small travel agency specializing in selling airline tickets to ethnic communities in San Francisco. I was responsible for the Russian-speaking customer segment, as I am a native Russian speaker. But I quickly realized that there was an untapped niche: immigrants flying around the world. An audience that, for one reason or another, was overlooked by other agencies, and its potential was underestimated. That’s why in 2001, I founded ASAP Tickets.”
Since most major players in the tourism market were not interested in providing individual services to national communities in the United States, ASAP Tickets quickly grew and filled this niche. Its main advantage and point of differentiation from other competitors were a strong emphasis on personalized service and building long-term relationships with customers. By speaking to them in their native language, sales and support specialists could adapt the entire service package according to the specific needs of people.
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