July in New York is prime time for vacation. For New Yorkers, it could mean anything from a day trip to Long Island or a far-away retreat to a global dream destination. But for many others, it means coming into the city. With almost 60 million visitors annually, NYC reigns as the most visited city in the U.S.

That’s exactly why it's flourishing a vibrant hub for entrepreneurs with the next best idea in travel. Regardless if you’re a New Yorker for a week or all year long, our city’s budding travel industry is here to help.

This month we are showcasing five of the most promising travel and transportation startups in our membership. Last month, as a part of our Pride Month celebration of LGBT+ founders, we featured Noken, a startup that curates flexible, personalized routes to explore new countries. Noken and these five companies are rethinking how to book travel, how to get around NYC, and even how to help build the next great travel company.

Cruiseline

What does your company do?
Cruiseline Founder and General Manager Faraz Qureshi: We are TripAdvisor for cruises. We provide verified reviews for every major ship and port as well as featuring more than 400,000 traveler photos including images of cabins, dining, and entertainment. We also search all the major booking sites so our users can easily compare prices.

Why did you found your company in NYC?
FQ: While South Florida is the center of the cruise industry, NYC is where I want to live and work. Secondly, we needed to hire people with design and engineering skills, and we knew we’d find that talent here. Finally, there is abundant office space in Manhattan and in nearly every neighborhood.

How do you help a first-time cruiser choose a destination and explore how to plan their trip?
FQ: First time cruisers have lots of questions (what to pack, do I need a passport, etc.), and we have written a cruising 101 guide that helps answer these questions. We find most cruisers already have an idea of which destination they want to cruise to, but they really need help figuring out which ship and which itinerary.

What is the best cruise you’ve ever taken? Any must-stop ports to build into the itinerary?
FQ: A cruise to Alaska with 14 other family members. It’s an amazingly beautiful location and a cruise is an easy way to take it all in. For me, taking a seaplane from Ketchikan port to the most remote parts of Alaska was an incredible experience.

What’s the one cruise essential people always forget to pack?
FQ: A carry-on bag with your swimsuit so you can jump in the pool on the first day without having to wait for your luggage to arrive at your cabin.

What’s the best way to spend a summer Friday in NYC?
FQ: Riding my bike in Central Park.

You’re taking a day trip to a beach in the NYC metro area? What beach are you visiting and what are the three must-pack items in your beach bag?
FQ: I love Brighton Beach. Be sure to bring goggles, a wetsuit, and cash for the amazing Russian street food.

What’s your favorite bagel?
FQ: Bo's Bagels in Harlem.

What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
FQ: Grace Street Cafe in Koreatown.

HOST

What does your company do?
HOST Co-Founder and CEO Jeffrey Thomashow: HOST (Hop on Short Trips) is an experiential marketing platform that works with brands to activate our pedicab fleet throughout New York City. It’s a great way for brands to launch new products, build customer loyalty, and get people talking and sharing. By partnering with brands, we’re able to build toward our vision that pedicabs will one-day become a new transportation mode in the city.

Why did you found your company in NYC?
JT: New York loses $20 billion a year due to traffic and congestion. We want to offer New Yorkers a new way to get around that goes beyond just getting them from A to B, a new mode that sparks joy and brings a smile to people’s face.

What’s the most important thing New York can do to better make room for pedicabs and other alternative transit options on our streets?
JT: Dedicated protected infrastructure is critical to the growth of small electric vehicles like pedicabs, scooters, and bikes. The L Train shutdown is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform mobility in NYC. As Brooklynites and Manhattanites demand alternative modes to get around, I'm hopeful that more space will be dedicated to small vehicles and that street designs will quickly adapt.

Where are the pedicabs most popular? Where do riders request rides to the most?
JT: While New Yorkers often imagine pedicabs around Central Park, we’ve found people love our service in local neighborhoods like the East Village where there are gaps in public transit. For example, getting to Alphabet City from Astor Place is a popular route.

Your company cares about offering “zero-emission transportation.” How are you helping improve NYC’s environmental footprint?
JT: Each year, NYC’s fleet of yellow cabs circle the earth 12,000 times without a passenger in the car. HOST offers a zero-emission transportation alternative that has the efficiency and environmental benefits of a bike and the convenience of being a passenger in a car.

What’s the best way to spend a summer Friday in NYC?
JT: Head to Whole Foods, pick up some wine and cheese, and relax in Central Park.

You’re taking a day trip to a beach in the NYC metro area? What beach are you visiting and what are the three must-pack items in your beach bag?
JT: Without a doubt, I’m heading to Pier 11 and grabbing the ferry to Rockaway Beach. Must-pack items are a Bluetooth speaker, sunscreen, and some extra cash for the perfect piña colada at Connolly’s Bar.

What’s your favorite pizza slice?
JT: Two highly democratizing features of New York are sitting in traffic and eating a dollar slice. HOST’s growth has been fueled by worsening traffic and the 2 Bros. dollar slice.

What’s your favorite bagel?
JT: Ess-a-bagel on 51st and 3rd. Tweet at us and we’ll tell you the secret to skipping the line.

What’s your favorite New York building?
JT: The Helmsley Building by Grand Central, especially when you can run, walk, or bike through it during Summer Streets.

Journy

What does your company do?
Journy Founder and CEO Susan Ho: We pair travelers with a personal trip designer to plan their dream trip. Our designers make hotel, activity, and restaurant recommendations based on a traveler's preferences and organize those recommendations into an itinerary that makes sense logistically.

Why did you found your company in NYC?
SH: First, I was already based here and love it. Second, for a travel company, NYC is an excellent hub as it's almost as easy to get to Europe as it is to the West Coast. Finally, because of all the e-commerce and consumer companies that have started in NYC over the past six years, there's also incredible access to talent here.

How do you help customers find those off-the-radar travel ideas you might not discover with a Google search?
SH: We have a network of over 300 top chefs, food and wine, and local experts in all the destinations we cover. Leiti Hsu, one of our founders, spent many years as a food radio host and even hosted the red carpet at the James Beard Awards. It's through her experience that we've been able to build relationships with experts so our travelers have access to insider knowledge instead of having to make sense of conflicting reviews online.

What’s the worst travel snafu you’ve had, a trip disaster where the Journy app would’ve saved you?
SH: It was actually what inspired starting Journy in the first place. When I was working at another startup, I didn't have time to plan anything for my trip other than book my flight and hotel. I ended up spending more than 10 hours in my hotel in Buenos Aires trying to figure out where to go, only to still end up in a restaurant surrounded by American tourists and nightclubs surrounded by 16-year-olds. But on the positive side, it gave me the idea to start Journy!

What’s the best way to spend a summer Friday in NYC?
SH: If I'm off early, I'm either heading to Maison Premiere for oyster happy hour to sip cocktails in their garden or taking the train to Tarrytown for an epic dinner at Blue Hill Stone Barns.

What’s your favorite pizza slice?
SH: I'm fond of Prince Street Pizza (the way the charred pepperoni curls up so that the grease pools inside is just excellent), Marta (because they have a killer and reasonably priced champagne list, and pizza and champagne is one of my favorite combos), and I recently tried the new Una Pizza Napoletana where the pizza dough and crust, made from wild yeast, is insanely delicious.

What’s your favorite bagel?
SH: I don't really like bagels (I understand if we can't be friends anymore), but I do eat them when they're loaded up with quality lox, scallion cream cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and capers and I tend to go to Sadelle's for that.

What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
SH: The Library Bar at the Nomad Hotel. It's always quiet during the day, the service is excellent, and it's nice to have a business meeting in a place that reminds me of the library in Beauty and the Beast.

TRILL

What does your company do?
TRILL Co-Founder and CEO Eric Shepard: TRILL is a platform that creates bookable experiences from social travel content. Our experiential travel platform lets users explore hashtags and trending destinations to build itineraries off our trusted content creators, and they can also book hotels, activities, and restaurants through TRILL. We reward our tastemakers with cash everytime someone books off their content.

Why did you found your company in NYC?
ES: It's the center of the world. It doesn't matter what industry you're in; there are so many people to network and connect with. You can basically fly anywhere in the world from NYC and there is more opportunity here than anywhere else. If you can make it in NYC, you can make it anywhere!

What’s the key that all the top travel influencers have in common, the secret sauce that makes them successful on your platform?
ES: We focus on content instead of the number of followers. Some of our “tastemakers” with 2,000 followers are more successful than travel lifestyle influencers with 120,000 followers. The secret sauce is the ability for them to tell a powerful story through their photos. Users see their content and automatically want to transport themselves to that destination. Those are the content creators we are looking for.

What’s the best way to spend a summer Friday in NYC?
ES: If I'm staying in the city on a summer Friday, I love grabbing a Citi Bike and cruising on the West Side Highway.

You’re taking a day trip to a beach in the NYC metro area? What beach are you visiting and what are the three must-pack items in your beach bag?
ES: I like Long Beach as my day trip beach. My three must-pack items are Kadima Paddles, a Beats Pill speaker, and my Kindle.

What is the best New York waterfront?
ES: I love Battery Park. Within a few minutes’ walk, I have great views of the Statue of Liberty, New Jersey, and Staten Island.

What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
ES: I like to take my meetings in hotel lobbies. My favorite hotel for a meeting is The Royalton Hotel because it's always quiet and has plenty of room.

What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you in NYC?
ES: Hurricane Sandy in 2012 was pretty crazy. I've never seen NYC shut down for two days like that before. I was so lucky that my apartment in Chelsea was the only apartment downtown with power.

Voyager

What does your company do?
Voyager Managing Director John Matson: Voyager HQ is the startup club for the global travel, tourism, and hospitality industry. Our community brings together entrepreneurs, corporate partners, and investors from around the world to create the future of travel experiences through curated events, workspace, and actionable introductions. The Voyager Clubhouse NYC is our signature coworking and event space in Flatiron, as well as the global headquarters for our digital community of 1,000+ entrepreneurs in 55 countries. Digital membership is free!

Why did you found your company in NYC?
JM: We co-founded Voyager HQ with Sam S. Jain, the founder of CheapOair, two years ago. He was hoping to give back to the travel startup ecosystem in NYC, which was often underserved. NYC has an amazing startup community and in many ways is a gateway between the U.S. and the rest of the world, so we knew there was an opportunity to bring everyone together.

What’s the next round of innovation for the travel industry? What will travelers need in 2030?
JM: In a larger sense, collaboration! The next thing that inevitably will leap the industry forward is the rising expectations of the travel consumer, and all players will have to come together to deliver highly personalized experiences. In 12 years, there is going to be a inflection point for the way people travel, especially local. Driverless cars should be mainstream by that point so it will be interesting to see how consumers will adjust. There are also some practical regional travel options that better leverage technology and routes like aerial “puddle jumper” shuttles from regional airports along with route and port optimization for bus and shuttle transportation. It’s not there yet, but these will be on the horizon and in the mind in a decade.

What’s the best way to spend a summer Friday in NYC?
JM: NYC has some of the best rooftop bars in the world, and Friday night happy hours are a great way to get some sun, catch the views, and enjoy a cocktail.

You’re taking a day trip to a beach in the NYC metro area? What beach are you visiting and what are the three must-pack items in your beach bag?
JM: Rockaway Beach is my beach of choice this summer. I recommend bringing a book, sunscreen (I burn too easily), and a box of Cheez-Its. I always drop by CitySticks for a popsicle or ice cream while I’m there too!

What’s your favorite pizza slice?
JM: Nothing beats a simple $1 cheese slice from 2 Bros. We have one on our corner from the office and it’s dangerously convenient.

What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
JM: NYC has no shortage of amazing coffee shops and restaurants that I could shout out, but Hanjan on 26th and 6th has been a more consistent spot for my lunch meetings. It has great Korean dishes and the service is fast, so it doesn’t break into your day too long.

What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you in NYC?
JM: This city is full of crazy, random interactions. One time I ran into “Billy on the Street” when he was running around interviewing people around the Flatiron building. Fun stuff!

Photo credit: New York rooftop by Gregorio Koji/Shutterstock