The folks at TripChi are entering an already crowded travel app market with something they claim will help make the travel process better.

“Most of our team-members have lived that George Clooney `Up in the Air’ lifestyle, feeling, like we spent more time in airports and on the road than we did actually in our own homes,” said co-founder and CEO Chandra Jacobs. “We have always wanted to find ways to not only make the traveling life less bad, but also make it better!

After years of frustration in airports, we realized something was missing.”

This something is what Jacobs calls Airports 2.0—the age of the “destination” airport that people enjoy visiting. “It’s built around the customer experience, with food and beverage, and retail concepts that reflect the local culture as well as global passenger taste,” she said. “As airports are gradually evolving toward this concept, TripChi is building the technology to guide you on the journey to the new `experiential’ airport.”

TripChi is different than other airport mobile apps because it takes relevant elements of the travelers personality, interests, situation, intent, location, and schedule to make targeted recommendations of airport content to explore, vendors to visit, and deals/offers to redeem, said Jacobs.

“TripChi suggest ideas of things to do and concessions to visit based on your user profile, personality, unique flight circumstances, and your interaction with the app,” she explained. “We aren't just an airport guide, nor do we just give you information about your flight, although we do that do.

We want you to make the most of your airport time through exploration and enjoyment.”

The app enriches the airport experience by serving up recommendations of things to do in the airport catered to personal taste and flight information, said Jacobs.  “It offers deals on dining and shopping opportunities, the ability to find what you need, as well as detailed content to explore and discover the airport,” she said. “If you need a place to relax or a phone charging station, we can find it for you.”

It can also provide activities that are specific to a particular airport. “You get a countdown timer so you can know how long you have before your flight, so you don't sit down to a big meal 30 minutes before your flight,” said Jacobs.  “We’re even providing crowd-sourced lesser known tips and tricks to make your experience more enjoyable and easier.

Airport updates will depend on the data source. “For some content, we have APIs available and the content is extremely fresh, and it provided to us from the airport,” said Jacobs. “In other cases, we exchange spreadsheets with airports every few months, and still in other cases we are updating and inputting data manually because there is no good way to build out the content other than screen scraping.”

TripChi’s goal is to update and review content every month, but to do this it will need to rely on the community to help by pointing out errors and add interesting airport factoids and tips, said Jacobs. “We will be available on iPhone first and eventually Android,” she said. “We’re in alpha [testing] right now, which is kind of like `friends and family' testing. This means that some of the functionality is there but not all, and that the user experience and design isn’t tight,” she said. 

The team is aiming for a summertime launch across five airports, said Jacobs. “It will be free for the traveler to use. We believe in bringing a superior airport and passenger experience to the masses through technology,” she stated. Sign up to be part of the community now here.