Gekko unveiled in public beta

Gekko has unveiled its public beta enabling users to find hotels and restaurants according to tastes and requirements. The service uses technology to match places to users based on their profile as well as the preferences of likeminded people. After a search Gekko produces a selection of 20 targeted places and also provides recommendations from…

Gekko has unveiled its public beta enabling users to find hotels and restaurants according to tastes and requirements.


The service uses technology to match places to users based on their profile as well as the preferences of likeminded people.


After a search Gekko produces a selection of 20 targeted places and also provides recommendations from other Gekko community members with similar profiles and tastes.
 
Gekko founder Dino Van Es said the idea was to use ‘smart matching’ to do for hotels and restaurants what last.fm and netflix have done.


Gekko has based its system on market research on 7,500 people across Europe and the US. The start-up joined forces with marketing intelligence firm MI Company to develop the matching algorithm behind the Gekko Profiler. Research showed that people were using 40 criteria to determine the best hotel or restaurant for them. The algorithm helped reduce this list to nine factors to help them choose.
 
From launch Gekko is drawing from 55,000 while 10,000 bookable restaurants will be added in the next month.


Gekko founder Dino Van Es is also behind US online share trading community, Zecco.