Pathfinder365 is a digital command centre, supporting the end-to-end needs of small to medium sized Canadian tourism businesses...from Discovery & Promotion, to Lead & Inquiry Management, to Booking & Scheduling.
As we evolve our own technology, and leverage strategic integrations, our focus is the wholistic support and growth of the Canadian tourism industry. We're the first and only software company to create a powerful operational command centre for tourism businesses, and we aim to become the most useful platform for local and micro-tourism.
Current Updates:
March, 2024
Development Archive:
February, 2024
Menu items tool theme based on user authentication
Stripe subscription renewal improvements
General UI/UX fixes and improvements
Integrate ZappyChat/LMS chatbot
Fix events creation flow and datetime validation
Allow Business toggle on/off experience add-ons
Integrated map view on traveller aggregation pages
Removed unused backend dependencies
Added map control buttons for zoom and rotation
Added new events count notation
Dug into Auth0 changes for the rules deprecation
Business description is now included in the business side panel profile
January, 2024
- Persist traveller or business view upon page refresh
- Auto fill email from claim business flow when logging in
- FIX: automatically update the business menu after tool purchase without having to refresh the page
- New login method in Experiences, Events and Jobs - login redirect step
- Lead Management System integration
- Purchase flow styling updates and naming convention changes
- Automatically archive tools when payment becomes invalid
- LMS changes - setup recurring payments through stripe subscriptions API
- Setting up robust custom templated pages for business tools aggregations for traveller view
- Testing all code review tasks on local machine in readiness for a test deploy
- FIX: grey side banners when user uses share-it links
- General code bug fixes from test deploy review
- Menu items tool theme based on users authentication ( business/traveller/guest)
- Handling stripe subscription renewal improvements
- Implemented a number of awesome UX/UI design changes
December, 2023
- Lead Management System (LMS) now fully integrated, and ready to onboard clients in January
- Continued working on the other side of the AdventureSuitcase, where travellers can map out the places they've been
- Added a new quick-access toolbar at the top of the Discovery Site
- And, you guessed it, a lot of nifty design and functionality updates
November, 2023
- Black Friday Community Membership Sale
- AdventureSuitcase - We've added a favourites tool
- Flex Plan Community Membership Menu Board System
- Integrating a comprehensive Lead Management System
- Added an on-platform product tour
October, 2023
- AI Chatbot integration
- Search by Address, City and Province
- More businesses have photos
- First iteration of the AdventureSuitcase favourites tool
September, 2023
- Variations in map pin colours, identifying our primary tourism pillars, Where to Stay, Where to Play, Where to Shop, Events & Festivals
- We've expanded across all of Canada! East, West, Maritimes and Territories
- Businesses can now collect their own Newsletter subscribers through Pathfinder365
August, 2023
- Map cluster enhancements - business clusters breakout earlier so you can see more individual businesses at a higher zoom level
- Business Dashboard - you can view all of your tools at a high level, in one spot
- Business category filters - now you can filter the map based on Where to Play, Where to Stay, Where to Shop and Events & Festivals
- Mobile design updates
- Active Business checkmark
- Hamburger menu tweaks
- UX/UI gets more cool updates
July, 2023
- Events & Festivals aggregation and filtering, including a geography selector
- More dynamic updates for Events & Festival creation flow
- Share-it! is in even more places
- Province selector view for business pins on the map
- Traveller and Business toggle view in the hamburger menu
- New clean design for Experiences in the Business Dashboard
June, 2023
- Event Listings v.1 - in addition to listing their jobs and experiences, businesses can now list their events! More to come on this one. We've just launched the very first iteration, but we're already working on enhancements and new features to attach to this tool
- Save to Home Screen popup on mobile
- Building the infrastructure for exciting campaigns like the AdventurePassport
- Map Pin accuracy improvements
- New and improved photo uploader
May, 2023
- Share-it v.1 - Businesses and Travellers can share Business profiles and Experiences with the world!
- Job Board v.1 - Now Businesses can showcase the jobs they have available!
- Map marker photo is now the primary photo in a business profile
- Tools in the hamburger menu have been scrubbed from what's coming down the road, to what's coming right away
- Continuous profile browsing: when you have one business profile open, you can now simply click another profile on the map, and you'll go directly into that profile, without having to close the first one
- When you're browsing around but haven't signed in, now you won't lose your place, because after you sign-in, the system will pop you right back to where you left off
- Now when you paste your business or product information into a text editor box, it automatically reverts it to plain text, so you don't have to deal with any weird artifacts that are being pulled from the text source
April, 2023
- Snazzy new design for Desktop Business Profiles, similar to the Mobile design
- Business social icons added to Business Profiles
- Three thinking dots added to more places, so users know when the system is processing something
- New Business Nudge and Claim bubble on Mobile and Desktop
- Clean design for Experience popups on Mobile and Desktop
- Tweaks & Fixes:
- In the Business profile, when you hit save, but some required fields haven't been completed, the three loading dots appear and won't go away - fixed
- Keyword search bar gets overridden by the map populating - keyword locked out until map loads
- Experience inquiry button wasn't pulling in business email - now it is
- Mobile experience display was a little squished - fixed
- Hamburger menu scroll bar wasn't activating the entire way - now it is
- Business side panel fonts are a little bigger, and social icons have been moved below the main block of info
March, 2023
- A variety of other styling and tech improvements
- Link to Update page (this page) launched on app site
- Link to main site launched on app site
- Redesigned Pathfinder's social media icons in the hamburger menu
- Removed the double scroll on Business Profile side panel. Yes I know this is small, but it's been a lingering thing for a while, and IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS!
- Design tweaks to the Experiences listed in the Business Profile side panel, we're not done here yet
- Smoother click on map clusters
- About section now lives on the main site, at the bottom of the home page
- User location integration...so the map zooms in where you are, to start your journey, on mobile and desktop
- MB, AB and BC businesses added to the map
- Slick new design in the hamburger menu
- Entirely new design for the business profiles on mobile
- Single click to zoom in on cluster pins
- Sexy new design for map pins...way too sexy for this map
- Experiences can now be deleted
- Add-ons can now be edited
February, 2023
- New content site created
- Separate photo uploader for map photo created
- Keyword search on map implemented
- Map business profile clusters in place
- Business Description/Experience Description updates
- Increased the character count from 500 to 1000
- Character countdown feature
- Formatting text editor enabled
- Business Profile and Experience photo sizes increased from 1MB to 5MB each
- New look for Experience Creation flow
- New look for Business Dashboard info page
- New look for Business Experiences page
- Boring technical updates
Tools & Features:
Tools & Features: Live
Business Overview
With a Pathfinder profile, Businesses have the opportunity to include an overview of their organization, which gives Travellers a great snapshot of their Business.
Overviews are also an excellent space to entice Travellers to want to dig deeper and learn more about each member of our Business community. Overviews are found in the Business Profile under the Overview tab.
As we grow Pathfinder across Canada we'll be adding thousands of tourism-related businesses, which will further enrich each Traveller's experience with the platform, which will benefit our entire Business community.
Together we'll spin the flywheel.
Promotion on the Map
The map is a fundamental aspect of Pathfinder, a key differentiator from any other platform out there, and plays an integral role in making the platform a discovery engine for our Travellers.
Using a map interface allows Travellers to fully deploy their curiosity, explore Business profiles in an organic and authentic way, and discover the things they didn't know existed. And there's a lot to discover in this country.
Experience Inquiry System
The Experience Inquiry system gives businesses the power to showcase all of their fantastic products. This ever-evolving tool showcases the wide range of Experiences that the travel community needs to know about.
And in the near future we'll be adding the Experience Bookings system, where travellers will be able to schedule, book and transact these awesome products and services directly through Pathfinder365!
Media Highlights
In the vast majority of scenarios, images speak louder than words. And in an extremely visual industry like tourism, travel and hospitality, providing images and videos for customers to peruse is an incredibly powerful promotional tool.
Currently our Business community members can share a small collection of photos about their Business, and later on we'll be expanding this space to allow Businesses to share even more photos, and we'll also be adding videos and Virtual Tours.
Photos can be found in a Business' profile under the Media tab.
Social Media Links
An important aspect of many business' digital presence are the social media platforms that they've curated a presence on over time.
Eventually we believe Pathfinder365 will be able to replace many of the benefits tourism businesses find on social media sites, but for now, we understand we're not quite there yet.
So in the spirit of sharing, our business community members can connect all of their social media links with their Pathfinder365 profile, to give Travellers even more to explore.
Share-it
This is another feature that's both a Traveller Tool and a Business Tool. It's kind of a light and fluffy feature, but again, it's also pretty darn fun and useful.
This tool will live throughout Pathfinder, and basically whenever you come across something that you really like, you'll be able to share it with your peeps, like in your social channels. And Businesses will be able to take their custom Business Profile and Experience URLs and share them with their social channels, in their newsletters, or with whomever else they like!
Other shareables we'll branch into will be photos, videos, virtual tours, jobs, announcements, promotions, and events! Like everything else, this will be a feature that will continue to grow and evolve.
Job Board
The Tourism and Hospitality industry is comprised of an extremely diverse and dynamic employment sector, which is constantly cycling and requiring attention.
We want to do our part to enhance how tourism Businesses and tourism job seekers connect with one another, to ensure you're equipped with the right team, at the right times.
Businesses will be able to list the jobs they currently have available and job seekers will be able to filter their searches to zero in on where and what they're looking for. This feature will see a lot of growth over time as well.
Events & Festivals
The Events & Festivals is an incredibly useful feature for our Business Community, and a super interesting space for our travel community. It'll also evolve over time as we enhance its features.
Essentially it'll be a space where Businesses can rotate a wide variety of events and activities, like food festivals, concerts, barn dances, comedy nights, harvest fests, sweats and midnight star gazing tours with charcuterie...the sky is the limit!
Events & Festivals will be listed within each Business' profile, and Travellers will also be able to scan all events and festivals with an aggregation tool.
Search Filters
Search Filters are one of those features that's incredibly important, intrinsically utilitarian and is often taken for granted.
We know it's an essential piece of the ongoing development puzzle though, especially to a marketplace platform like Pathfinder365. Harnessing the power of data aggregation, Search Filters make a platform exponentially more useful to its users.
We're deploying this feature in layers, building it for specific tools, like Events, Festivals and Experiences within a certain geography and businesses with available jobs.
Then we'll add the ability to search for businesses that are Indigenous owned, that are pet-friendly, for resorts with golf course, onsite spas, or bike rentals, and the list goes on.
This will definitely be a feature that will continue to grow and evolve.
Newsletter Sign-up
It's a basic feature, but as we all know, having the ability to engage directly with our customer base and keep them informed, is incredibly important
So we've added a spot for our Flex Plan Community Members to add new members to their own community through custom newsletter sign-up link.
AdventureSuitcase
We've added a favourites tool! And it's called the AdventureSuitcase. As travellers explore Pathfinder365, adventuring their way around the map discovering things they love, they can now add them to a virtual suitcase, to revisit at a later date.
This tool will eventually be connected to our notification system too, so when one of your AdventureSuitcase favourites has an update, a new experience, posts an event, etc. you'll be notified!
Tools & Features: In Development
Experience Booking System
Similar to the Experience Inquiry System, the Experience Booking System gives businesses the power to showcase all of their fantastic products and services. But then the Booking system takes things up a notch and gives travellers the power to schedule, book and transact these awesome experiences directly through the Pathfinder365 platform.
This feature can be purchased a la carte as a part of a Flex Plan Membership, or it can be utilized within the commission-based Share Plan.
When you shift to the Share Plan you get all of tools in the Discovery Suite for free, and we simply take a small commission on the Experiences that are transacted through the platform.
AdventurePortal
One of Pathfinder’s primary goals is to build a network of allies across Canada, with every Tourism Industry Organization (TIO), including CMO's and DMO's. A key strategy to facilitate this will be the AdventurePortal, which will be a catalyst to helping us achieve our goal of connecting and harmonizing the efforts of Canada’s TIO’s, and filling the gaps they can never fill.
AdventurePortal will be mounted on every TIO's website, and will give a looking glass type of view onto Pathfinder365, specific to the TIO's particular region. When customers visit the TIO's site, they can click on the Pathfinder365 Widget and visit the platform directly to explore all of the businesses in that TIO's region...and beyond too of course.
While this isn't a direct feature for Businesses, we felt it was worth mentioning here, as it lends towards the broader plan of connection and expanding each Tourism Business' market reach across Canada, and beyond our border.
Business for Sale
We get it, every Business owner eventually reaches a point in their Businesses' lifecycle where it's time to hand over the reins to the next leader. But how do you find them and how do they find you? Real Estate Agents and Brokers and random Business-for-Sale websites are certainly options. But from my personal experience, these options actually lack quite a bit.
Tourism is a unique industry with a really wide range of nuances, and it's pretty rare to find a Real Estate Agent or Broker that has much experience selling this type of business, and if they do, they also need to have an expansive network that enables them to find a buyer-fit for your Business. And don't get me started on the Business-for-Sale websites...
Whereas Pathfinder gives everyone access to a one-stop-shop for everything tourism, whether it's fantastic experiences, exciting events, fun activities, great accommodations, unique job opportunities or new and exciting business adventures!
Seasonality Closure Sale
Here in Canada we are blessed with the full range of seasons, which is amazing, and complex, and sometimes so darn cold...
It also gives rise to an incredibly diverse range of business types and the nuance of seasonality, which is really quite unique to the tourism industry in countries like Canada that experiences very distinct seasons.
And since some of our amazing Businesses have products and services that are specific to certain seasons, and hibernate through the other seasons, it's important to be able to communicate that with the travel community. So here we go!
Tools & Features: Upcoming
Merch Store
Do you have a bunch of awesome merchandise and some pretty sweet swag you'd like to showcase and sell to the world?! Well Pathfinder365 is adding a merch store for you.
Merch Stores enable businesses to reach a broader audience beyond their local area, opening up national and international markets. Plus, your customers can shop from you at any time, and throughout the year, enhancing convenience and the potential for sales outside of regular business hours.
And getting more merch onto more people exposes your brand, and helps to increase brand awareness and loyalty among customers. Online sales also generates valuable customer data, which can be analyzed to improve product offerings, marketing strategies, and customer service.
Live Updates
Do you ever wish Twitter wasn't such a horrible place and Facebook was easier and didn't require so much work to make a nice post. Good gravy you just want to post an update!!
Well, Pathfinder365 has heard your tears, and we're building a Live Updates section! As a business, you'll be able to post a text-based update about anything that's happening with your business that you feel is important for people to know about. Then travellers will be able to view these updates directly in your business profile, and also aggregate all of the live updates into one feed, filtered by geography. More to come!
Unlimited Media
If 6 photos is good, then unlimited photos is even better!! The more photos you include, the greater story you can tell your visitors, and truly paint a picture for them of everything your fantastic business has to offer.
And what speaks louder than an image? A video!! And like images, in an extremely visual industry like tourism, travel and hospitality, providing videos for customers to peruse is an incredibly powerful promotional tool.
Photos and Videos can be found in a Business' profile under the Media tab.
Virtual Tours
Virtual Tours are coming! These will live in the Business media collections and will essentially be virtual introductions to a Community Member Business.
Viewers will experience a first person perspective of what the Business looks like, a quick overview of their sweet products and services, and they'll get to meet one or more of their staff...and maybe the owner!
Virtual Tours give Travellers a deeper understanding of a Business and everything they might experience there. This naturally gives people a greater sense comfort, which leads to increased buy-in.
Bulletin Board
The Bulletin Board is going to be another feature-beast that we build, and will have many magnificent iterations as it grows and evolves. Our grand vision for this feature is to have a dynamic community bulletin board type of space, where all of our users can discuss their travels and adventures, share ideas and let others know about important, useful or interesting information.
They'll also be able to share thoughtful reviews of their experiences with our Business Community Members, and they'll be able to post photos and videos of those experiences. Lots to come with this one. Huzzah!
This is a feature that's mutually a Business Tool and a Traveller Tool, and will be free for all Members to utilize.
Roadtripper AI
Hold onto your butts, Roadtripper is on its way! This feature is a beast, so it'll be an ever-evolving asset. Essentially, the idea with this epic is that travellers will input a few details and specifications about an upcoming road trip they're planning, and our AI itinerary builder will map out an itinerary that best fits those parameters. They can then adjust where needed.
Roadtripper will also likely include a feature where it will notify travellers about nifty sight-seeing and activity opportunities along the way. And Travellers will be able to share and borrow itineraries within the #Travel365.
Event Notifications
So this is one of those features that's kind of boring, but also super important and useful. Like a minivan. So boring and a tad blah, but omg are they useful and awesome.
This category of features will encompass a pretty wide range of things, and it will be built to be highly customizable, so that it fits each Traveller's preferences, like a onesie.
Stay tuned!
Reminders
Similar to event notifications, reminders is a super important and useful tool, but also not really exciting to discuss.
This category of features will encompass a pretty wide range of things, and it will be built to be highly customizable, so that it fits each Traveller's preferences, like a onesie.
Stay tuned!
AdventurePoints
Woot woot, here comes the AdventurePoints! With this feature activated, every Experience you purchase directly through Pathfinder will earn you a nice little kickback in the form of a credit.
These credits will accumulate in your Pathfinder Wallet, and then once they hit a certain threshold you'll have the option to deploy them towards your next adventure!
I'm Feeling Lucky
OK, so this is a neat one, and a fun and light feature. Basically when you select I'm Feeling Lucky, Pathfinder will randomly select an on-platform Business Spotlight for you.
And as we develop this feature we'll add in some nifty enhancements like filtering by geography, business type, seasonality, etc.
And, we'll build these spotlights so they're shareable; so if you see something you really like and want to show your peeps, you can send it to one (or all) of your social channels! Groovy hey!
Thought Box
Introducing, the Thought Box! Essentially this feature is like a virtual public comment box and will let our amazing community share their thoughts and suggestions for Pathfinder.
Thoughts like new features they'd like to see Pathfinder develop, user experience fixes, changes or updates we should make, a bold new idea about a business type we should include on the platform, and lots more. The community of users will then be able to read these thoughts and upvote them if they agree.
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