New app aims to ease traveling with friends

For Chase Harris, 2021 was a time loop of settling tabs.

His problem: After the coronavirus pandemic shut down events in 2020, Harris found himself at nine bachelor parties last year.

• Imagine trying to organize a group of drunk dudes traveling around a town they've never been to and then figuring out how to split the bills for all the restaurants, bars and outings. Then doing it eight more times.
• "There's a lot of 'Lets settle up at the end,' Harris told Axios. "And a lot of the time, receipts get lost, people forget what they got. I've been on the tail end of that too many times to where I want to make a change."

His solution: Harris, a real estate agent-turned-entrepreneur, is launching his app Takeoff on Feb. 17 — a one-stop-shop for group travel experiences where you can book and have everyone prepay for things like club reservations, restaurants and excursions.

• He's partnered with concierge services to curate those experiences, so you don't waste time figuring out what to do in a new city.
• "We're merging these two different industries of group travel where people try to do it all on their own, and concierges who are masters at their craft," Harris said.

What's next: Harris and his team of six in St. Pete and Sarasota are launching the app for use in Miami and Las Vegas.

• Starting today, Takeoff is giving away five $500 credits toward bookings through the app on social media.
• They'll also be giving away trip credits at Synapse.

His bottom line: "We want to become the next big disruptor in the travel industry," Harris said.