This Singapore startup packs for your trip, even does the laundry

Air travel can be tedious. You have to bear with the long lines at the airport and of course, you have to pack strategically to minimise baggage concerns. Travelling for a few days isn’t the problem, it’s the lengthy business trips and occasional sabbatical that might make laundry an issue. 

In comes Packnada, a service that not only allows you to travel light, it also saves time on packing and cleaning. 

How does it work? When you arrive at the hotel, Packnada will have a package containing your clothing and essentials waiting for you. Check in to your room and go about your business. At the end of your trip, simply leave your clothes at the hotel and fly home luggage-free. Packnada will take care of details such as laundry and maintenance. The service also allows you to store your toiletries in a storage box, which will be contained in your clothing package.

What Packnada promises is essentially a way to have time and space-consuming stuff like toiletries and regular or thick clothes waiting for you at your destination every time, without you having to pack them and lug them on your flight.

Interesting concept, huh? Vulcan Post finds out more about the service from co-founder Johnbosco Ng: 

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How did this idea come about?
It was born in a long queue at the end of a business trip at the Hong Kong airport. Packing, queues and laundry were the last thing Jonathan (my co-founder) and I wanted to deal with during a trip that was focused on work. I thought about cloud storage and how we had our files available to us wherever we went, and I imagined how much simpler travel would be if clothes and essentials were always waiting at our destination. We’re both passionate about efficiency and productivity, so Packnada’s goal was really to simplify business travel by taking clothes out of the equation.

How did the two of you meet?
I met Jon while working at Mindshare and we became good friends after completing a few projects together. Jon and I both have deep respect for great design and a shared vision for seamless travel — helps alot with decision-making in respect to Packnada. We also complement each other pretty well in terms of skill sets — Jon’s more technical so it allows me to focus on the business aspect. 

What challenges do you face working together?
Our similar work experience, personalities and ideals sometimes limit our ideas and hinders problem solving. Another person in the team with a different perspective to make it more dynamic would be super useful.

Which hotels do you work with?
All of them! Packnada will have your clothes available at any hotel you stay in. We’re also trying to integrate with the loyalty programmes of some key hotels.

How do you handle all the client’s personal items across the different countries? Logistics must be a nightmare.
For now, we’re only available for travelers inbound to Singapore. Personals items are washed and stored in Singapore by Packnada. Singapore is a great testbed because it was the most popular business travel destination in the Asia Pacific in 2012, according to a research by Accor Asia-Pacific Business Traveller. It is also one of the top five convention cities of the world, a regional hub that welcomes over three million business travellers a year. Right now we’re in beta and hope to launch early next year.

How is the beta stage running?
It’s a closed beta run with about 10 inbound travellers to Singapore using the service. This stage helps us with customer discovery and allows us to strengthen the operational process before the launch.

What’s your pricing model like?
Travellers pay a flat monthly subscription for full access to Packnada, including laundry, storage, and deliveries. We have different plans depending on frequency of travel.

Why do you think this will work?
We think now is a great time because business travel is increasingly commonplace, especially in developing Asia. Research shows more than one in four business travellers report exhaustion and have negative job satisfaction with business travel. Charging for checked-in baggage is becoming a trend as airline margins fall and look toward ancillary fees for alternate revenue. We’re very optimistic because we feel business travel could be a lot simpler! Instead of worrying about what to pack, whether their luggage will get lost in transit or wasting time in queues it allows business travellers to focus on what’s important for the trip, and just get back home.

How much time and money are you currently spending on Packnada?
We left our jobs to work on Packnada full-time and we’re currently funded by the ACE Startup grant.

Watch the video below or sign up at the website to find out more about Packnada.

Original story by: Vulcan Post