Alike.io: Revolutionizing Travel Experiences by Empowering Content Creators with Bookable Trip Stories

January 4, 2026 12 min read

"80% to 90% of us decide where to go and what to do based on social media content, yet travel content creators almost never get rewarded for the bookings they influence. We decided to change that." This mission, led by Ashish Sidhra, co-founder of Alike.io, is digitizing the "long tail" of travel. By enabling creators to publish bookable itineraries—where every boat ride, hotel, and experience can be booked with one click—Alike.io is transforming social influence into a sustainable, creator-first economy.

Founded by veteran leaders from the telecom and digital services industries, Alike.io is the evolution of **Kit My Trip**. From a "midlife crisis" in Dubai to a global platform present in 200 cities, Ashish Sidhra’s journey is a masterclass in platformization and peer-to-peer trust. By connecting the traveler who seeks authentic advice with the creator who provides it, Alike.io is ensuring that the "new and better" way to travel is as social as the memories it creates.

The creator Gap: While millions of travelers follow influencers for inspiration, only 2-5% of creators get brand sponsorships. Alike.io bridges this gap by providing a "shop front" for the remaining 95%, allowing them to earn a fair revenue share from every trip they inspire.

The Journey: From Telecom to "Digital Fasting"

Ashish Sidhra spent 20 years in large enterprises across India, the UK, and France. The "aha moment" for his entrepreneurial leap happened during a trip to the Maldives. "The moment you land, you switch off your roaming because it’s too expensive. You go from 'digital feasting' to 'digital fasting' exactly when you need connection the most," Sidhra recalls. This sparked the realization that while airlines and hotels were digitized, the "long tail"—SIM cards, local commutes, and niche experiences—remained painfully manual.

He and his co-founder first launched **Kit My Trip** in 2016 to solve this fragmentation. By March 2020, they had scaled to 200 locations. But when the pandemic hit and travel stopped, they used the downtime to refine their thesis. They realized that in the post-COVID world, **Trust** would be the ultimate currency, and people trust their peers more than any brand.

The Alike.io Creator-Commerce Flow

Creator Studio: Creators use a no-code "drag-and-drop" editor to turn their travel stories into structured itineraries.
Bookable Content: The "Infinity" platform links these stories to a database of 1M+ rooms and 20,000 experiences.
Consumer Discovery: Travelers find authentic plans (e.g., "A Motor Ride through Paris") and book the exact same hotels and tours.
Revenue Share: Every time a traveler books through a creator's link, the creator receives a fair percentage of the transaction.
Un-Digitized Inclusivity: If a niche provider (like a local boat rider) isn't online, Alike.io lists them for free, helping them get publicity while working toward future digitization.

"Infinity": The Engine of Scale

At the heart of Alike.io is the **Infinity platform**, a sophisticated API architecture that integrates a massive range of travel services. Sidhra notes that building this required a "self-funded" discipline. "We decided deliberately not to spread ourselves thin. We built one service, in one city, established it, and then used that revenue to multiply across destinations."

This strategy allowed Alike.io to survive the pandemic and emerge as a "Startup MNC" with offices in three countries. By partnering with entities like **Dubai Tourism** (the fourth most visited city in the world), they've gained instant credibility and access to millions of residents who want to share and monetize their travel memories.

Alike.io Global Reach

200+: Global destinations covered by the platform.
1 Million+: Hotel rooms integrated via the Infinity API.
20,000+: Bookable travel experiences across the globe.
1,000+: Experience providers onboarded in India alone during early phases.
17%: The low percentage of travel experiences that were digitized when Ashish first started his research.

The Philosophy of "New and Better"

For Ashish Sidhra, entrepreneurship is defined by the word **"New."** It’s about bringing a fresh perspective to an old problem—like replacing a horse with a car, or a manual tour booking with a social itinerary. He believes that "small things done nicely" are just as much a form of entrepreneurship as going to Mars.

This philosophy extends to his view on valuation. In an era of high-burn unicorns, Alike.io remains focused on profitability and self-sustainability. "Having a billion-dollar valuation is not that important; building a big, profitable business is," he notes. "We practiced this thinking even before the market realized that profitability is the best metric."

"Investing in people is like investing in a stock portfolio. 25% will give you 100% of the return, and some will be loss-making. But you never stop investing in relationships. Entrepreneurship is a risk, and people are the core of that journey."
— Ashish Sidhra, Co-founder, Alike.io

Leadership and the "Unlearning" of Corporate Life

Reflecting on his transition from 20 years of corporate hierarchy to startup life, Sidhra emphasizes the importance of co-founder synergy. "We were colleagues before; we knew each other's working style. co-founder conflict is the biggest failure point, and I got lucky to have a partner who provides true synergy."

Ashish’s Wisdom for Travel-Tech Founders

Don't Change Behavior: If your users are on WhatsApp or Instagram, build for those platforms. Forcing them into a new app is a high-cost gamble.
The "Long Tail" is the Prize: Flights and hotels are crowded. The real value is in the manual, un-digitized services that travelers need once they land.
Compliance is a Layer: As a "Startup MNC," manage your regulatory and compliance layers country-by-country. It’s a significant but necessary cost of global scale.
Profitability over Valuation: Build your business so it's not a "live or die" situation based on external funding. Internal sustainability gives you the freedom to innovate.

The Future: A Ubiquitous Creator Economy

Looking ahead, Alike.io is launching major marketing campaigns to bring even more creators into the fold. As social commerce becomes the standard for retail, Sidhra believes travel will follow. By making every trip story "bookable," Alike.io is ensuring that travelers get the authenticity they crave while creators get the compensation they deserve.

"Entrepreneurship is about making things better," Sidhra concludes. "When you connect the traveler with the person they trust, you aren't just selling a trip—you're creating a better experience for the whole world."

The Dubai Partnership: Alike.io’s partnership with Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) allows visitors to share trip stories that other tourists can instantly book, turning every visitor into a potential ambassador for the city’s experiences.

Key Takeaways

For Travel Content Creators: Social platforms are for marketing; you need a "shop front" like Alike.io for sales. Turn your passion into a revenue-sharing business model.

For International Travelers: Trust peers over brochures. Use bookable itineraries to recreate the exact experiences of people whose travel style you admire.

For Aspiring Entrepreneurs: Midlife is a great time to start. Your 20 years of institutional knowledge is a superpower when it comes to solving fragmented, infrastructure-level problems.

About the Guest

Ashish Sidhra is the Co-founder of Alike.io and Kit My Trip. An engineer and MBA with 20 years of experience across India, UK, France, and the UAE, he is a veteran of the telecom and digital services sectors. Under his leadership, Alike.io has become a global pioneer in creator-first travel commerce, enabling travelers to discover and book authentic experiences through the stories of their favorite creators.