What the Hack?! 2015 (Travel Hackathon)

Just recently (April 11-12 '2015), the Dela Salle College of Saint Benilde students conducted a two-day travel hackathon event which was participated-in by student representatives from other colleges and universities: The What the Hack 2015 - Travel Hackathon!

The objective of the event is not only to promote Philippine Tourism but also to hone the skills of the IT students in developing a useful software which will help travelers ease their travel essentials from bookings and reservations to selecting the places they need to see while in the country, as well as the fine dining amenities offered by the city they are in. The options are endless.

Students were required to create an appealing and user-friendly type of webpage which will benefit both the first-time traveler and the wanderlust. The activity was also made as a competition because at the end of the given 30-hour period of creating such software, winners will be announced.

The activity was spearheaded by Dr. Edward Moises, MBA, MCP, CSP and also the current Dean of School of Management and Information Technology, College of St. Benilde. He also gave the welcome remarks to the participating students.

Photo from: Ms. Elaine Cedillo

The students were guided by a particular topic to be included in their work which were discussed by various guest speakers of their own field of expertise. Among which were Ms. April Cuenca, the founder and CEO of Fliptrip.ph who discussed about the "Ideation of Travel to Technology", Mr. Ari Bancale (Founder of CybUrban) lectured on "What makes an app exciting?", Mr. Clement Yeung (CEO of Vandt) talked about "How to Monetize your MVP".

Photo From: Ms. Elaine Cedillo

Later in the afternoon, the students went on listening to Mr. Ben Ulusaraclar (Travel2Go Founder) who talked to them (students) via Skype-call from Germany. Later at night, there were guest entertainers and band groups to the delight of the students.