On this episode of Say Yes To Travel, I talk to Randall Kaplan, Founder, and CEO, of Sandee, considered The Yelp of beaches. We talk about his career as a serial entrepreneur, Sandee, and the time we connected at The London In West Hollywood. I have been interviewing hospitality professionals worldwide who have been fighting to stay afloat during the pandemic, talking about the past year and where the hospitality industry goes from here.
Kaplan briefly practiced law before starting his own technology company. He jumped into venture capitalism while he ran a few other companies along the way. For the last seven years, his focus has been on Sandee, which has cataloged 94 categories of data for the world’s 50,000 plus beaches located in 212 countries.
“The global tourism business is a 9 trillion dollar a year business, and the beach percentage of that is a tiny percentage - it’s only 5 trillion dollars,” Kaplan said jokingly. “We’re filling that niche.
Previously, there was no definite source of beach information globally, but Sandee has created one, which allows people to choose their perfect beach. “If you think about your beach vacations, you’re always looking for the right beaches wherever you go,” Kaplan said. When going to a location, people want to see pictures of the beach to determine the quality of the beach. There are also other things to consider, such as if a beachgoer has kids, what is around the beach, or maybe a romantic or a surfing beach. With Sandee, you can find this information.