We’re excited to announce that The Hiking Club has acquired TMB Planner. Their innovative data processing and notification technology gives Do It Yourself (DIY) planners a powerful tool to assist them in booking their accommodation, and end up with the best itinerary possible for popular multi-day hikes.
The Hiking Club route planning app for the Tour du Mont Blanc now has real-time availability for mountain huts and the ability to set email alerts for room types thanks to TMB Planner joining the family :)
TMB Planner was developed by Leon Lan, a Mathematics PhD candidate focused on supply chain optimization. The idea came from a personal need he had when friends asked to join his planned Tour du Mont Blanc (aka TMB) trip only a few months out from the hiking season. As the Tour du Mont Blanc is one of Europe’s most popular multi-day hiking trails, most of the places Leon had booked no longer had any availability. Leon created a tool that tracked real-time availability and alerted him if new availability became available. As the hiking season approached, he received notifications and booked all the extra accommodation his friends needed to join him - what a good hiking buddy!
As part of this project, Leon found that most accommodation providers list new availability in the lead up to the hiking season, due to cancellations and tour operators giving up beds they don’t need. Based on data collected between December 2023 and the 2024 hiking season, over 2,000 beds were added back to online booking platforms for the mountain huts. Having already built the technology, Leon thought others in the hiking community would benefit from what he’d created, and so the availability calendar and alerts tool was born.
TMB Planner displays real-time availability for mountain huts that list their availability online, and notifies users via email when new beds become available to book for their target properties/dates. It helps:
early season hikers be the ‘first to know’ when accommodation providers list their availability for next season, and
gives later planners an opportunity to be notified when new beds (or private rooms) become available, so they can cancel off-trail accommodation and rebook their preferred property.
See real-time availability and set email alerts in The Hiking Club route planning app to be notified when new beds/room types become available
“We are thrilled to welcome Leon into The Hiking Club family. His innovative tools will support our mission to help self-guided hikers confidently plan, book and navigate their epic adventures. Booking your own accommodation on a multi-day hike, is one of the most difficult parts of planning your own hike. By combining TMB Planner’s technology with our own, we’ll provide The Hiking Club customers an easier booking experience, and the best chance to secure high-demand beds for their ideal itinerary”
Tour du Mont Blanc availability calendar is now available on The Hiking Club website
“I’m delighted that the technology I’ve created has found a home in The Hiking Club platform. The collaboration with Brendan and Nick from The Hiking Club has been excellent over the past few months, and I’m excited to continue working with The Hiking Club to extend the technology to other trails and maximise its benefit to the community.”
With the integration of TMB Planner into The Hiking Club platform, the availability calendar will now be accessible free on The Hiking Club website, without the need for any sign-up. The accommodation alerts have been integrated into our popular web-based planning app and available for Tour du Mont Blanc customers.
In the coming months, we’ll be working to extend the functionality to other popular trails such as Alta Via 1 Dolomites, West Highland Way, Walker’s Haute Route and more. Stay tuned for updates on this exciting integration!
About TMB Planner: Planning tools to make your Tour du Mont Blanc hike easier, including real-time hut availability and email alerts when huts begin accepting bookings for next season.
About The Hiking Club: With the first purpose-built app for multi-day hikes, up-to-date trail information, expert consultations, online events, a training program, and an active ambassador community, The Hiking Club has everything a self-guided hiker needs to confidently plan and navigate their epic adventure.