Jetsetter.com: Glam Trips From Gilt

Jetsetter.com, the travel off-shoot of invitation-only fashion website gilt.com launched in beta mode last night. Gilt.com has taken the fashion world by a storm by offering very high end, exclusive merchandise to an small group of subscribers for a limited period of time - usually just an afternoon. The result is incredible deals on very high end merchandise from the worlds most famous designers at amazing prices. It works for both consumers/fashinistas (who get great deals) and designers (who get to unload excess product and introduce their brand to new consumers without destroying their brand value in other channels - sounds a little like Priceline's pitch!)

Jetsetter.com aims to the same for luxury travel. And from the looks of the initial offering, they are off to a great start. The first sale includes deals at the new Banyan Tree in Mexico, SoHo House here in NYC, The Raleigh in South Beach and a killer villa in Tuscany, all at prices far below retail and only for a limited time - in this case Friday at 3AM EST.

Jetsetter has also created some great content around each hotel - true insider information that really gives you a feel for the hotel. Combined with great photo images, jetsetter delivers a really unique user experience that will undoubtedly drive impulse buys - especially with great pricing.

Talk about launching the right product at the right time. Plenty of hotel inventory, especially from trendy new independent hotels looking for new customers. Combine great inventory with consumers' current penchant for deals and you have a really great model. Strong leadership won't hurt either - CEO and Founder Drew Patterson (ex Starwood and Kayak) and co-Founder Amy Ziff (ex Site59 and Travelocity) bring deep travel experience and perspective along with serious street smarts.

Look for this to take off! Jet - set!