Interesting Review of the Travel Industry
- April 25th 2008
- From the Editor
Many people seem to think that the online travel world has ‘arrived,’ and that it’s a very crowded market. However, I read an interesting article over at the UpTake blog today by one of that company’s founders Elliot Ng. His reviews of the new wave in travel sites, those that are moving away from being solely booking platforms and which are now more integrative planning tools. From what I have seen, the best of these act like a virtual guide book that you can dog ear and write in without having to carry the weight around. I’m excited about this development in the industry, however I find myself getting frustrated frequently because many people don’t know about these options or that there are better ways to plan your travel.
For example: My friend was working on booking a hotel for a getaway in July to a nice place in San Diego. I was looking over her shoulder and suggested several of the great booking and review platforms that I know of because of my work in the industry. She insisted instead on spending a large amount of time trying to do everything through Travelocity. Why? Because the travelocity gnome is her friend on MySpace.
Yes, that’s great advertising by Travelocity, but seriously? Seriously? (now I sound like Grey’s Anatomy) but Seriously? Sorry… got into a moment there. Anyone else excited that the new season starts soon?
Back to where I was. So in an effort to encourage others to check out new advances in travel planning, here are some great new startups and services: Nile Guide, TravelMuse, Tripit, Doppler, the Yahoo trip planner read about them and more in Elliot’s article.
Enjoy!
PS- no one’s gotten the age right yet… keep trying!!!
Sorry… just one more… for the new season… SERIOUSLY????!
Really, I’m done now.
Excellent comments and assessment. People spend hours and hours on the internet trying to plan their vacations. Regardless of how much a person earns per hour, we all work 2080 hours (if not self-employed I mean, cause then it is half again more +/-) for that 1 or 2 weeks of vacation. Do you really want to entrust that valuable time to a gnome in a pointy hat who is the figment of a PR person’s imagination? (!?!) He is not real. There is a voice-over and animation! And regardless of what people are led to believe from the commercials, he will not magically show up when something goes wrong. But the travel consultant is a phone call or email away to be your advocate!
I must say that is a pretty interesting reason for your friend’s brand loyalty. I suspect there will always be people who are perfectly happy with doing things with a “safe” and well known choice like Travelocity. More and more people will start becoming comfortable with and using the new travel planning services though, and the travel planning services will be refined through user feedback too.
Hi, I found your blog on this new directory of WordPress Blogs at blackhatbootcamp.com/listofwordpressblogs. I dont know how your blog came up, must have been a typo, i duno. Anyways, I just clicked it and here I am. Your blog looks good. Have a nice day. James.
Hey!
Have you checked out http://www.tripwolf.com ? tripwolf.com is an online social travel guide. tripwolf gives travelers the opportunity to create—and print—a personalized travel guide for any destination.
Travel information is a compilation of tips from members, network friends, destination “trip gurus” and MairDumont, Europe’s largest travel guide publisher. Users also can publish individualized content about their own travel experiences, including YouTube videos, Flickr photos and travel journals.
Additionally, tripwolf members can network with other travelers from around the world, as well as import their contacts from social networks such as Facebook.
You should check it out!!
[disclaimer: I’m a consultant for tripwolf]
When planning closed-end travel (limited amount of time, had to return to a desk job), my wife and I preferred to anchor our time around a couple of experiences and let the rest unfold…an approach not well-aided by travel planning tools.
Particularly since my previous profession involved large-scale project management and planning, the last thing I think I wanted to do was a detailed plan of my holiday.
Now that our travel is more open-ended, we’ve developed our own home-baked systems(I use that term very loosely, by the way) to determine what’s next.
Bu yaz? ?ok ilgimi ?ekti sizin gibi yazarlara ihtiyac?m?z var work and travel
Thanks for this interesting article, I am the first time on your blog and I am going to read your other posts.