Take over of Forums and the increasing monopoly of the giants...

[Eleanor]

We've all heard about the demise of Slow talk (although the web site still hasn't been taken down).

I discovered this morning that Virtual Tourist also ceased operations on 27th February, having been taken over by Trip Advisor.

I didn't use Virtual Tourist very much, but it was there as an independent source of advice. It worries me that the giants are increasingly trying to gain a monoploy of the travel forums. I'm sure this can't be good for the traveller.

Thank goodness for Slow Europe!

 

[Ian Sutton]

In a way I'm not so worried, and Slowtrav would be the strong justification for the calm confidence. IB bought Slowtrav and Pauline has explained how they were talking boldly of how they were going to improve it - ha!

The giants will succeed more with massive volume, but irregular usage. TripAdvisor is a good example in this sphere, a site known for massive volume, but where caution is needed to sort the wheat from the chaff, to interpret the rankings and to recognise that some of the extreme positives / negatives are either irrational, or malicious/manipulative. Let's take my home city Norwich, with it's top ranked restaurant being a serviceable, but far from exceptional fish and chip shop (with downstairs eating area) that happens to be in a fairly central location and has been there a few years. There are better fish and chips in many other places, but these are not in a central location - some a walk away, a few a drive away. There are a multitude of more interesting restaurants.

For more geeky / enthusiast based sites, the traffic is lower, which hits revenues for the biggies, but the usefulness of the content is much better, with genuine insight and experience. Want a list of the most populous places - go to trip advisor, want a traditional trattoria away from the tourist trail, then come here.

Most of us will struggle on a mass tourism discussion forum, feeling a little drowned out.

That does however depend on some of those enthusiasts putting up their hands (and time and money), as Pauline has done.

regards
Ian

 

[Eleanor]

I fell out with TA many years ago over their policy of encourages places to solicit reviews. You've only got to look at the number of one posters to understand just how prevalent this is. I have this lovely vision of a place refusing a guest to leave until they have posted their glowing testamonial...

The standard of many reviews is pretty basic as to become meaningless too.

 

[joe]

I think that the users who are most negatively affected by the monopoly of giants are not us travelers, but the small businesses that are dependent on their exposure in these sites. If a business is indeed in need of additional customers, then how it appears on a dominant site can significantly influence this. I have heard owners of agriturismi that we have stayed at complain about the importance they have to attach to the major sites. Of course, if you have greatly succeeded in spite of being small, then there's nothing to complain about - but the lesser-known businesses can get lost in the fog of the big sites. This can be contrasted to the situation where almost all businesses of the same type get the same amount of exposure in, for example, a regional or national list.

 

[Lisa in Ottawa]

I agree with all about TA with one exception. I find the forums very useful. I love these forums and they have certainly picked up but the focus here is a little narrow. I also travel outside Europe. I have learned what to ignore and what to read on the reviews. And to laugh at those high ranking "restaurants" that turn out to be takeaways.