Ooh.com offers travelers “EBay for activities” model

by McLean Robbins on

Travelers have become increasingly discontent with the array of activities provided to them at the recommendation of concierges and guidebooks, instead turning to local media outlets and social media to find suggestions on where to go, what to see and when. Ooh.com aims to take the frustration out of activity-planning, offering an EBay-like model that allows vendors, businesses, and even locals to offer details about their events, activities and tours using a no-fee model and easy booking via PayPal.

The U.K.-based site currently has more than 3,500 workshops, classes, events and things to do and more than 3,000 registered users. Listings include pop-up restaurants, creative workshops and street art tours, plus big trips like tracking mustang in Wyoming, mushroom safaris in British Columbia, and hiking in Brazil.

The site is free to use and people uploading details of their activities can include photos, Youtube videos, Flickr streams, dates, times and prices.

At present, the site offers the best array of activities in the United Kingdom (more than 1,300 different activities are listed) but also has a siginficant number of listings in the United States (577, at last count).

Ask Gadling: What do you do when your guidebook is wrong?

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Ever bought a guidebook and discovered when you arrived it was useless? Full of outdated maps and ho-hum restaurant picks, your guidebook is better suited for Grandma’s group tour than a grand night on the town.

Rest easy, mindful traveler. Rather than being something to worry about, discovering your guidebook is awful should actually be cause to celebrate. In fact, you might as well chuck that lousy thing out your hotel window.

Here’s the truth: for anyone looking to add a dose of spontaneity, authentic local culture and plain old randomness to their travels, going guidebook-free is a blessing in disguise. Still not convinced? In an era of ever-present Internet and cheap mobile phones, you’re never more than a step away from all the information you’ll ever need. Keep reading below for four ways to get rid of those guidebook woes, once-and-for-all.Enjoy the Randomness
Wait a second. An expert travel site is telling me to spend my hard-earned vacation wandering around aimlessly, with no plan whatsoever? Yes. Travel isn’t just about checking sights off a list. It’s about immersing yourself in an experience totally different than what you’re used to at home. The best way to do that is to lose the guidebook and get lost. Walk down a street you don’t recognize. Get on a city bus that you don’t know the destination. Talk to a random stranger. Do anything really. The point is that without a plan, you’re all the more likely to have rewarding, unexpected experiences. They might not end how you “planned” – but all the better.

Pull out your mobile phone
In an era of super-smart Internet-ready mobile phones, guidebooks aren’t just out of date: they’re downright obsolete. Whether you need the public transit schedule in San Francisco, are looking to track down some good Cuban food in Miami or want instant translations of a foreign language menu, a mobile phone with a data connection can likely find you the answer. From Augmented Reality to Location Services, mobile phones have become the new guidebook. Best of all, they’re a guidebook that fits comfortably in your pocket.

Ask a local
You won’t find the best tips for a destination in a guidebook. Instead, savvy travelers know to ask the locals. Even if you think you know your destination’s most important sites, locals will often suggest off-the-beaten activities and unexpected highlights that even the most detailed up-to-date guidebook would never find. What if you don’t know any locals in your destination? Not a problem. Either strike up a conversation when you arrive (don’t worry, they won’t bite) or use web tools like Twitter, Facebook or Couchsurfing to ask around for help. Thanks to the wonder of the Internet, you’ll have a local showing you around in no time.

Not loving your guidebook? Perhaps it’s time you gave it up. These days, with help from technology, local expertise and a little willingness to be surprised, traveling without it is easier and more enjoyable than you think.

[Photo by Flickr user Matt Murf]

The Travelocity Roaming Gnome becomes a real retail celebrity

by Scott Carmichael on

When I travel, I always expect to run into someone I never thought I’d see at my destination. But to travel, and run into not one, but three of the Travelocity Roaming Gnomes took me completely by surprise. Sadly, the little fellow wasn’t there to make sure my trip was going as planned (I had not booked through his company).

Apparently, the chubby little gnome has become quite a retail sensation, and is now on store shelves selling himself for just $34.99. Now, I’m not sure if this means you should bring your own gnome to take care of customer service issues, or whether he’s just a cute garden decoration, but I couldn’t resist and picked one up.

You want one of your own? Amazon is selling them for just $24.99. Want to take things to the next level? Order the $42 adult Travelocity Roaming Gnome outfit. I’m ordering one of these for our own Melanie Nayer for her next hotel review. I consider it the ultimate in hotel reviewer gear.

Consumer Travel Alliance report finds major U.S. airlines not disclosing most fees on websites

by McLean Robbins on

A typical passenger traveling from Washington, D.C. to Orlando must check seven airline websites, visit 47 web pages and scan 11,000 words to find baggage fees alone, states a new report issued by The Consumer Travel Alliance, a non-profit organization promoting consumer interests on travel policy issues.

The CTA analysis tracked the time and effort it would take a typical two-bag traveler needing extra legroom to find and calculate the total cost of a flight from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida. The analysis not a single one of the seven airline websites in the study offered a page or chart with specific fee information regarding extra legroom or seat upgrades. Although the airline sites disclosed baggage fees, those fees were often multiple clicks away from the main page and buried in diagrams and legal fine print.

“The airlines are asking travelers to put on a blindfold and hand over their wallets every time they buy a ticket,” said Charles Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance. “There is no way for a traveler to find the vast majority of extra fees charged by airlines on their websites, because those fees aren’t even listed. That’s why two-thirds of air travelers said in a recent survey that they had been surprised by hidden fees at the airport. If airlines want to charge ancillary fees, they should be required to disclose those fees through every distribution channel in which they sell their tickets.”

The analysis also refuted frequent airline claims that all of their ancillary fees are listed on their websites. For example, a spokesperson for the airline industry told Bloomberg on September 17th that “fee information is already available on carrier Web sites.” In another news story, the same spokesperson said that “airlines post their fees on their websites …” and went on to claim that “there’s nothing hidden about the fees by the US airliners that have fees.”Earlier this year, CTA released the results of a study showing that hidden fees charged by airlines on popular routes can increase the base cost of an airline ticket by an average of 54 percent for a typical traveler with two checked bags and extra legroom, or by an average of 26 percent for a comparable one-bag traveler. One of the routes examined in that earlier analysis was used as the basis for this current review.

Travelers concerned about the issue of hidden fees can visit MadAsHell, a joint effort of the Consumer Travel Alliance, Business Travel Coalition, and American Society of Travel Agents, to sign a petition urging the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to take action to make those fees fully transparent.

The analysis examined a single traveler with two checked bags wishing to obtain extra legroom on a flight from Washington, D.C. to Orlando, Florida. Base prices for the analysis were drawn from a popular online travel site. The analysis recorded the time and steps required to enter those fees manually, visit each of the websites of the seven airlines flying that route, attempt to locate the fees for checked baggage and extra legroom, and then calculate the full price of each itinerary.

[Image via Flickr user Fly For Fun]

JetBlue in-flight internet access coming in 2012, worth the wait?

by Tom Johansmeyer on

JetBlue is going to offer in-flight internet access! This is exciting news, right? JetBlue is one of the more exciting airlines in the market right now, having figured out how to offer solid customer service without jacking up fares (a combination the major carriers believe is impossible to attain … despite the fact that JetBlue has done so). So, the airline is getting into the internet game, a space in which it has lagged many other carriers.

Unfortunately, JetBlue isn’t going to begin installing the equipment until the middle of 2012, as it needs to be checked out and approved by the FAA before the airline can put it into production, according to FlightGlobal. The slow start might actually work to JetBlue’s advantage.

Rather than implement the solutions already out on the market, JetBlue has selected a different type of internet access technology, which should translate to better internet service for its passengers – which pairs well with the high levels of customer service the airline already offers. Unlike existing internet access systems, which interact with the ground, the JetBlue system will hit satellites. JetBlue CEO Dave Barger explains to FlightGlobal:

“In just the three years since we launched BetaBlue, the first commercial aircraft with simple messaging capability, technology has advanced by generations. Rather than invest in current technology, designed to transmit broadcast video and audio, we elected to partner with ViaSat to create broadband functionality worthy of today’s interactive personal technology needs.”

Barger also says, “This system will be designed for the 21st century, not just for today’s personal connectivity needs, but with the bandwidth to expand to meet tomorrow’s needs as well.”

[Via Business Insider]