The freebie debate The debate about whether journalists and bloggers should accept freebies is so old and hoary that I’m reluctant to bring it up again. But my recent experience in Germany shed a bit of new light on it for me, so tough, back to the well-chewed territory… For those not in the know, [...]
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As Jeremy Head rightly points out in his new post, there is so much destination guide content festering on the internet that much of it becomes interchangeable. Why, in essence, should you go to one site’s guides above another’s? Many websites – be they for hotel, airlines or generic travel companies trying to build their [...]
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New restaurant On Friday night, I decided to try out a new restaurant (Piccolino in Sheffield city centre if you must know). The food was good, the décor quite impressive and the location excellent. But the service drove me mental. Bad service? I’m sure everyone can point to incidences of appalling service they’ve had [...]
Dear hotel chains, While I completely understand your right to brand your hotels – after all, your guests will often choose to stay with you because they know what the brand name usually offers – you are starting to take the piss. Let me explain something about names. My name is David Whitley. [...]
Continue reading about When hotel branding gets silly: An open letter
Millionaire’s giveaway A fascinating story has been doing the rounds today about an Austrian millionaire who plans to give away his entire £3m fortune and live like a pauper. Karl Radeber seems to have decided that money makes him unhappy, and whilst I’ll not be agreeing with that any time soon, one quote attributed to [...]
Continue reading about The Eternal Awkwardness of Luxury Travel
Corrections My previous post – Bloggers vs Journalists: Why bloggers are second class citizens – seems to have stirred up quite a debate. There are a few things that have been brought to my attention since that I thought I should add. First of all (and somewhat going against my argument), it seems as though [...]
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Tenerife visit I’ve just got back from Tenerife (in summary: amazing volcano, not so lovely coastal overdevelopment), and whilst there I was staying in the five star Hotel La Plantacion Del Sur. Good, but… The hotel was, on the whole, very. Great food, wonderful sea views, excellent array of pools. But you don’t care [...]
Continue reading about When hotels start showing off too much: A 23 light saga.
Amazon innovation It’s an innovation that has, largely, slipped under the radar. But it could have a big impact on how the travel industry deals with social media. I’ve a feeling that Amazon may have just changed the game. Amazon affiliate program For those who haven’t a clue what I’m talking about, forgive me: [...]
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“Award-winning travel journalist” When I am asked to write a brief biography of myself for contributors’ pages in magazines, I will often bill myself as an “award-winning” travel journalist”. And this is true, because way back in 2001, I was named Student Travel Writer of the Year in the Guardian Student Media Awards. Yes, it’s [...]
Continue reading about “Award-winning”: a phrase not to be taken seriously