Reluctance to join Twitter I was extremely reluctant to join Twitter. As with many who have an antipathy towards it, I thought it was a place for self-obsessed morons to blather about what they had for breakfast. I didn’t know what it was for – and in a way I still don’t, but I have [...]
Continue reading about Twitter and the travel industry: Bringing the outsiders together
My little list of Top 15 Travel Twitterers seems to have got itself a fair bit of attention. Interestingly, a lot of comments have centred around my reasons for unfollowing someone. To summarise, if I find a Twitterer dull, irrelevant or overly irritating, then I see no reason to keep following them. Nothing personal – [...]
Continue reading about How to use Twitter effectively: Travel PR companies
Lists of Twitterers to follow If you want a list of people to follow on Twitter, then you’ll not struggle to find them. There are hundreds of such lists out there on the web. Alas, most aren’t very helpful. These Twitterer lists generally fit into one of two categories. Either they’ve got so many names [...]
Airlines and advertised flight prices I have whinged before airlines and their somewhat secretive approach to flight prices. As a general rule, airlines will emblazon attractive prices all over adverts, but make it incredibly difficult to find flights at said prices. When booking online it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack, [...]
Continue reading about Low Price Finder from British Airways: About time too
The end of free news: implications for travel You could be forgiven for thinking that yesterday’s post on Rupert Murdoch’s plans to end the era of free news had nothing to do with travel. It’s a fair cop. But I also think it has implications for travel writing and travel content on newspaper websites. If [...]
Continue reading about Should newspapers be charging for online travel content?
My previous post on hotels and their attitude to providing internet facilities for guests drew quite a response. It seems as though it’s not just me that gets angry with this. Time for part two of the rant, then… Patchy WiFi access The second thing that infuriates me about WiFi in hotels is that [...]
Continue reading about Why hotels don’t get WiFi: 2 – Coverage
- Writing travel guides online. - Using existing guide book writing skills. - Understanding what people search for and how they use the internet. - Use Google Maps to illustrate travel guide sites. Lack of work for travel writers? There are few things liable to generate less sympathy than a moaning travel writer. And [...]
Continue reading about How travel writers can make money writing for the web
A common complaint amongst air stewards and stewardesses is that passengers keep their headphones on whilst trying to communicate. This is an absolutely understandable gripe – it’s incredibly rude, and forces the crew member to try and bellow over the top of a film when they’re trying to ask what drink you’d like. Anti [...]
Continue reading about Should flight crews be wearing masks?
On Monday, I posted about receiving what I thought was the world’s most shameless press release: a company trying to sell tours to LA as an opportunity to pay tribute to Michael Jackson. Right to respond Just to prove that I can be even-handed, I offered them a right to respond to criticisms. I [...]
Continue reading about World’s most shameless press release: the response
Major airlines and sale prices There are some absurdly cheap long-haul airfares dotted around at the moment. Major airlines seem desperate to fill their planes, and as a result prices have fallen to astonishingly low levels. Most eye-catching of all is the current Singapore Airlines sale, with return flights to Singapore costing from £295 and [...]
Continue reading about Cheap long-haul airfares – if the seats are available