Who do you trust for travel destination advice?

By Darren Cronian on Friday, May 30th, 2008

There is a lot of advice written by travel writers, holidaymakers, companies, bloggers. Sometimes I have to ask myself who do I trust when looking for advice on a specific destination. Wikipedia is a great resource it is editable by anyone, and I probably trust that information maybe more than I should.

Travel companies write what fluffy content that promotes the best of the destination, which is always good to read, but it is very one-sided. I’d like to think that not all freelance travel writers were un-ethical and wouldn’t take free travel gifts in return for a nice review of the accommodation or tourist attraction.

Bloggers have their heart in the right place, hell, I’m one, but sometimes we get it wrong, but what I like about blogs, is that people can leave comments, and tell you if the information you have provided is incorrect – the blogger can then amend the content, or add a correction note on the post.

You can’t do that with printed travel guides or brochures.

I have to say that I trust travellers the most, especially those who have recently visited the destination, and answer your questions on travel forums, and social networking sites. Most people are happy to answer your questions.

I was surprised when visiting a number of travel forums recently, just how helpful travellers can be.

Mintel recently produced a survey which highlighted face-to-face recommendation is the most popular way of choosing a holiday destination, despite the growth of the internet. Out of the 1,400 people, 34% said that they had researched their trip by speaking to people about where they planned to visit.

Interestingly, visiting a local travel agency came second on the list, with 25% of people seeking advice when choosing a destination. I’m not convinced surveys are the best way to gather public opinion, so, who do you trust?

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14 responses to “Who do you trust for travel destination advice?”

Ryan | 30 May, 2008 at 10:26 am

I find myself using forums more and more for views and advice. If you find a place with a knowledgeable community who are passionate about travel, then it’s so much easier to get straight-up and decent advice.

Yet, I don’t think you can simply Google a forum and instantly trust what you read. It’s too easy for forum posters to be agents promoting a product. It’s a case of scouting out previous posts of members and seeing what they’ve written over a length of time. This can be initially brooding I suppose, but in the long run once you’ve found a decent forum you generally don’t need to go anywhere else again.

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Darren Cronian | 30 May, 2008 at 2:28 pm

@ Ryan

Good point about instantly trusting the forum. It does take time to get involved in to the community and start to trust the forum owners and members.

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Nomadic Matt | 30 May, 2008 at 4:00 pm

I usually trust other travelers. They have been there and their information is more up to date than guidebooks.

I like blogs….they give a lot of good information. And people will usually correct you if you are wrong.

Travelers are always helpful. We’re people persons and we love talking about where we’ve been!

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Darren Cronian | 31 May, 2008 at 2:07 am

@ Matt

I agree. Would you trust word of mouth from say a friend, more than the internet?

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nomadic matt | 2 June, 2008 at 2:48 am

yes I would…if that friend was trust worthy!

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alitta | 2 June, 2008 at 12:13 pm

If i’m planning to take a trip to a place i’ve never been to before, i will trust travel agencies as i think they are professional enough, i could be wrong anyway

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Darren Cronian | 2 June, 2008 at 2:59 pm

@ Matt

Me too.Advice is always best coming from someone whose had the experience of the destination.

@ Alitta

No, I think your right most travel agencies are professional and helpful. I do trust travel agencies its just a problem with time for me.

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Rohan | 3 June, 2008 at 5:17 pm

I trust a combination of travel agencies, writers and blogs for long haul destinations and for short haul destinations I trust writers more.

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diana | 4 June, 2008 at 1:20 pm

I like very much forums and blogs, because there people don´t try to sell you any product like in an agency. The advices come from real experiences.

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Darren Cronian | 5 June, 2008 at 10:50 am

Not destination advice, but a case of mis-information in the holiday brochure.

Thomson was ordered to pay out £750 when British holidaymaker David Barnish took it to court because a Kos hotel where he and his family stayed was only geared towards the German market.

Mr Barnish paid £4,000 for a holiday at the Grecotel Royal Park, where he and his family were unable to take part in activities because they were only available in German.

Story here

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Ryan | 5 June, 2008 at 10:56 am

Interesting. I wonder if this will create a snowball effect of customers taking action.

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Darren Cronian | 5 June, 2008 at 12:28 pm

@ Ryan

Part of me thinks that the consumer needs to take more responsibility, but then this is exactly the type of information you’d expect the tour operator/travel agent to provide.

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Michelle | 10 June, 2008 at 1:04 am

I trust forums and travel agents who specialize in a particular destination. I also use flickr when researching for trips. It helps to see photos from regular people to get a feel for what a place is really like.

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Darren Cronian | 10 June, 2008 at 1:12 am

@ Michelle

I keep forgetting about Flickr, your right it’s fun and helpful looking at photos taken from people who have visited the destination.

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