28Jun2007
To plan or not to plan? And in what detail?
We are developing a service for an active traveler interested in exploring the globe. Currently we have about 200 000 destinations in our database and tons of content on them. Our purpose is to provide the traveler with tools for discovering the most interesting stuff from this huge mass of information. We consider the interesting information to be things such as: where to go, why people (like yourself) go there, and what to do over there. Once the best destinations are found our tool will help the traveler to build the trip and buy it. However, we have not placed special focus on providing suitable restaurants, hotels etc. as we have considered them to be too detailed for trip planning.
In our opinion it’s waste of time to overplan one’s trip by putting together a minute-by-minute schedule saying that “on Thursday I’m going to eat some Sauerkraut in Restaurant Lederhosen”. To us trip planning begins with the destinations and finding out the places to see and visit. If there’s an exceptional restaurant around the area you’re going to visit then our service will present the restaurant to you. Otherwise restaurants are just a commodity and not a part of a high level trip plan. This is not the typical travel guide approach in which most of the guide book is reserved for listing restaurants (budget, medium and high-end) and hotels. Think about it: have you ever chosen to go to Venice instead of Florence because - according to some travel guide - there’s this “good value for money” pizzeria right around the corner from Piazza San Marco?
Similar logic more-or-less applies for accommodation. Often it’s enough to plan a trip on a level that “on Thursday we’ll be staying in this town” instead of nailing down the specific hotel. Similarly hotels are a commodity. You can always find a place to stay.
What is the correct level of detail in planning a trip? What is the must have information when planning a vacation? Are you interested in restaurants? Are you very interested in hotels? What about deciding where to go in the first place? In our opinion restaurants and hotels are not the point. The point of travelling is to get experiences and discover thrilling places. Like in “Okay, I’m in Sydney, I must see the Opera House. But I definitely must take the 2-hour train ride to Blue Mountains because travelers like myself say that it’s the place to see around here.”
-The Vailoma team
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