Travel Blog Camp 2008 (#tbc08 01)

Travel Blog Camp 2008

Just a short note with a few impressions:

Kudos for Darren for organizing it and for the speakers to get the room a bit heated up. There really were about 80 bloggers, industry reps and pr types. Location was excellent.

Roaming Tales has posted a nice summary.

I had hoped that my new Blackberry was a better instrument than it turned out to be and am probably regretting I didn’t choose for an Iphone. It was frozen during most of today. Now I have learned that the Blackberry variant of cntr alt delete is: Pull out your battery. This doesn’t necessarily means a Blackberry is a bad thing. I’m even able to freeze an Apple computer withing 5 minutes of using it.

All in all I arrived later than I anticipated and missed a speaker (Alex). But I missed a lot of what actually happened and was said anyway, because I tried to concentrate making some nice photos. Not sure how they turned out, because I rather process them at home on my own computer. So you’ll have to wait until probably Sunday when I will have some time to process them. And here, Kevin, speaks the Blogger who takes his time. A (photo) journalist would have put every effort in posting these photos today (err last night).

When after the speeches and debate I stepped outside with some fellow smokers and returned, more than 2/3rd of the people were gone already. That amazed me a bit. Haha especially Darren must have been worn out as he didn’t take me up on my offer to have another beer. Big question here: “Are the Dutch Better beer drinkers than the Brits?”

Today I took off to spend with DW. Tomorrow I will roam a bit over WTM. Anybody wanting to see me can DM me at Twitter | Happy Hotelier

CU soon

Blogging Hotel Insiders

Waiter Rant

Hotel Front Desk Blog’s post Hotel Bloggers Linky (Not Kinky) Love inspired me to this post. [had to eliminate the links as the blog has become defunct since]

He lists a couple of Hotel Insider Blogs, because:

Unlike most other industries, there is not a lot of hotel related blogs penned by employees & insiders actually working in the hospitality industry – most seem to be just another marketing or promotional avenue written by hotels themselves as a management/public relations tool. While this is great, and I’m glad that a lot of hotels are catching onto the trend (yay, technology=good!), it leaves a lot to be said. While reading about the latest and greatest in room types and package promotions is always a good thing – more often than not, I’d much rather be reading about what really goes on behind the scenes, from the perspective of the staff that works there.

Although Front Desk Boy doesn’t see it that way:

Happy Hotelier: More focused on industry headlines than anything else, but a few viewpoints along the way from the author. Personally I think I’d like to read some stories from the author, as I like his style.

I strongly believe I am a hotel insider. I am running a small luxury all suites hotel. As the in house jack of all trades one of my functions is that of the Front Desk Manager. He would love to see more personal stories. Well I can’t do that. Insider stories might all too easy include and identify my guests, as the operation is so small that each guest story can be easily connected to a specific guest. Moreover I don’t like to remain incognito as FDB and some other insiders have to for the same obvious reason: keep in house what should be kept in house. Thanks for the nudge anyway FDB.

As Don Meador puts it: FDB’s list is a great beginning of a list. He misses a few. Therefore I have made my own list of hotel insiders.

Hotel insiders usually should have (had) some working experience in a hotel. I don’t mind them working in sales or marketing. I even don’t mind if they don’t work in a hotel anymore, but have some great insights to offer about hotels. And since Food and Beverage are great ingredients for many hotels, I also don’t mind it they are working in Food and Beverage, even without letting rooms.

  1. A Luxury Travel Blog. More or less an insider with a luxury travel blog and with a family background in self catering in the British Lake District, UK. and started his own self catering in 2009.
  2. Blog Mr and Mrs Smith by Tamara, Mrs Smith her good self.
  3. Budget Travel Tips from Eurocheapo. Well, because they asked nicely.
  4. Cool Travel Guide by Lara Dunston in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. A perpetual globetrotter and travel writer who has authored and contributed to over 30 travel guidebooks.
  5. Crazy hotel Workers a community.
  6. Daniel Edward Craig, the former author of the Opus Hotel Blog until he left his position at the Vancouver Opus Hotel to become a full time Hotel Crime Thriller writer. Unfortunately, since he left, the Opus Hotel Blog isn’t anymore what it used to be under the new author Katrina Caroll-Foster. Come on Katrina a soft nudge to continue Daniel’s work, or do as Bill Marriott: Dictate the blog!
  7. Feather or Foam? by a House Keeping Queen of Clean.
  8. Future Blog From Design Hotels [added March 2010].
  9. Gadling A Hotel review site.
  10. Get a Room by Don Meador, director of sales of The Landmark Hotel Group in Virginia Beach, VA, USA.
  11. Hotel Check-In I picked it up when Barbara Delollis was keeping it with a personal touch for jus the business traveler. After she left it gradually evolved in a mainstream hotel blog aiming all hotel guests.
  12. Hotel Chatter. A hotel review blog
  13. Hotel Hallways Mister Arthur who is in advertising shows us the dour hotel hallways.
  14. Hotel i Tour. Claude Benard’s main blog, since he gave up writing for Les Explorers. Claude is probably the only Frenchman in France writing a travel blog in English as Guillaume lives in the UK.
  15. Hotel Manager Talk. Kevin Levine produces his own Hotelier podcast covering topics around N. America.
  16. Hotel Marketing Strategies By Josiah – See my Interview with him.
  17. Hraba Hospitality Consulting Blog
  18. Living with Legends. A diary about Hotel Chelsea in NYC.
  19. Marriott on the Move. The Bill Marriott, who, in my opinion, does a good job with his blog. Even if it is mainly about Marriott, he doesn’t avoid critical sounds in his comments.
  20. My Marrakesh by Maryam who has has been building her own Moroccan Guest-house.
  21. The Barmaid Blog : A Barmaid.
  22. The Informed Traveler: Off course Five Star Alliance focused.
  23. Red Room ChroniclesLong before Marriott entered the blog sphere, Rob Safuto was blogging about Marriott hotels around the world.
  24. Urban Diner. Andrew Morrison is a local food critic who blogs about the Vancouver culinary scene, and he never misses a beat on local hotel happenings.
  25. Vacant Ready by a Canadian hotel professional Chris Clarke, presently based in Dubai, who had set up Bed Jump, Hotel Beds, Hotel Splash and Hotel Throne, Hotel Bathrooms exposed successfully and then sold the concept to Hotels By City.
  26. Views from A Corner Suite
  27. Waiter Rant. Musings of a? Yes, you guessed right: Waiter. His book Waiter Rant is  out and he had to give up his anonimity and I took the liberty of using the nice cover photo to enhance this post.

From time to time you see me doing a bit of updating here

Last edited by gje on December 13, 2016

I’ve Collected some Twittering Travel Bloggers at Netvibes

Until they launched their Ginger version, I wasn’t much impressed by Netvibes. I like their new Ginger public page idea and the possibility to group feeds on one page. A bit unfortunate is that I see no possibility to make screen shots of public pages on Netvibes.

Following a Twitter conversation with Elliot NG of Uptake, which was formerly known as Kango until they changed their name into Uptake (sounds as the artist….), I put some travel bloggers that I follow on twitter together on the page Happy Hotelier | Travel Bloggers @ Twitter.

For those of you who are not yet Twitterers (or Twiterati or Tweeps or Twitnits?), it is easy to sign up with Twitter and use the feeds of my collection to start following your favorite Travel Bloggers.

Despite several attempts to build a real Travel Bloggers Community the result is not very promising. On Twitter there is at least some ongoing communication.

Again if you want to follow me on twitter: @Happy Hotelier

Travel Bloggers Hopping – Meet the Blogger

Benji Lanyado, writing for the Guardian and bragging that he is the author of the web’s only regular column on travel blogs has come up with a great Idea: Travel Bloggers Hopping. He himself calls it Meet the Bloggers. The idea is that he visits a different city each month and gets off the beaten track with local bloggers. If you are a travel blogger and fancy showing him around your own back yard… get in touch with him at benji.lanyado{at}guardian.co.uk.

For his inaugural Meet the Bloggers column he hopped on the Eurostar to Paris, and got something of a scoop from Clotilde Dusoulier, food royalty, attracting over 15,000 visits a day to her five-year-old blog Chocolate & Zucchini (already a long time on my sidebar see my post Food blogs: Chocolate and Zucchini), and she agreed to take lunch with him.

Further he visited: Rebecca Perry-Maignant of Chic Shopping Paris, a blog and shopping tour company and

Finally he visited I V Y Paris News a blog that

started life as 5 artists getting together to hold an exhibiton in late 2004 (a painter, sculptor, jewelry designer, photographer and Founder of I V Y paris, Susie Hollands, conceptual artist). Within 2 weeks of deciding we were holding a show we’d found a gallery space, rented it, painted and scrubbed it and sent out a quick email blast to those we’d hoped would come to the vernissage. We split the costs 5 ways to make things affordable. A few finishing touches to the work to be exposed and we were ready. Everyone did something; donated a sound system, brought the wine in a friend’s car, painted, mopped, spoke the necessary French……..et voila! It was great success. The space was packed on the opening night and first night sales covered over and above the cost of hiring the space. This proves that if you are motivated it’s possible to hold an exhibition, even in Central Paris. It doesn’t have to be a traditional white-cube type thing either – it can be in someone’s home, under one of the bridges of the Seine, in a Park, or parking lot if you like.

Their idea is
To serve as a comprehensive hub for visual arts information and resources in Paris, nurturing their creative community through a series of art exhibitions and events. For those artists or art-curious already living in Paris, just passing through the “moveable feast,” as so many have done before them or dreaming about doing so one day, they hope I V Y Paris will be an invaluable point of reference.

About Benji Lanyado

Benji Lanyado is the Guardian’s budget travel columnist, a role he first undertook during his final year at Manchester University in 2005. He is also guardian.co.uk’s resident travel blogaholic. He spends his spare time running YounginEurope.com, obsessing about West Ham, and waiting for an Acid Jazz revival. Benji has double-jointed shoulders.

Thumbs up for the Idea, Benji!

T-List Update: 200 Travel / Hospitality Blogs Listed and Ranked

T-List

Inspired by Guillaume’s Unofficial Travel / Hospitality Blogs Ranking I spent blood sweat and tears to get the T-List more up to date and used Technorati Authority as ranking method. Please do not hesitate to comment for any errors made. Also there may still be some differences with my T-List Page. They will be weeded out in a later phase (I have square television eyes now).

Funny to note that some heavyweights like Lonely Planet and others have not claimed their Blogs on Technorati (last column is “n” or “no”) If there are question marks in the last column I wonder whether the Blog is abandoned. With the “!!!” I indicate something is not entirely clear with the Technorati claim.

Finally I wonder of this work has been done already by the Spanish University researchers behind nr 199 of this list. I would like some of my Spanish language friends to look into this matter. They seem to use a much more modern approach than the old fashioned cutting and pasting I did here.

Nov
Blog Name Subject Lng Cntry 1/>1
Auth
Favs
OK?
1
Gadling Travel En US More
1615
0
y
2
Gridskipper Destination En US More
1554
41
y
3
Japan Probe Destination En Jap More
1399
26
y
4
Jaunted Destination En US More
611
7
y
5
Hotels and City Blogs Hotel Reviews En Can More
439
1
y
6
Vinography: A Wine Blog Wine En US One
421
38
y
7
World Hum Travel En US More
420
17
y
8
Diario del Viajero Travel SP SP More
416
5
y
9
My Marrakesh Destination En Mor One
407
25
y
10
HotelChatter Travel En Us More
359
7
y
11
Brave New Traveler Travel En Can More
334
14
y
12
Viaje na Viagem Destination Port Brasil One
239
5
no
13
Newyorkology Destination En US More
230
12
y
14
Blog de Viajes Travel 2.0 Sp Sp One
225
8
y
15
Buenos Aires Daily Photo En Arg One
224
8
y
16
locuraviajes Travel Sp Sp More
215
0
no
17
Les Explorers Travel 2.0 FR/En Fr More
207
8
y
18
Vagablogging Travel En US One
170
9
y
19
The Delicious Llfe Food En US One
162
13
y
20
Intelligent Travel by Nat Geo Travel En US More
161
3
y
21
Living with Legends: On Site En US One
159
2
y
22
Wandalust Travel En UK One
159
3
y
23
Bajo Coste[link dead] Air Travel En US More
158
2
y
24
TravelBlog.it Destination It It More
152
6
y
25
The Lost Girls Backpackers En US More
145
20
y
26
Marriot on the Move Hotel Reviews En US More
144
0
!!!
27
Brief Blog Marketing Sp NL One
140
2
y
28
The Hague Daily Photo Blog Photo En NL One
140
2
y
29
Hotelmarketing Com Marketing En US More
138
1
y
30
A Luxury Travel Blog Luxury Travel En UK One
135
10
y
31
Albert Barra Marketing Sp Sp One
128
10
y
32
Family Travel Family Travel En US One
123
5
y
33
Hotel Bed Jumping Bed Jumping En Can More
121
0
y
34
Travel Rants Travel En UK One
120
8
y
35
Blog on Travel Travel 2.0 En UK More
117
15
y
36
Fasten Your Seatbelts Marketing Ger Au One
115
2
y
37
Foreign Perspectives Destination En Fr One
113
219
y
38
Travolution Blog Marketing En UK More
109
14
y
39
DondeViajar.es Travel Sp SP More
107
2
y
40
Restaurant Girl Rest. Reviews En US One
106
6
y
41
Hotel Blogs by Guillaume Hotel Reviews En UK One
98
11
y
42
Foodaholic Food En Aus One
97
4
y
43
The Cranky Flier Air Travel En US One
97
2
y
44
Buenos Aires Argentina Destination En Arg One
91
7
y
45
Hotel hotsheet Travel En US More
91
5
y
46
Hotels of the Rich and Famous Hotels En US One
88
5
y
47
Geeky Traveller Gadgets En US One
85
6
y
48
El Blog de un Hotel Marketing Sp Sp One
83
3
y
49
Megustaelturismo Air Travel Sp Sp One
82
4
y
50
Viator Travel Blog Travel En ?? One
82
4
y
51
Primera Clase Air Travel SP SP One
81
1
y
52
Social Media On the Fly Travel ? Il One
81
2
y
53
E Hotelier Com News En US More
80
4
y
54
Travel Post Insider Hotel Reviews En US One
80
5
y
55
Despegar Travel 2.0 Sp Arg More
78
2
y
56
Tim LeffelâWeb 2.0 Destination En US One
77
5
y
57
Vagablond Travel En US More
77
4
y
58
El Blog D’un Hotel [link dead] Luxury Travel En US More
77
4
y
59
Tourism Internet Marketing Blog Marketing En Can One
76
5
y
60
Europe String Destination En NL More
74
7
y
61
Blog de Juan Sobe Marketing Sp Sp One
71
3
y
62
Aquela Passagem Destination Port Brasil More
70
2
y
63
CampingCoop.org [Link Dead] Travel Stories En US One
70
141
y
64
The Sydney Morning Herald Backpackers En Aus More
68
1
no
65
Guia de Viajes Destination SP Arg One
67
1
y
66
Andrew Pascoe’s Marketing En Aus One
66
2
y
67
Buenos Aires, City of Destination En Arg One
66
4
y
68
BootBlog Travel En US More
65
2
y
69
de viaje a Brasil Travel Port Brasil One
62
2
y
70
Chileno – Life in Destination En Chile One
61
1
y
71
Line of sight Photo En Arg One
61
4
y
72
The Lobby from SPG Hotel Reviews EN US One
61
5
y
73
Happy Hotelier Hotelier En NL One
60
37
y
74
TripCart :: The Travel Blog Destination En US One
60
3
!!!
75
Web 2.0 Travel Tools Travel 2.0 En ?? More
60
8
y
76
Europe A La Carte Blog Destination En UK One
59
34
y
77
New York Traveler Destination En US One
59
3
y
78
Rolling Rains Report Travel En US One
59
8
y
79
Marketing TuriBlog Marketing SP Sp One
57
2
y
80
Kulinarisch Reisen Marketing Ger Au More
56
6
y
81
Pasa en Buenos Aires [Link Dead] Destination Sp Arg One
56
1
y
82
Escapadas Europa. Destination SP Sp More
55
3
no
83
Absolut BCN – Blog de Barcelona Destination Sp Sp One
53
2
y
84
De Viajero.com Destination Port One
52
0
y
85
La Coctelera: ZuHause Photo Sp Sp One
52
1
y
86
Notes from the Road Photo En US One
51
4
y
87
inFlightHQ Air Travel En US More
50
3
y
88
m-Travel.com Air Travel En US One
50
0
no
89
Toni MascarÃple Destination Sp Sp One
50
0
y
90
Globorati Luxury Travel En US More
49
0
y
91
Viajar Asia. Destination SP Sp One
48
3
y
92
Bitur [Link Dead] Travel Sp Arg More
47
1
no
93
Travel Weekly Blog Marketing En UK More
47
4
y
94
Air France Mexico Air Travel En Mex One
46
0
y
95
Online Travel Review Air Travel En US
46
0
y
96
The Informed Traveler Hotel Reviews EN US One
46
11
y
97
Opus Hotel Hotelier En Can More
45
1
no
98
Killing Batteries Hotel Reviews En Eur One
44
3
y
99
Radaron Travel 2.0 En Can One
44
1
y
100
Rick Seaney Air Travel En US One
43
0
y
101
Brazil Travel Blog Destination SP Brasil One
42
1
y
102
Exposed Planet Photo En NL One
42
1
y
103
Zeitgeist Marketing En US One
42
0
y
104
Bird to the North Destination En US One
41
1
y
105
Explorando Peru Destination Sp Peru One
41
0
y
106
Hotel Blog Marketing Sp Sp One
40
2
y
107
Tourismus – Zukunft Travel 2.0 Ger Ger One
40
2
y
108
Touristikblog.de Travel 2.0 Ger Ger One
40
3
y
109
TravelerWIRE Hotel Reviews En US More
40
4
y
110
Buenos Aires through my eyes Destination En Arg One
39
7
y
111
The Travel & Hospitality Diaries Hospitality En US More
39
5
y
112
Road Gladiator Air Travel En US One
38
3
y
113
Dot tourism Travel En Can One
37
2
y
114
France This Way Destination En Fr One
37
80
y
115
Living in France Destination En FR One
37
80
y
116
Relactions blog Travel En US One
37
2
y
117
Vacant Ready Hotel Reviews En Can One
37
4
y
118
The Travel Cooler Photo En US More
36
1
y
119
The Travel PR Blog Travel 2.0 En Uk One
36
2
y
120
Travel Horizons Destination En Aus One
36
5
y
121
Kiwi Viajero Photo Sp Sp One
35
0
y
122
Me-go: Around-the-World World Travel En US One
34
0
y
123
Travel and Web 2.0 Marketing En US One
34
4
y
124
Hostel Buenos Aires Hotel Reviews En/Sp Arg More
33
2
y
125
ADV Italia [Link Dead] Travel Agents It It More
32
2
y
126
Brasilien Destination Ger Brasil One
32
1
y
127
Chronicles of On The Road Travel Destination En Arg One
32
3
y
128
My Travel Backpack Backpackers En Can One
32
1
y
129
Trabber Noticias Air Travel Sp Sp One
32
0
y
130
Intermundial Travel Insurance Sp Sp One
31
1
y
131
Rumboperdido Destination Sp Aus More
31
1
y
132
City-Guide.cc UGC En More
30
14
y
133
Los viajes de Jota
30
0
y
134
BuhlerWorks by Joe Buhler Travel 2.0 En US One
29
0
y
135
Entreprendre dans le e-Tourisme Travel 2.0 Fr Fr One
29
0
y
136
Hawthorne Hotel Hotelier En US More
29
0
no
137
Nos vamos de turismo! Destination Sp Arg One
29
0
y
138
Erin Julian [Link Dead] Travel En US One
28
1
???
139
eTourismus.info Marketing Ger Ger More
28
1
no
140
En Trancision Destination SP AR One
26
0
y
141
Bull City Muttering [Link Dead] Mice En US One
25
0
y
142
eurotrip Travel Sp Arg One
25
1
y
143
They Let Her Travel Travel Stories En US More
25
0
??
144
The McCluskey Blog Marketing En US One
24
2
y
145
Top viajeros Destination SP Sp One
24
3
???
146
Two Dog Zoo Travel Travel Stories En US One
24
0
no
147
Weekendhotel Weblog Hotel Reviews Dutch NL More
24
2
y
148
Airport Blog Airports En UK One
23
0
y
149
Holiday Pad 2.0 Accomodation En UK One
23
0
y
150
Blog.rydges.com Destination En US More
21
2
y
151
E-hotel Destination En Latvia One
21
3
y
152
Es Mi Peru Destination Sp Peru One
21
0
n
153
Ibiza a pie de foto Photo SP Sp One
21
1
no
154
Kirkland Weblog Destination En US More
21
2
y
155
The Wine Camp Blog Wine En US One
21
1
y
156
Travel & Tourism Technology Technology En US More
21
1
y
157
Travel Stuff Aggregator En One
21
1
y
158
ComercializaciÃrismo! Marketing Sp One
20
0
y
159
Vuelos Baratos en Internet Air Travel Sp One
19
0
y
160
MACO Caribbean Living Destination En Carrib One
17
2
y
161
Tango Diva Travel Blog Solo Woman En US One
16
1
y
162
The Cottage Lake Placid [Link Dead] Hotelier En US One
16
3
y
163
The Front Desk Travel En US One
16
0
no
164
The Materialist Travel En US One
15
1
y
165
VibeAgent Blog Link Dead] Hotel reviews En US More
15
4
y
166
Focus Barcellona Destination It Sp One
13
0
y
167
Mike Wylie [Link Dead] Marketing En US One
13
1
???
168
The Trippist, Amsterdam Destination En NL More
13
0
y
169
aaron dalrymple Marketing En US One
11
0
y
170
Passions of a Zealot Hotel Property En US One
11
1
y
171
Discover the French Riviera [Link Dead] Destination En Fr One
10
1
y
172
Vintage Tees En US One
7
17
y
173
Canadian Tourism Destination En Can More
5
1
y
174
Hotel Warrior [Link dead] Hotelier En US One
3
0
no
175
The Suite Life Hotels En One
1
1
y
176
Adirondack Base Camp Destination En US More
0
0
n
177
Argentinaân Destination En Arg One
0
0
no
178
AviaciÃtor Air Travel En
0
0
no
179
blog.entornao Travel 2.0 Sp
0
0
no
180
Brand Canada Blog Marketing En Can
0
0
no
181
Chanters Lodge Hotelier En Kenia One
0
0
n
182
Diane Clarkson Marketing En US More
0
0
no
183
Farecastblog.com Air Travel En US One
0
0
no
184
Gourmet Station Blog Food En ? 0
0
0
no
185
Grub Street Restaurants En US More
0
0
no
186
Guardian Travel Travel En UK More
0
0
n
187
Hoteles Hotel Reviews SP Sp One
0
0
no
188
Hotels , Friends and more Marketing Sp Sp One
0
0
no
189
La Descripcià Blog de Barcelona Travel
0
0
no
190
Lonely Planet | Travel Blog En More
0
0
no
191
New York Hospitality Hotelier En US One
0
0
no
192
Notas do Turismo Destination Sp Arg One
0
0
no
193
Randy’s Journal Air Travel En US One
0
0
no
194
Real Travel Travel En More
0
0
no
195
Travel Blogdig Aggregator
0
0
no
196
Travel Start-Ups Startups En US One
0
0
no
197
Travelvice Air Travel En
0
0
no
198
TripAdvisor: Not Making Up Hotel Reviews En US More
0
0
no
199
TurismoNet : Biblioteca digital [Link Dead] Research Sp Sp More
0
0
no
200
Wine Goddess Wine En US More
0
0
no

Updates:

  1. Tim’s The Boot should have been here with an authority of 56 and 4 favs. at place 83. I Mixed it up with BootsnAll that I can’t get correct on their Technorati ranking.
  2. Vagablond should be once, not twice on the list.
  3. In one way or another I missed Vicky’s Tracking Tourism with an authority of 12 and rank of 169.
  4. And there he was on my link list all the time: My favorite waiter of Waiter rant with a – Wow – impressive rating of 917 and 121 Favs…..Should have been number 2 !!!
  5. And looking for the ranting Waiter’s authority I realized that I also forgot my friend Ken Burgin of Hot and Cool with an authority of 4
  6. From time to time I have to weed out Dead links

Last edited by GJE on November 13, 2011 at 2:33 pm