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The header at Hotelmarketing  was pretty blunt: social media travel sites are screaming for attention-but users and suppliers are not impressed.

According to the latest PhoCusWright data, social media in general generates so little traffic to travel websites it makes anyone wonder if there really is a need for "dedicated social media sites for travel."

In an earlier post at New Media Travel,  we argued that travel marketers were in fact wasting their time on Facebook and Twitter.

Now this rec

In a previous post, New Media Travel  asked “Why Is Hotel Content So Boring?”
The point was that hotels, airlines, and often the entire travel industry, are inclined to present images of the perfect family: a leggy blonde mother, two gorgeous light-haired kids and a handsome, fit dad playing in the blue water.

Or, lest they offend anyone, their glossies and web images are full of empty hotel pools, empty dining rooms and empty lobbies.

Why?

Hotels report that showing a racially mixed family o

Or what every frequently-flying woman, and bride going on her honeymoon, needs to know about staying healthy and fit in the air.

If travel had a diva....someone who embodied the talent of looking great while facing the challenges, exhaustion, fun and frustration of Travel, it'd have to be Debbi Kickham.

Known to us in the travel world as Debbi Karpowicz, her most recent book The Globetrotters Get-Gorgeous Guide is pure Debbi: sassy, irreverent, helpful, fun to read and full of personality.

Th

“Female Eggs For Sale” may not be a sign you’ll see any time soon, but for all intents and purposes that’s what the global market for harvesting and selling women’s eggs is all about.

The in vitro fertilization market is a billion dollar industry that touches almost every country in the world. It touches the wealthy neighborhoods of London and reaches  into the Americas, Asia and the IVF capital of the world, Cyprus, which has more fertility clinics than any other country in the world, and attr

Business road warriors have at least this much in common with ET: Calling home while away is their top priority.

But it seems in the 21st century, just hearing a voice on the telephone no longer suffices.

And that means they expect free Internet connections.

The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) says it very clearly: "being able to connect online with family and friends is now the top priority for travelers." Conversely, not being able to do so, says Hotelmarketing.com  (which reported on the

In a very compelling article somewhere on Lonely Planet's blog, Vivek Wagle, head of content and marketing at Airbnb, makes the compelling argument for "collaborative consumption," the basic business and ethical underpinning of his widly successful "places to stay" service and website.

Basically, he points, we are living in a world of "social accommodation services," where "being able to benefit from the good  (a tangible or intangible good) is better than actually possessing that good."

Or a

(please watch the 1-minute Grand Manan Video PostCard at the end of the post)

It’s certainly tempting to think of Grand Manan as God's shrug of land surrounded by a vast, changing and beautiful sea.

There is something about small fishing villages on islands that holds my heart tightly, especially those snuggled against rocky coasts with mists hovering like shifting shrouds.

Partly it's the pitched, jarring sound of gulls or the air heavy with the scent of salt and fish.

But I think it's the deep q

One of the dreads of air travel is sitting next to someone who is either crazy or can drive you crazy with annoying habits, non-stop chatter or just plain old boorishness, resulting in impulses to jump out of the plane or slowly throttle your seatmate.

So, Hotel Marketing.com  states the obvious when it says air travel has gone from “glam to glum.”  But as in so many cases, social media is being touted as the panacea for air travel doldrums. It seems some travel-media web sites are engaging in wh


What Do You Really Do On a Nude Vacation?

Apparently the same things you’d do if you were on a fully-clothed holiday, except, we assume, horseback ride.


But, you ask, how likely is anyone to go to a nude beach or clothes optional one, and strip?


For a country settled by humorless and uptight Puritans, a surprising 49% of Americans said they would do it.
Another 19%  were undecided, and 32%  gave an unqualified "no" to  the idea of beaching "au natural."
Courtesy of TripAdvisor's
Nude Beach

First, we’re glad Pinterest  backtracked.  Pinterest’s  pinmeister and co-founder,  Ben Silberman, is no longer asking  followers to " avoid self promotion."

The CEO and his fellow pinners are saying that  the Pinterest etiquette that frowned on pinning ones own content, is dead.

Originally, the fast-growing site wanted its members, as Hotelmarketing.com put it, “to share all the beautiful things they find on the web,”  and eschew pinning their own content, thus the advice against “self promot