Travelocity’s Window Seat blog
.In this holiday period, it’s perfectly appropriate that Travelocity, one of the largest online travel sites, decided to start a blog. It is called “The Window Seat” and is buried in the corporate website. I’ve looked deeply inside this blog, which started in November 2006, but was officially launched on December 18. And I’m very disappointed by what I’ve found. But read more…
The birth of this blog has been mentioned both in a press release and in this welcome post written by “Travelocity editor-at-large,” Amy Ziff. Here is what she wrote that day.
When I first imagined this blog, I pictured a place that would speak to me like a seasoned traveler as well as a friend. I envisioned a place where travelers from all over the globe could partake in the discussion. Thus, The Window Seat is a community by and for travelers. It exists for us to log our impressions about travel and learn from others. Over time, with your help, it will be an honest and relevant resource for the latest travel news, insider destination information and travel advice.
She also mentioned that there will be regular contributors. And this is where things start to look pretty bad. If I am correct, 23 posts have been published by 5 authors since the beginning of the blog. But where is the list of these contributors with their bios? Nowhere in sight — except if it’s well hidden.
And is there a blogging policy? Yes, in a way. There is a link to the general Travelocity’s Terms of use that you might enjoy if you’re a lawyer.
What about posting a comment on this blog? You’ll be welcome by this very ambiguous message.
If you haven’t left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won’t appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.
Is there a document telling you what is the process for approval? None that I’ve found.
So what about the blog contents? I have to admit that I was so disappointed by Travelocity’s lack of transparency that I didn’t really read the posts. And if Travelocity doesn’t understand what transparency means for a blog, how will you trust this company when booking a trip?
Source: Travelocity’s Window Seat blog
You’ll find related stories by following the links below.
April 23rd, 2007 at 044
I must say Travelocity blog´s lack of transparency is a reflection of the way they do business. In an effort to make hotel reservations, Travelocity agreed to receive the payment required but did not make the reservation. After 90 minutes of international phone calls, the mentioned the hotel did not have rooms available for the dates required. So why accept the money in the first place?. When trying to reverse and recover the payment, the credit card company not only mentioned that it would take 3 weeks (based on Travelocity´s timing to reply to these type of requests) but that is not the first time they receive similar complaints. I guess a travel agency would have been saver and cheaper.
May 4th, 2007 at 930
oh my gosh i totally agree. it’s like the vichy campaign.
big companies think that they can manage it and they dont.
they should have looked at how EUROSTAR did it. they could have at every window seat a piece of paper that invites people to “blog” a story and then hand it to the cabin girl to give to the blogger. how cool would that be?
there’s so much they could do…thank god the eurostar got it…it’s a big pitty like you said, that they didnt get blogging.
they could have also hired a proper blogger and then had a better result.
i agree totally with your comments in your article.
best,
anina
www.anina.net
www.360fashion.net
May 4th, 2007 at 1111
oh my gosh that blog sucks! i should do their window seat blog. i ‘d blog all the different countries i travel to, places to eat, shots, commentary on people, i mean…who cares about her DOG? i want to hear about new york, i want to see a photo of the inflight magazine, i want to know what movies played on the flight, and maybe a review of it. i want to see where to shop…how about a shot out the window of the plane like sonny does?
http://www.sonnyphotos.typepad.com/
July 23rd, 2007 at 1615
There are many more blog sites in the Internet that pertains and features travel, and these websites DO REALLY make you feel like you are on the window sear of a tour bus.
September 10th, 2007 at 826
What a pity so many organisations believe that just having blog is all that really matters. It is like most things, if the users are to get anything out of it, then the owners need to invest time and yes, if necessary, money into the project.
I remember when people first started looking at websites, they thought it was sufficient to include the details on their business cards and letterheads, never realising that you need to promote it as well. Larger organisations should really know better.
December 1st, 2007 at 016
I have used Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire, Priceline all have there pros and cons about them.
Hotwire has excellect rental cars rates, Orbitz
has good deals on US domestic cities and Priceline
you can bid but also risky.
I have looked and looked for sites with excellent
international rates for major cities in Europe. Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire all have gotten
so expensive and I don’t really care for there ticket
protector options as their fixed and usually marked too
high but also I don’t really care for the insurance
companies for claims on ticket protection, one company
called Access American is horrible and all Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire use the same ticket protector
company as it is impossible to get your money back.
I heard on the radio about site called Anyfares.com
or http://www.anyfares.com that I found fares to London
or Moscow, St.Petersburg, Milan, Frankfurt, Rome at
least 30% cheaper than Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire but better they have Travelex as a ticket protector option that isn’t fixed and their claims
is way better than Access America.
Every site has good and bad fares but if I can find
a fare 30% cheaper in the times of major inflation
in America and high exchange rates, I don’t want to
spend 30% more if I need that extra money. My reservations e-ticket and all e-ticket, so it is good
as gold when you fly as reservations is on the GDS
engine which Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire
all use the flight reservation to print out or write
the confirmation number and fly.
Anyway, shop and look around but http://www.Anyfares.com
works for me.
Scott