Online Travel Review Web Sites and Blogs

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On the Web, Much Advice, and Some Even Rings True

By JOE SHARKEY

Which brings me to a subject that has drawn a lot of attention recently: online travel review Web sites and blogs. Given the surly, half-baked reporting on many Internet blogs, which travel blogs can you trust?

Last month, I wrote a column listing some of my favorites, which in turn generated lots of reader replies pointing out some I had overlooked. Here are a few you may want to check out: TravelPod.com (which includes videos and podcasts); womenstravelclub.com; OffbeatTravel.com; airlinemeals.net; and HoboTraveler.com.

I am sure I will shortly be hearing about others, vetted by readers who have no ax to grind and no motive other than wanting to share information within what they (and, increasingly, I) recognize as a virtual community ? citizen journalists interested in copious, reliable, sometimes provocative travel information, and in knowing where it is coming from.

I have mentioned this one before, but I always consult David Rowell’s weekly Travel Insider newsletter at Thetravelinsider.info/blogs/ti/. This week, the newsletter has a priceless item about a Las Vegas hotel that has begun adding a $3-a-day "energy charge" to defray electricity costs.

I also sometimes consult TripAdvisor.com, owned by Expedia and which claims to contain "three million travel reviews from real travelers around the world" ? one of whom recently posted this one-line critique of a hotel in Alabama: "This place is just plain scuzzy."

But one of my favorite sites is IgoUgo.com, which is owned by Sabre, the reservations giant that also owns Expedia’s competitor Travelocity. IgoUgo says it has 350,000 members, thousands of whom regularly post detailed journals (with photos) during their worldwide travels. Each member, whether registered under a real name or a nom de Web, fills out a personal profile that can be accessed when you are reading a journal.