The short answer is money. No one has figured out how to profit from creating a good online travel guide. Now for the long answer...

Traditional travel guides like Lonely Planet, Frommers, Fodors, have revenue coming in from guide book sales but are struggling to figure out how to make money from placing their content online. Meanwhile new players like Nileguide (raised $13 million) , Tripwolf (raised $2.5 million) are trying to crack this walnut but I’m guessing they’re having a rough time. I feel their pain (on a much smaller level).

It’s not a just a North American problem, take a look at Simon Nixon who’s supposedly UK’s richest young entrepreneur. He took a bunch of his personal cash made from his previous business to fun SimonSeeks.co.uk which was suppose to be the next best travel guide. Mr. Nixon decided to pull out this year saying;

"Consumers are not currently ready to pay for professionally written travel content online and the amounts generated through hotel bookings and page impressions are not significant enough"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/nixon-pulls-out-of-simonseeks-2278490.html

I respect what these Entrepreneurs are trying to do which isn’t easy. How do we provide quality, fresh, relevant content and pay for it? Do you partner with an existing traditional guidebook company like Tripwolf did and earn a cut from those sales? Do you try to make a cut from hotel reservations like SimonSeeks tried to do? Tripadvisor is owned by Expedia so they can and have done well pursuing this business model but I think this has more to do with their reviews attracting people vs their “travel guide” business. Lonely Planet has had some success with selling their online guides especially when they’ve tested giving some for free. CEO of Lonely Planet Matt Goldberg says;

“Our run rate during those days went up and became a new base that was 50% higher.” While lots of free guides were given away, the overall sales for paid guides also rose, Goldberg said, demonstrating that giveaways could be a viable business model.

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2010/11/why-lonely-planet-sometimes-gives-away-its-apps/

Business models aside, there are other reasons why these online travel guides suck. For one, they’re not inspiring. This is a whole subject in itself but let’s focus on a second and even more important reason.

GOOGLES INFLUENCE - SEARCH RESULTS

Google basically controls the search market which is currently how most people find travel information. Google’s system favors large websites which generally tend to publish what I call “hollow shells” This is really apparent when you search for destination information and often come up with a useless webpage that’s part of a larger brand. Try a search for “Montreal travel guide” and I’ll show you an example of how Googles results aren’t in my opinion displaying the best travel guides.

1 + 2 Teambuy.ca and Livingsocial; The top two results are ads which clearly aren’t travel guides. I know they have to make cash so I’m going to let them off the hook with these top results.

3.Wikitravel.org: Pretty good chunk of info but I fell asleep after reading line 3 of 1 million. If Wikitravel was in the magazine business they would look like the Economist....I want Playboy, visuals with some cool text.

4.Fodors.com: Ok in terms of looks. They haven’t rammed their website with too many ads (more than I’d like to see) but there’s no mobile app for Montreal. Information on most businesses is very bare.

5.Montreal-travelguide.com: I just waited 2 mins of my life.

6.Tourisme-montreal.org: Great website but one small problem. The default language is French. So imagine I can’t read French, how would I switch it into English? That’s like me googling “Russian travel guide” and the page shows up in Russian. Later skater, I’m outta here!

7.Lonelyplanet.com Probably the strongest website out there. A nice balance between good information and minimal ads. Lacks visuals but this is an industry wide problem.

8.travel.nytimes.com I love their articles but come on, this isn’t a travel guide. Click on any restaurant and you’ll see it’s powered by Frommers....no photos, old reviews, very bare. Come on NYtimes, you’re better than that. Do it well or don’t do it at all!

9.Travelandleisure.com: Such a beautiful magazine but weak in the pants online.

10.Virtualtourism.com: Ok now we’re talking. It’s got a little of everything. I wonder where they’re making their cash? Ahhhh yes, acquired by Tripadvisor.

11.Gocanada.about.com: Hey About, 1988 called and they want their website back!

So as you can see, Googles top 11 search results for “Montreal travel guide” aren’t in my opinion showing people the best websites out there. The system rewards larger websites that have more incoming links but generally have outdated local information, no photos, tons of ads etc.. The name of the game here is page views for these guys vs. other truly local guides that would offer more value to travelers. If this is happening with my hometown, it has to be going on elsewhere too!

SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Currently the most frustrating part of the travel process is the research phase. Here’s some ideas / thoughts on what I’d like to see from the travel guide industry to make my life and of course yours much easier when researching for your next trip;

Yelp Reviews are totally part of the research process. I like Yelps clean layout and their fresh reviews serve as an excellent base. If Yelp put a little more emphasis on their photos (increase the screen real estate allocated to a businesses main photo) and possibly offered professional videos (additional service to offer businesses?) combined with a sprinkle of NYTimes type of write ups I think Yelp could be the go to travel guide long term. It would have to of course expand internationally but the base is there. CEO

Prediction: Jeremy Stoppelman and crew raise more $$$ and push the peddle to the metal internationally.

Yahoo travel Now that Carol is out maybe shit will get done. Yahoo has so much potential and I really think (and I’ve been trying to pitch them) that they could take the lead with online travel vs “the others”. They have the platform, now they just need to focus on building a much better travel section. Buy Yelp, or get the right team in place and build a section that’s fresh, inspiring, gets peoples juices going about travel. Get into the vacation rental business by acquiring Airbnb or HomeAway.

Prediction: Yahoo buys Yelp and Airbnb

Lonely Planet I’d be curious to know why you haven’t tried one price for one app that covers all destinations. When I travel outside North America I want a trusted brand name and I’m willing to pay for quality information. I’d easily pay up to $50 USD for one app that covered all your destinations worldwide. Don’t make me buy 13 individual guides for my European tour.

Prediction: Giant tour operator acquires a stake in Lonely Planet which begins to offer packages.

A Cool Travel Show I’ve been pitching the idea of producing an online travel show that both informs and inspires. To me it’s a no brainer...these shows could attract new visitors to existing booking engines and convert traffic to sales. Why someone hasn’t done this yet blows my mind away. Hopefully someone will see this vision and make it happen.

Prediction: Large travel company funds season I of this travel show generating new sales leads.

AOL (Huffington Post) I like the writers they’re hiring to cover some of these destinations and mix of video, photos but there’s still lots of cleaning up to do. The UI could be better and don’t feature a destination if you don’t have any information to offer. Great opportunity here to take the lead with online video. You could also partner up with a company that can help clients book travel....something similar to what Oyster.com and The Travel Channel did.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/business/media/25travel.html

Prediction: AOL buys stake in Lonely Planet beefing and adds more writers.

UPDATE: Googles buys Zagat I wrote this article this morning and after coming back from my jog just read this.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/08/google-zagat-idUSN1E7870RO20110908

Prediction: Google buys Zagat :)