Wondering

My main question is, how does having this site benefit Fodors? I got to thinking about this because of some complaining postings about censorship and how Fodors must be hiring new people to monitor the site. Since there is no advertising on the Forums and/or the Fodors site in general, Fodors must not be making advertising revenue. The site must be expensive to maintain, especially if it is constantly being monitored . <BR>The one big benefit of having this site that I can think of is building brand recognition and good will toward Fodors itself. With that in mind, I ask all of you, does visiting this site make you want to buy Fodors books? Or do you use the site (i.e. print out info) instead of buying travel books. Personally, I love books and use a trip as an excuse to buy lots of travel books. However, I don't necessarily always buy the Fodors book. Instead I buy whatever book looks best for the specific area I'm interested in. If the book I chose isn't Fodors, then I just print out supplemental information from this website. Any thoughts? <BR>It will be interesting to see if this thread gets deleted.

Marc David Miller

More likely, although I am obsessive about travel research (my aborted trip to Italy in January involved about 10 history/cultural books, 12 travel guides and countless web sites). Maintaining a site such as this means to me that Fodors is serious about addressing the concerns of 21 century travelers; although much information is contained herein, the convenience and depth of information in a travel book is usually far greater than what I can obtain from a web site, especially a web site's forum area--how are you going to cut and paste together hundreds of restaurant tips about, say, Florence without spending hours and hours of effort? <BR><BR>I think I probably buy more travel books as a result of participating in forums such as this because I see that one or two guidebooks can't possibly cover every sight in a given area. These forums make me appreciate a differing point of view, similar to what I get when looking at two more more guidebooks that have differing opinions on recommendations and differing "facts" (travel times, pricing, value, proposed walking routes . . .).

Rex

I once seriously suggested a proposal to tie together book sales promtion, optional registration, and a profit opportunity for this site.<BR><BR>Allow optional registration, at some nominal annual fee - - say $18.95 a year. It would simply allow a Fodorite to protect use of their "persona" name - - whether real or fictional - - it would be exclusively theirs, and could not be subjected to having an imposter use it. It would generally appeal to regulars. The non-registered use of names - - real or otherwise would still be perfectly fine.<BR><BR>Put a coupon into each new book sold, good for one year (or discount on some time period) use of name registration here.<BR><BR>You get a choice - - continue to use free, pay the fee, or buy a book.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Christina

There are plenty of ads on Fodors web site, don't know why you can't see them -- they are on the home page and on both top and bottom of the Forums intro page. It's marketing and PR, the main reason most firms have web sites. The web site is not usually a product in itself with a user fee, it's PR. Charging people to use a web site that is developed for PR/advertising purposes and not a product in itself (ie, some professional websites that actually sell products or journals may have a subscription fee) would be the death knell. Really really bad idea. Nobody's going to pay money to use a travel forum web site (ok, I know one guy who would). Also, did it ever occur to you that lots of people who answer questions are not going to pay a fee for the privilege of giving out free advice and answering other people? Like me. Fodor's has gotten lots of publicity out of this website in print -- I've seen it mentioned in magazine and newspaper articles. So, Fodor's marketing dept must think it is worth the price in its advertising budget. Any site that has optional registration on a travel forum (ie, Frommer's) does it for free. I certainly do not use this site instead of buying travel books. It actually does make me a little warmer towards Fodors because I think it's a good web site, and I'm sorry to say, their books are not near the top of my guidebook list.

Ellen

Christina, the reason that we never see the ads is that we've bookmarked THIS page!

fact

Actually, Fodors uses the free information that they get on this website to include material in the books that they sell. You can test it out. Make some really astounding comment about a place and within two years it will show up in a Fodors book.

Wondering

I took another look at the homepage of the fodors website and the only ads I could see were for Fodors products themselves or for Expedia. I would guess that Fodors charges Expedia a healthy fee to advertise on its site and I'm sure Expedia gets lots of business by doing so. My point is really that no matter how much good PR Fodors gets and no matter how much advertising they do the only product they sell is travel books and maps (correct me if I'm wrong). If people are able to get the Fodors information for free off of Fodors own website and they are getting additional information off of the forum then it doesn't follow that people are buying more Fodor's products. It sounds like Fodors is cannabalizing its own business. I really have no idea if that is actually true, it just seems to follow from my (perhaps incorrect) line of thinking.<BR>As I said in my initial email, I love to buy all kinds of books. I'm sure the other people who read and remark and this forum are a self selected group of travel lovers (take Mark Miller who replied to this thread and said he bought and/or read 22 books before his trip to Italy) who may buy travel books as well. However, do you think the fodors general website and perhaps the forum end up dissuading "casual" or "infrequent" travelers from purchasing books.

Observor

I would happily pay a fee to Fodors, Christina, as would others, who have said so. Do you have something indicating otherwise? I would be happy to register and live by the rules. PROVIDED we could rid ourselves of the "get over yourself" types who are pure poison. His comments are personal, incredibly hateful. Just gratuitously nasty. Too bad, because he may be bright, and could be a helpful poster, if he could just clean up his attitude and stop attacking other people.

Ellen

Well, Christina, I for one would not pay two cents to join this board or any other, just on principle. No matter how good it is!<BR><BR>Many boards with registration have members who are chronically offensive, obnoxious, or just chronically disruptive. I don't understand how registration would prevent this.

Jimmie

The people who are serious about travel (count me in that group) would invest to have a better site. If Fodors charged $25 or more annually, the really nasty people would go elsewhere. They wouldn't pay to be nasty, because it's their god given right, don't you know. I don't see what's the big deal about paying a little money to get the valuable services this site offers. You pay for everything in this world. Why so insistent in refusing to pay for good travel advice?

Julie

I am still very print oriented and use the internet overall and this site in particular to augment my reading of guidebooks, not to replace it. I buy as many guidebooks as I ever did. I think, however, that I may be a bit more likely to include a Fodor's guide among my purchases as I begin to research a country/area as a simple act of gratitude for their sponsorship of this site which has proven so beneficial to me on numerous questions. While the idea advanced by Rex is probably sound from a business strategy standpoint, it would probably cut down on a lot of the "first-timer" questions that can become the starting point for the sharing of some pretty useful information, not to mention something of a minor ego trip for each of us who can jump up with an answer or an opinion and get the enjoyment of sharing our experiences.

Sue

I am a big fan of Fodor's books and use this site to get details from people who have actually been there. I think this site is an excellent addition to the books. I fear, however, that the rude behavior exhibited by some old posters to new posters may turn them off to Fodor's in general. I think registration would keep these anonymous rude posters at bay and I'm all for it.

Jim

I know not on point of your question, but of your headline:<BR><BR>What decreased my purchase of travel books was the discovery that my library has a great collection, many of which are the curren editions. <BR><BR>I used to buy over a hundred dollars of books for trips, but now I check out 4 or 5 books at a time, and purchase my favorite (if it's smallish) to bring along on the trip.

Elizabeth

I buy travel books, often Fodor's.<BR><BR> I would never pay to register for this site.<BR><BR> I think the kind of people who use this site a lot are "written-word" types, who are the kind of people who buy books.

Marilyn

I think Fodors travel books are among the best and I have an entire collection. I also appreciate having the website so questions not covered can be asked or advice can be shared. Marilyn

Jennifer

&gt;&gt;&gt;I got to thinking about this because of some complaining postings about censorship and how Fodors must be hiring new people to monitor the site.<BR><BR>I think what many don't understand is that this site is not public property, and free speech does not apply! We are charged absolutely nothing to read and post. No tax money is being used to support this site. It's like being a guest in someone's house. We're welcome, but if we are abusive or act inappropriately, then the host is under no obligation to continue to put up with that kind of behavior.<BR><BR>Jennifer

Rex

The point of my post was a lot less to do with the debate over registering, and more an attempt to try connecting book purchasing to use of this site.<BR><BR>Registering - - especially optional registering - - would not eliminate anonymous, mean or crude posts. You only have to spend 5 minutes on the Yahoo! Finance/Investing (individual stocks) message boards to see that.<BR><BR>Paying to register would be part vanity, part supporting something you like and want to foster - - rather similar to having a PBS membership.<BR>

Wondering

Rex,<BR>Your comment circles back to my question about how the website benefits Fodors. Unlike PBS which is supported "by contributions from viewers like you," Fodors is a for-profit institution. I guess having the website does increase sales and is beneficial from a business perspective.

Observor

If registration will keep just one looney tunes away, then I am for it. If paying a fee will keep several others away, then I am for that too. Fodors, just tell me where we pay. We are serious travellers, like most who post here - 2-3 international trips annually, 8-12 domestic trips each year. And we both work fulltime - we are not anywhere near retirement. We access Fodors as out first and last step in making all plans. The loonies will not block our access, to be sure, but their nastiness is a distraction, and when they are doing their stuff, we'd just rather not be in the vicinity, so we sign off at first opportunity. I suppose one question is whether Fodors wants to do something major to fix this website so they can keep people like us, or is it to be status quo which makes it easy for the psychos and other assorted nuts to keep us away. We post trip reports and enrich the information base. The loonies merely pollute the site and make real travellers a bit queasy.

serious

Dear Observer (and Fodors if you're reading) PLEASE speak for yourself. I am a serious traveller and I happen to like the oddball troll-like thread just as much as many of the serious, serious, travel threads. I'm not funny enough to think of things like that myself, but it lightens up the attitude some days. Let things alone.