Fodor's Survey
 

Hello everyone,

You may have seen this post in some of the other threads, but the Fodor's team needs your help and would like to hear what you think! We are looking for ways to better our guidebooks so if you could please spare a few minutes to take this quick online survey, we would greatly appreciate it. To those who may be skeptical, this is not spam nor a link to a virus. This is an official survey created by the folks at Fodor's.

You can find the survey here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/3067951/bbad0a438bff

The survey should take about 3-5 minutes to complete. Thank you in advance for all of your help!

Sincerely,
The Fodor's Team

Done with pleasure.

(In very small font just for the team, putting "Thank you for participating in our Guidebook Survey! It will take about 3-5 minutes to complete.") on the final page seems a bit odd.)

I completed the survey earlier, but must admit that I found it confusing -- it wasn't always clear when you were asking about guidebooks in general, or Fodor's guidebooks in particular, or when you were asking about guidebooks one uses for planning, versus guidebooks for carrying while traveling. You might want to interpret your results with caution!

Thank you for the help and tip colduphere!

Thank you for the feedback kja. I'll be sure to let the team know.

I filled it out but you would get much better feedback if you allowed for more individual input. I know that type of date is much harder to look at but there were numerous questions where none of your possible replies were really what I wanted to say.

Why did the "Fodor's Team" ignore the Lounge with this request?

Hey Dukey1, since we couldn't post on all the forums at once, I'm making my way to each forum one by one. Thanks for the concern though!

and isabel, great point you make there. Again, I'll be sure to bring this up to the team. Thank you for your feedback.

Dukey1 on Oct 28, 16 at 6:35pm
Why did the "Fodor's Team" ignore the Lounge with this request?

Really? SMH.



I did the survey but to be truthful I have not bought a guide book in years.

Macross that's perfectly okay! We appreciate any and all participation :)

Dukey don't forget your Fodors Canada guide on your trip. It lists both good restaurants.

Thank you mkataoka. I just pack super light.

This does not look like a regular request from Fodor's. Their requests come from registered editors.

I have my doubts about these survey threads. When fodors wants our attention they don't do it like this, do they? Don't they make the thread stay at the top?

I took the survey some time ago and have the same input.
Confusing at times not allowing feedback. I don't know what you'll do with my results.
Don't bother with the lounge us lesser mortals have no access to it.
It looks like a VIP club doomed to become a geriatric one.

Don't bother with the lounge us lesser mortals have no access to it.
It looks like a VIP club doomed to become a geriatric one.


That's Fodor's general idea yes. Not a VIP club though, just one that members from before a certain date can still access, but which Fodor's would rather be shot of altogether sadly.
Besides the interminable political postings it is actually quite lively and the best place for off topc posts. A pity it isn't reopened, but I do understand the thinking behind closing it.

I never use guidebooks,and probably miss out on interesting stuff as a result, so I shan't be completing the survey.

Was wondering if Fodors is translated into French and if it sells.
We always 2 books when we go on holiday but don't recall seeing Fodors on the shelves.

I've never seen their guides in anything but English. Michelin do translate their guides from French into other languages, including some into Dutch, - maybe Fodors is missing a trick there.

ttt

We rent apartments and there are usually guide books left behind. The one in Dublin this last trip had them in several languages. I know renters leave them behind for others to read.

I wondered about this being a legitimate Fodors survey as well, especially when they offered a $100 gift cert to Amazon if we gave additional information that Fodors already has. The fact it wasn't posted in the Lounge is curious.

I've reported this to Fodor's admin hopefully it is legit.

I don't buy this as a legitimate Fodors survey for one minute.

I got the survey as when connecting.
Obviously I didn't go for the Amazon induced part.

StCirq (and others with doubts) >>I don't buy this as a legitimate Fodors survey for one minute.<<

Actually it is legit. I e-mailed the editors and asked.

But I do agree at first glance, it didn't look kosher.

I don't think they use the little logo on the screen names anymore. But more and better identification in the post or putting it at the top of the page like a 'sticky' would have helped.

Thanks janisj. It seems really odd because no employee logo, the fact that the poster is new as of August, etc.

>>It seems really odd because no employee logo, the fact that the poster is new as of August, etc.<<

IB took over the website last summer - kept a lot of the employees but there are several new people too.

They are actually working on fixing things but I think the technical issues are larger than they ever imagined.

I took the survey, hope I win the $100 certificate.

I thought it was pretty clear when it was referring to Fodors versus guidebooks in general as to what you want, use them for, etc.

I did think it was poorly written in many ways, though. In many questions, you could only choose one choice which doesn't make sense in many cases (such as where you get your guidebooks, I get mine in multiple ways).

I also found it odd that it asked you which guidebooks you have used but didn't ask you whether you like them or not (or why). I have used all those brands but really dislike DK Eyewitness ones, for example. It seems like it might be useful for them to know which ones you like and which ones you don't, and why, not just which ones you have ever read.

Are you an editor? Usually when Fodor's comes to us you have something official by your screen name. Yours just looks like any ole poster here?

suze: >>Are you an editor? Usually when Fodor's comes to us you have something official by your screen name. Yours just looks like any ole poster here?<<

Did you see my post?

>>Actually it is legit. I e-mailed the editors and asked.<<

I don't know if mkataoka is an 'editor' or not, but is definitely a Fodors employee.

The response I got said they are taking the voiced concerns into account and will try to make future communications clearer.

This poster isn't "new" as of August... August 2011 that is!

It's just odd, I've never seen an announcement from Fodor's that looks like this.

Well they need to make it clearer.

There is nothing here that indicates they legitimately work for Fodor's. Even their posting history is strange (3 brand new posts, 3 previous participation on threads... in the past 5 years. Really??)

You can see that I've "pinned" the survey in the Fodor's Help forum. If you have the time and haven't done so already, please take the survey! Thank you annd yes, I work for Fodor's.

Thanks mkataoka. Just a hint: In the past when there was an important message it was 'pinned' at the top of all the travel boards. Few people look at the Help Forum (well a few are today --because of all the spam. ;) But normally no almost no one looks at that board)

Thanks janisj. So far I've been told that it's only possible to do that in the help forum, but I've just asked them to see if it's possible to do that in the other forums!