Jed

Most of the posts here are about people asking advice about places, hotels, restaurants, etc. It would be nice if the questioner, when s/he returns from the trip, gave us the benefit of her/his experience with a short report.

JmVikmanis

Yes, I've noticed that we seem to be getting fewer reports these days. Can't imagine that it has anything to do with registration but also can't suggest a reason that this is happening. For my part I'll try to get my act together and report on my late Fall trip from Lisbon to Seville and Madrid that I've been putting off.

Jed

...As an reply to the original post so we know to what it pertains.

kismetchimera

Hurray no reports!!!! Some reports are SO BORING that if you read them before going to bed put you to sleep right way!!!

Scarlett

I like reports when they tell about the place and hotels,etc. I could live without the great details of every morsel someone eats. <BR>And short is Good!<BR>

sandy_b

I'm one of those who love the detailed trip reports. I LOVE food so I want to know where one ate and what one had and how much it cost.<BR><BR>I like hearing about all the things you don't/can't read about in a guidebook.<BR><BR>My trips reports are VERY long and VERY detailed so I don't post them here. I sometimes offer them out and give my email address. I type them up mainly for myself so I can relive my trip (and to give me something to read when I'm in the nursing home).<BR><BR>Just my 2¢ worth,<BR>Sandy

John

<BR>Agree with kismetchimera. And if you MUST give a report Scarlett is Correct. Short is VERY good.

JmVikmanis

This is one that will never please everyone. I like what they do on Chowhound--put (long) after the title if that's what it is, then people who hate long reports don't even need to bother to look. Would be nice to always include report in the title so people also know that's what it is and list all areas covered. Putting in price info is a risky business from my experience. Unless the rates you pay are those within acceptable ranges of the reader you can get taken to task for being &quot;uppity&quot; and flaunting your wealth--never seen the reverse, I guess it's only acceptable to pick on those who pay higher rates not those who travel at the other end of the scale. At any rate, this is just a no win. As Ricky Nelson said, you can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself.

Scarlett

Maybe I should clarify<BR>I am happy to read about meals at restaurants that one might be interested in going to also..is the food good at Jules Verne, etc. What bores me to tears are the threads that detail every bit of toast at breakfast, three meals a day for a week..after a while, if you aren't the one that ate it, it is just sooooo boring.<BR>But I do like the lists, where the best Chocolate can be found where the good crepes places are, best wine bars..you know-information that we can use.

rex

As someone who has been criticized before - - sometimes gently, sometimes mockingly, sometimes viciously - - for being too &quot;long&quot;, I have never understood this.<BR><BR>is someone MAKING you read what seems too long, too tedious or boring to YOU?<BR><BR>I actually agree that many reports are boring. I rarely read, at least not much beyond skimming, the 5, 10 and 15 part reports that appear here at times. I even skim the 2- and 3- page articles from nytimes.com that I am quite fond of sharing here. but I don't claim nor complain that MY lack of absorption is somehow a faux pas on the part of the author.<BR><BR>I actually think that Jed is talking about something slightly different.<BR><BR>Someone asks for a recommendation - - a town, a restaurant or a hotel - - and someone gives a reply. The original poster plans to accept the suggestion - - or NOT, because of other research it leads to - - and then several months later comes back, having actually experienced the suggestion or the alternative.<BR><BR>What we need more of is feedback on how the suggestion actually measured up. That might be quite separate from a &quot;general&quot; trip &quot;report&quot;.<BR><BR>I think this should be easier now with registration. Most visitors here, especially if they are relatively new here will have posted 50 times or fewer in a year's time. so, they click on their own name, and they readily retrieve their own original question.<BR><BR>They could post here, but I think a new thread is actually worthwhile. If I see a thread titled &quot;What restaurant in Rome?&quot; and it now has one more post added to it - - bringing it up to eleven, for example, I don't know that I am likely to look at that.<BR><BR>But if it has a header like &quot;Reporting back on our experience at Le Volte in Rome&quot;, with zero, one or two replies, I probably would look. Best of all, would be an opening sentence like... &quot;As a follow-up to my questions back in January on the thread &lt;&lt;URL&gt;&gt;...&quot;<BR><BR>And anyone searching for info on that hotel, restaurant or town would especially appreciate this kind of post, instead of trying to find it as the eleventh post on that &quot;Restaurants in Rome?&quot; thread.<BR><BR>Just my opinion, obviously...<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>[email protected]<BR>

Christina

I agree with Jed and I don't think he means general trip reports (of which, I agree, read them if you want, otherwise don't -- some I read, some I don't based on my interest or the content).<BR><BR>I do find it very useful (and interesting in a way to see how things turned out) when someone comes back and says how the restaurant or hotel worked out. Those are the main ones I'm thinking of (or some special attraction). I do not think this should be a separate post, I think that would be not be of as much use or read by many. I agree completely with Jed, it's nice when someone &quot;tops&quot; the thread that had the recommendations and discussion and then responds as to how it worked out. This way a person who searched can find all the info plus followup in one complete thread, and anyone reading the followup will not have to search and tie together the previous comments or recommendations with the followup. It makes the most sense from an archiving and research or search point of view. Also, in the original thread other people may have had their own experiences to share about the place.

Jed

Christina has it right. I wasn't talking about a general trip report, but a specific answer to a specific question. If someone asks about hotels A and B in city C, and gets advice about them, then a SHORT (that means, not long) post would be a proper thank-you to those who spent their time to give advice here.

pop

It would be nice if each person would returning from a trip would list their hotel, the area location and the price paid in local funds and rate it on a scale of 1-10. Same goes for restaurants. After that, each poster could explain their experience in greater detail. I realize that Fodors has ratings for both hotels and restaurants but their choices seem to be woefully lacking or dated. I find the time it takes to research restaurants and hotels is the most time consuming. <BR>Any trip report of travels outside the major tourist areas are especially valuable. I don't know the answer but do agree it would be nice if all returning travelers would report their experiences from information received on this board.

littletraveler

I agree with Jed and Rex and Christina.<BR><BR>I do searches and find SO many posts asking questions about hotels, but then the person never comes back to report on it! It frustrates me. I have inquired about some London and Paris hotels here, and restaurants too, and you can bet that when I get back I will do a search of my name to find my posts and put a little update in about how the hotel or restaurant was.<BR><BR>I hope others will begin to do this more often too.

nancy

On returning from a trip I have offered a trip report (really a diary) of my experience. I figure if someone is interested in my area they will e-mail me directly (have received quite a few). My reports would be way too long (and probably too boring) to put on this site. I write the reports mainly for myself and include them in my photo album.<BR><BR>Having said that I do enjoy reading other's reports. For my part, I would usually just answer questions if I can.