A Comparison of Major Travel WEBSITES
 

Let's give the Big Four some free focus group-style, marketing feedback. Seems that Lonely Planet, Fodors, Rick Steves and TripAdvisor are currently the top dogs. Can we plz try to fashion our feedback in ways that will benefit each other here?
YES: mentioning any other sites (specialty or otherwise) not listed above; your perceptions regarding the pros and cons of each of the Big Four; actual historical experiences on their 4 forums; ideas for improvement across the board, "I'd like to see...."
NO: personal attacks on Fodorites based on their opinion in this thread; your opinion of each of the above as a guidebook brand--lets keep this one as a constructive website/forum critique (nobody cares what you think about Rick Steves as an individual).
Have at it.
I am done. The end.

I really only use Fodo'r and TA - I don't think I'm a Lonely Planet type of traveler. I do like Rick Steve's books - if fact that is where I usually start my trip planning - it just seems it is easier to get the big picture with a book rather than clicking thru different websites and I have always liked the format of his books. I like how he "triangles" / rates the sights, the walks he maps out, and I really like how he includes the practical logistics / connections. But I think the topic is supposed to be websites?

So when I have done my homework, Fodors and TA are good for tweaking. Both have snarky posters but they don't bother me. I use TA most for hotels and restaurants. I used to try to get hotel ideas from TA, then book direct but lately it seems esp. booking.com can offer a better deal - for example, just finished booking a London trip - hotel websites were often higher than booking.com - for example sometimes the hotel website did not have the option of no breakfast (and they want to charge alot for those hotel breakfasts!) or I could not tell if I was prepaying. I hope I don't end up in the crappy rooms because I did not book direct - we'll see.

Like others, I will start trip planning using Rick Steves' books (if it's Europe) and like how he rates sites and gives estimates of what you can do in 1 day, 3 days, 5 days and if you have more time. That pace seems to match mine. I do sometimes disagree with him on how worthwhile some museums are, but I'll go to just about any museum over a lot of other things. His walks are excellent for orientation. I did both his Krakow and Munich walks on my first day in each city and it gave me a good lay of the land for the rest of my stay. His audio walks are better than following the book. I do not find his website terribly useful other than the updates he gives on closings, openings, changes to things on the ground where I'm headed that I may not already know about. I have little use for his forums as it's very elementary info.

I've never used Lonely Planet. No specific reason.

I never use Fodors for trip planning anymore. I seem to do better on my own or have found far better sources for reliable first-hand experience (Safaritalk for Africa) elsewhere.

I use Trip Advisor to read hotel reviews and find restaurants that mention vegetarian in their reviews as that's what interests me. I write reviews on all my hotels and tour/service providers as a way to give back. The forums are marginally useful. I find I'm offering help more than asking for it.

I'm adding a tangential fifth: For anyone traveling to Africa, the Safaritalk.net forum is an amazing resource. Only the Trip Report forum is viewable without a login, but the anecdotal logistics, itinerary and photos in that sub-forum is worth a look alone. It's a great place to get ideas for safari as well as ask questions of people who've been where you might be interested. The depth and breadth of detail is just incredible and for the most part the members are helpful without being condescending (just don't start a conservation or hunting debate!). The Trip Planning sub-forum (which requires a login) is a great place to run proposed itineraries by some very knowledgeable and experienced folks. There's no one here that has been on as many or as diverse number of safaris as the people there. I firmly believe that one safari does not an expert make, so I would take that opinion lightly, whereas on Safaritalk, if someone's been to Kenya dozens (literally) of times, they're more likely to actually know what they're talking about. Nothing on Fodors or Trip Advisor can compare to the wealth of information there. (I've never looked on Lonely Planet and Rick Steves only does Europe)

Agree about safaritalk.net. It was started by former Fodor's poster Matt_from_England years and years ago. It's really grown. I try to avoid the site because it gives me $$ideas$$.

For hotels, I start with booking dot com and then check the hotel's website. There is always a good chance of a better deal there.

For restos, I start with TA and change my mind when I arrive in that town.

Ditto for things to do.

((I))

I start with TA and Fodors when looking for lodging; I'll follow up on any specific lodging, restaurants, or tours mentioned by Fodorites. I cross-reference them with Booking.com and sometimes Hotels.com. I've used Hotels.com a few times because of the tenth night free, but am more interested in Booking and TA reviews.

I'll start restaurant searches on TA but as noted above, too often the #` is a sandwich shop or a gelateria--not usually why I'm browsing reviews.

Sometimes smaller books work on specific locations -- I'm reviewing Marco Polo books' Lake Garda, since we will be spending several days there in the fall and not all books give it much coverage.

If I know where I want to go, I usually start with Expedia. I will search for air/hotel packages. That will give me a pretty comprehensive list of hotels. On Expedia you can search by neighborhood or specific area. So if I am looking to travel to a city that I am not familiar with, I will take a look at the neighborhoods that Expedia lists and google each one to get a better idea of where I want to stay. Once I have narrowed it down, I will search the hotels in those neighborhoods usually by star rating. I take a look at the photos and reviews available on Expedia but then will google the hotel to get other sources of information, including the hotel's website, TA, etc.

For restaurants, I usually start with TA as I like the format. But I also check the restaurant's website and also google the name to see what pops up. I will also use Google maps to get a sense of where the restaurants are in relation to my hotel. I always choose my hotel before starting to research restaurants.

For things to do or places to see, I again usually would google "Things to do in ________" and see what comes up.

I intermittently have used Trivago, Booking.com, Fodors, among others.

Interesting to contemplate.
TA: Reviews are only as good as reviewers. Most are near useless ("Great food" tells me nothing about a restaurant.) and a few are very helpful. A little more useful for hotels and sights, but nothing earth-shaking. The forums are mix of questioners, with answers tending strongly to concrete and on point.

Never used Lonely Planet. Not my demographic.

Hardly use RS. Too middle of the road blah.

Fodors: Full of digressions and personality. None of the other sites will have established posters completely disagreeing. The only site that has humor and emotional sensitivity. Now, if only the uninformed idiots would stop disagreeing with me, . . .

Trip Advisor. I'm very active on several Destination Forums (similar to Fodors). I rarely post or use the Reviews section. But it's easy enough to sort out what's real or fake imo. Have made person-to-person connections there which hasn't happened anywhere else.

Fodor's. Just for fun. I'm not sure I've ever used it for actual trip planning myself.

Rick Steves. Helped me on initial trips to Europe. Don't use it now.

Lonely Planet. I've been off and on with this. I do like their forum section The Thorn Tree. And made several long-term online friends from posting on the Mexico branch back when I was first going there.

Pretty much now I know where I'm going, where I'm staying, what I'm doing on my vacation trips. Until I am retired and ready to try some new destinations, I really don't need any help.

Fodor's, Cruise Critic, TA and Flyertalk. All good in their own ways; quite different demographics it seems.

I enjoy the "omni" boards on FT (one for non-political/religious topics, another for just those things) and the Lounge on Fodor's. Both have a pretty limited group of regulars, but especially the Omni P/R board on FT includes some of the funniest, best informed, cynical, and often irritating "regulars" I've encountered. They make Fodor's Lounge look like a meeting of the Jam and Jerusalem crowd in England.

Of course, I love and use Fodors. I've been posting here for so long that I know many of the posters. I actively dislike TA - the format is such that I mostly see advertising, and the place is filled with trolls and fake reviews. I never go there. Lonely planet - I have used for remote, less traveled areas, especially in Asia. Often times LP is the only place that has any info on Sikkim or Nagaland or knows what to recommend in less traveled areas of Indonesia. I've never looked at Rick Steves, as I mostly travel in Asia.

It is thru Trip Advisor forums that I now have "insider" connections for renting apartments in Puerto Vallarta direct from owners. Nothing like that has ever happened for me here on Fodor's that's for sure. There are no "fake reviews" when you're in the Destination Forums. Seems a lot of people only know the Reviews or booking portion of that website. They have incredibly active individual forums as well. Kind folks there talked me thru a 1st trip to Cabo. The Negril Jamaica forum helped with all kinds of info I couldn't have found elsewhere (certainly not here) let's say how route taxis work. If I asked a west coast Mexico question here on Fodor's, I'd likely have to answer it myself -lol.

I disagree with you 100% about Trip Advisor.

TA's tone can be bloodless, humourless and impersonal

When you are actually in the various Destination FORUMS there is no "tone" from "TA"... it's like here... just regular people talking to each other.

I've also posted this exact same-same thread over on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree forum's General Chat section. You might find the contrast with responses to be interesting.
I am done. I was supposed to be done.

Interesting thread. I used to use TA but don't care for it as much these days. I disagree that there is no "tone". I have asked innocent questions and gotten lambasted by the "experts" over there. I do find it can be helpful for nitty gritty stuff sometimes. It really depends on the destination forum you are on. Food reviews on TA are totally not in step with my eating preferences. I just have to look at my hometown to see how off it can be.

Rick Steves has good basic info and is very helpful in first organizing a trip.

Haven't looked at Thorntree in eons, but it used to be useful despite not being my style either.

For food Yelp can be helpful and I like Eater for major destinations. Not so helpful in smaller out of the way places.

I still find Fodors helpful. After so many years, I have learned the style of various travelers and that makes it easy to figure out what might work for me.