Odd note on my private email

Notify the webmaster immediately if you haven't already.

I just noticed I had 1 unread message and guess who from? The same person as you...with the same message. Delete!

I have received private messages from people trying to sell me tours and so on as well

I'm sorry guys. Didn't mean to scare you or offend you. I was really looking for american tourists to have some feedback on my project. I thought here was the best place to get in touch with american tourists which will be the people that I will try to target with my service in a year or two for the least.
I wasn't trying to sell anything or to promote my product since there is no product yet. I was asking for help and opinions to see if my service could interest people that's really it.
Sorry again about that.

We are not scared.. we just do not think the private message system is to be used to solicit business .. which is what you are in fact doing..

I will answer some of your questions though.

I would not use your service.. I would not need your service.. however.. there are a few people that might.. most of them will not be on a Rick Steves forum though.

Here most of us like to travel independently and do our own research.. no point in paying someone to do the fun stuff for us.
There might be a few people who have the money to spend on a personal concierge.. most of us would rather stay longer on holiday and spend a little less money..

I think advertising in a magazine like Conde Naste might be a good idea for you.

The idea of going on forums and asking people directly is a bad one.

I received a notice of a PM with info about a trip to Oman and several links in it. I've notified the Webmaster of course. What's really weird too is that it's not in my private messages, just the email notifying me of a private message. Somebody's playing around with the RS site....grrrrrr!

Hi everyone,

I contacted francoiselevavasseur17 earlier this morning and deleted the private messages sent, explaining that it was a violation of our community guidelines. In the future, all you need to do to alert us to suspicious messages is click the "Report" button on the message itself. We're pretty active in trying to keep out spammers/unsolicited advertisements.

Thanks!,
Dana

Darcy: We also caught that spammer this morning as well, deleting their messages. :)

If you've been alerted via email that you have a private message and it's not in your forum messages when you check, it's most likely because we've already gone in and deleted the spam and either warned and/or banned the user sending those advertisements.

Thanks, Dana for the quick response! You're appreciated!

Thanks pat for your answer. That's all I was hoping for. No need to be so harsh. I'm just a student (hoping to be an entrepreuneur some day) looking for feedback to see if my idea of service could be a good idea in the future. I didn't feel like doing something that wrong and and deserving to be treated like this.
Again I wasn't soliciting business. Since I don't have any business yet. I wasn't trying to sell anything I don't want money. And I'm not going to advertise in any magazine anytime soon. I'm not this far in the process at all.
I was asking for your opinions which could have been really useful. You can blame me for that if you want to. I was needing people's advice to see if I was going the right way with this idea or if I should just stop and find a job.
Sorry again for bothering all of you. Bye.

Francois, I don't think it was a bad idea at all. You just got a negative response, that happens. And this probably isn't the right site. My son is an entrepreneur and he researches new ideas through many on-line sites so it does not seem strange at all to me. Smart actually. Private Message me if you'd like.

Francois,
I was going to PM you, but didn't see the message in my inbox, so I'll go this route. I don't think I'm alone in fighting hackers and spam on a weekly basis, always afraid I'm going to inadvertently compromise my computer, so messages like this scare me. Because you continue to post with us, I'm assuming you're legitimate.

I do think you have a potential market. How you advertise will be important. You will need to have a website and text that will pop up on a search engine within the first 3 pages. Read all the travel forums you can so that you'll get a sense for the information that people are looking for. We have used small group tours in Normandy to supplement our personal travel but also traveled with a French-speaking daughter. I know she and her friend were able to navigate more complicated situations because their command of the language was so much better than ours. So, what you offer will appeal to an audience. One other potential market where you might want to check out are students coming to France to study. I remember my daughter's first trip to study in Anger and how to actually get to the town/city after landing at CDG. SHe figured it out, but I see other parents asking similar questions. It's that first few days where everything is so new and there is so much that is new. Does this help at all?