Online Travel Articles

Sort of some of the YouTube videos out there, 10 Best Places to Retire, Top Ten Cities to Live In, `See Paris in 1-Day. All their images & videos are stock footage from a site with a voice over.

My suspicions are confirmed. While I enjoy top ten style of articles, I am suspicious of many that seem to have no insider knowledge.

Kind of like those restaurant commercials where the plates of food on TV never resemble the food that shows up at your table when you go there or when you pull up a hotel website and look at the rooms and wonder how come your room didn't look like that room when you arrived. Advertising and marketing has just been made easier by the world wide web.

Oh good grief.

I hope you kept your jaw somewhat higher than the ground !!!

It would never occur to me to ask a "travel writer" if they had actually been to the places they wrote about! Am I really that naïve/out of touch? Just a rhetorical question!

It's the same for lists of best products to buy, best credit card to get, etc.

Usually, the website or You Tube channel gets a commission if you click on the link to look at the product or purchase through them.

Companies that don't offer commissions, such as Rick Steves bags, seem to never get reviewed. And rarely are Tom Bihn or Red Oxx products mentioned for the same reason.

With many of the video sites, the longer you stay with a video, the more money the site makes. Have you noticed that so many videos last 20 minutes or longer but could be less than half that with content? And they must keep you at least 30 seconds for the money machine to start.

They are supposed to, by law, at least those based in the US, let you know that they will get a commission if you click on a link and purchase.

That's how these people make money. And some make a lot of money.

I wonder about that website with the man and woman who make all kinds of videos about eating in Paris, where and all kinds of foods. I read they recommended hotels, too, but have no personal knowledge. Then they have a tour guide in the family, people with boutiques. Is this the same, Frank II?

I am sure that everybody who posts advice on the Rick Steves Forums has actually visited and speaks from first hand experience. Almost. We don't have anybody who just googles and posts.

Thank you for sharing this, Dave. It’s stupefying. Online articles based on Online research. Written by somebody with no personal involvement or experience in the subject, and no interest in getting any. Isn’t that what A.I. is for?

What’s next (or likely already happening)? Recipes from somebody who’s never made the dish, and only gets their meals delivered to their door?

Not that I’m recommending anyone producing anything like this in any way, but writing a 48 Hours in London guide, using a random collection of recommendations gathered from responses to postings on this Forum, would possibly be a better resource than a story compiled by a stay-at-home Internet “writer.”