More travel planning sites. Virgin have launched their social media travel site called vtravelled. Like any Branson venture it’s already had a truck loads of publicity and reviews (nice one here including pictures of a typically Branson-esque launch – hey, it’s social media, take a picture of my kids)
The site is technically very assured, but in the time I spent on it I was left thinking “what’s the point?”. Virgin are using the phrase “Share Your Passion For Travel”, but isn’t that what most travel social networks are about? It’s certainly ambitious and a lot of the initial feedback on Twitter has been very positive, but it does seem to lack the focus, simplicity and individuality of similar sites.
Another new site launched this week is Oyster (not to be confused with travel site Oistr)
The site employs 10 full-time travel journalists who have reviewed around 500 hotels over the last 15 months. Currently, the site only features Aruba, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Miami with New York and Las Vegas coming soon. The emphasis appears to be on larger, upmarket hotels.
Each review is very detailed with around 2,000 words and around 100 photos. I liked the reviews I read; despite the length, the copy is well-written and economical.
Oyster aim to make money from advertising and the sale of hotels and packages. The challenge is to feature a more comprehensive range of reviews whilst obtaining enough revenue to enable them to do so (they started with initial funding of $6.4m). The business model is draining, both in terms of time and resources. Each reporter reviews between 6o and 70 hotels a year, but Oyster aim to have 150 staff by the end of next year and 20,000 reviews within five years.
