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Revenge of the CVBs
The Occidental Tourist · December 13, 2000

Last week, the Tourist dished the skinny on CVB Web sites - they're often not as crummy as you'd think. And by dealing with a CVB exclusively online, you don't have to put up with that constantly peppy conversational tone that all CVB staffers use.

The Tourist recently had a spin on the biggest U.S. cities' sites. The upshot? You have to wade through garbage to get to useful stuff, but it's there. (The links to many of the domestic and international tourism Web pages is - natch - found at the International Association of Convention and Visitor Bureaus:

Los Angeles: Lots of LaLa-land styled nonsense as opposed to substance. (Recent headline: Sushi-rama Rolls Into Studio City!) Beyond that, the "on sale" link promises hotel deals, but it takes a lot of clicks to actually find out what the savings are. And sometimes the link simply takes you to the generic hotel Web site with no leads on deals at all. But it's at least worth poking around: There was recently an offer to book a king suite for two at the Le Parc Suite Hotel in West Hollywood for less than $200, including taxes, breakfast for both guests and parking.

New York: Also glitsy, but more useful. Discounts abound; a recent offer allowed Continental Airlines OnePass members to get free and reduced admission to the Museum of the City of New York. And the service link takes you right to businesses that will, say, provide foreign language-interpreting escorts for that global business conference; information on budget hotel availabilities; or limos to whisk you through that aggravating Big Apple traffic. Here's where the site falls flat: The keyword search is predictably hit or miss. An attempt to find "Dry Cleaning" services produced zilch. Another for "Fax" outlets turned up just one Kinkos (there are at least 15 in the city, according to Switchboard.com) and the Park Avenue offices of Xerox Corp. (For some reason, though, when I called, the Xerox folks said I couldn't walk in off the street and use their fax machines. Bummer.)

Chicago: Pretty straightforward and to the point - what you'd expect from a meat-and-potatoes town. The immense link to business services is simplified by being arranged alphabetically by categories - concierge, cigars, child care and comedy clubs are just some of C's. That's better than other sites that require sifting through businesses by their corporate name. And the cultural attractions link actually reveals useful information - such as ticket prices - with concise immediacy. You'd be surprised at how many sites avoid that kind of service.

Boston: Again, useful, economically presented skinny from the non-nonsense New England town. Gets to the bottom line quickly with a link to coupons/discounts, meeting services, transportation and reservations resources. The discount search, for example, recently cut to the chase by offering up a quick $10 off on a Thrifty car rental, available to be picked up at Logan.

Dallas: Pretty much just an online introductory brochure. Scarcely anything there beyond self-promoting chatter.

Atlanta: This is one MTV-styled, hip-hop, happenin' kinda site, loaded with all kinds of techno-geegaws that pretty much simply waste your time. An animated, umm, thing greets you upon first click. A still flickering Olympic flame from 1996? A blond toupee that Ted Turner left in his office? Go figure.

Next, the site unleashes a barrage of questions: Gonna Meet? Moving Here? Wanna Have Some Fun? The Tourist was wondering whether he'd soon be asked to buy stock in the Gold Club. Well, anyway, practically speaking, the site is lacking for business travelers. The culture events finder drew blanks on some pretty broad categories (dance, art, etc.) over a two-month period on a recent try. A link to tourist information only takes you to a place to fill out an online request for undescribed information.

Gee, thanks.

The Occidental Tourist is a magazine writer in Washington, DC. He writes for Maxim, POV, Capital Style and ABCNews.com. His column appears on Tuesdays. E-mail him at tourist@ticked.com.