The internet is a wonderful place to research your favorite hotel, resort or vacation destination. In fact, because of this easy-to-access information hotels and tourist attractions alike are having to pay extra special attention to their customers. They’re now also forced to make sure their hotel rooms, park trails, and restaurant floors are especially clean. There are just too many ways for the common person to make his opinion known.
Let’s start with the easiest place to do research…TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor has millions of reviews on everything. In fact, when you search for a hotel on Yahoo, TripAdvisor is who pops up after you’ve selected the hotel you’re interested in. And beyond the reviews, people have profile’s on TripAdvisor that you can access and actually ask questions about the person’s experience or review. It’s probably the most commonly used site to do vacation research.
Now for a bit more obscure but often more helpful…Flickr. Flickr is a photo sharing site where millions of people have posted their vacation and travel photos. If you’re headed to Jamaica and aren’t sure which of their waterfalls you want to visit, search Flickr for the name of that waterfall. You’ll likely find tons of photos from the place and will really be able to tell if the waterfall is just a trickle down the side of a hill, or a beautiful gusher off the side of a mountain.
Finally, Facebook is another great place to look. There are lots of groups on Facebook where people talk about their experiences. The group My Favorite Place To Take Kids On Vacation Is…has great postings about places I’d never heard of before. For instance the Strong Museum in New York is a museum that celebrates “play”. They have toys, games and lots of hands-on exhibits. They even have a Mr. Potato Head exhibit with a life-size Mr. Potato Head. Groups like this are awesome for finding new places you’ve never heard of and to ask others what their experiences have been like.
If you want to check out that Facebook group, go here: OR HERE
Otherwise, read about my favorite place on earth, great ideas for taking kids on vacation and my reviews of some famous destinations at