1. To some people any cruise is luxury, but to the discerning
cruise-philes at cruisecritic.co.uk,
some cruises are in a class of their own – and now a section
of their own too. Like the rest of the site, the luxury cruise
micro-site is a crime against website aesthetics, but it’s easy to navigate
and rich in content, offering reviews, forums, features written by
specialist cruise journalists, deals, and itineraries from a selection of
luxury cruise operators. Also on the cruise front, there’s another site of
interest that launched this month - ebookers
cruises. The site has real-time pricing and availability. looks like its
parent site, and takes bookings through specialist agent, Viva Voyage. It
offers holidays with 23 cruise lines, a best price guarantee and access to
cruise experts.
2. Going on a holiday with a group of friends is a lot of fun, but
organising one is not – whether it’s commitment-phobe pal or the
parsimonious friend who won’t pay up until the last minute, the experience
is a thankless task. You can take some of the hassle out of it by using a
new website that will collect names and money for you. www.wigadoo.com
allows groups of friends to sign up to an activity or holiday and pay
their money into a central account. When enough people pay up the “group
leader” – yes, you can still carry that clipboard with you – you can
transfer the money to their bank account or pay direct with through a
Mastercard system. The site is simple, easy to navigate and has a small
selection of ideas plus discounts on activities like theme parks - sadly it
won't sort out the who-gets-the-best-room debate though...
3. Thomascook.com, which
came 25th in a recent Hitwise list of the top
50 UK online retailers, has completed a long-overdue overhaul of its
site. The tour operator has made the site easier to navigate with deals
splashed across its homepage, and will soon add multimedia and user review
content. There’s lists of the most popular destinations, more deals, a
holiday planner and bookable holiday extras. Customer reviews and videos
will launch in July – and about time too – rivals Thomson
has offered these for some time – perhaps why it is at 11th spot in the
afore-mentioned Hitwise list.
4. Had a crappy holiday? A blog
by Times Online’s Michael Moran and author of Sod Abroad, helps you avoid
another one by plotting the dismal experiences of others on a Google map –
be it line dancing in Kilkenny or aggressive sheep in Anglesea. There’s also
another interesting entry for the delay-averse – a link to Forbes list of
the most
annoying airports in the US – with stats on delays to back it up.
Basically avoid all major US hubs…
5. The blog-turned-website AMB
Cote d’Azur may not have a catchy name, but it’s got a growing
fan base. Husband and wife Alice and Nigel Barker are big fans of the south
of France and what started as an outpouring of their appreciation has become
a handy travel resource for holidaymakers heading to France’s sunniest
coastline. There are regular features and news stories about the region,
details on markets, recipes, pictures, traffic reports and an events
calendar (quite sparse at the moment) – it looks better on Firefox than
Internet Explorer.
6. www.missedaflight.com
is a travel agency that specialises in helping people who’ve haplessly
missed a flight or been stranded by a cancelled service. The company claims
to have expertise in rebooking hotels and car hire, finding last-minute
seats on flights, getting onto flight waitlists and even looking at coach
tickets to get you to your destination. It is, of course, manned 24 hours a
day, although you need to call if it’s between 8pm and 8am.
7. The judicious hotel booking website Travelintelligence.com has
spawned a little sister to cater for people who like their hotels small. Chic
Retreats offers only hotels with fewer than 30 bedrooms that range
from rustic modern. Like the original site, the entries have lots of
detailed images of every property, live availability and offers – it could
with adding location maps with each property though, like its rivals Sawdays
and Mr and Mrs Smith.
8. It isn’t glamorous but it’s cheap, and greener than air travel –
which means coach travel is back… Hoping to cash in on its new-found
popularity, the Coach
Tourism Council, which promotes the services of 150 UK coach
operators, has launched a new
website. The site will find the coach companies that offers tours
starting near your home, some of which provide door-to-door pick-ups, and
offer inspiration for day trips, holidays and breaks around events such as
musicals or flower shows.
9. Google isn’t the only mapper – turns out Microsoft’s Virtual Earth
is pretty natty too – we’re loving Active
Hotels’ use of it for bird’s eye views of its properties. It’s
all very well seeing your prospective hotel plotted on a map, but seeing an
aerial shot of it can put that sea-view claim to the test. It’s not
available on all properties – city ones are best covered by the service –
like this Bath
hotel. Ok, so it doesn’t beat Google’s Street
View application – but with any luck that’s coming next…
10. Ever tried using Google to find the website of a national tourist
board and got a suspiciously amateurish-looking site returned? If you want
the real McCoy go through the website of ANTOR,
the Association of National Tourist Boards. It’s just relaunched its site –
and boy does it look better. The site opens with a bold, inspirational
travel picture and couldn’t be easier to navigate, with clickable links to
the member countries and an interactive map.
Browse
travel offers at Times Selects
Gosh - only just noticed this last week while in the throes of totally redesigning our website. I would be delighted if you'd take another look at our site, AMB Cote d'Azur, as it's been totally redesigned with new features, videos, and more articles - we've even updated our Events Calendar!
Alice Barker, Chateauneuf-de-Grasse, France
There's also Extravigator.com, a new social network for sharing luxury travel tips and advice that's been getting a lot of good press recently.
Terrence Patterson, London, UK
Mauritius I have used its services its a new tour operator company specialised on mauritius and that gave me 200% satisfaction:
www.beinmauritius.com
Luvee Cheekhooree, London, UK
There is a cool new social travel guide just launched - tripwolf.com
it features professional and user-generated content, with pictures and videos for most destinations
Carmen, london, UK
Number 1 on your list should have been your very own traveldirectory.timesonline.co.uk, hundreds of offers updated daily arround the world - wherelse would one go ?
Symeon Breen, Up Holland, UK
I use Tripadvisor a lot. Easy to use and has lot's of information of places and hotels.
nick, grantham, uk
Another good website you should add to this list is www.economycarhire.com which provides customer ratings for each car hire provider at each location.
Rory, Dereham, UK
I think number 11 on your list should be www.want2travel.co.uk It not only gives ideas & discounts on great holidays but single travellers can find companions to travel with.
Chris , London, UK
Touting a staffer's blog at Number 4 is unprofessional and blatant shilling. A more judicious reporter would have left it off the list due the matey connection and simply appended a reference as a postscript to the piece.
James Donevan, Manchester,
I think number 1 on your list should be www.accommodationdirect.net
Jay, Millbrook, UK
I think number 11 on your list should be: www.TravelStay.com which is an incredible resource for really cheap budget London hotels and hostels.
Lara S, Milton Keynes, UK