What You Missed When Travel Media Took Over Tribeca Last Night

December 4, 2009 at 8:57 AM | by JetSetCD | Comments (7)

Last night in New York City, the best and the brightest in travel media got together at the 92Y Tribeca to discuss the ever-changing world of online travel and how social media is changing the way travel is bought, sold, reviewed and experienced.

It was a pretty packed house to hear our panelists speak; we had Matt Gross, aka the Frugal Traveler at the NYT, Bowen Payson, Manager of Online and Digital Marketing, and Adam Wallace, New Media Director for Roger Smith Hotel in addition to the founder of this here site and our sister sites HotelChatter and VegasChatter.

So what did you miss? Well, finding out how sexy we are, for one, and the opportunity to check out our hunky panelists. Kidding! Not really. Maybe! Anyway...

Topics discussed ran the gamut from first experiences with social media—Matt admitted to Couchsurfing and Friendster (!)—to what'll be big in 2010. We especially identified with Bowen's advice that to be a dynamic personality on Twitter and really engage others who might be drowning in the information overload, you've got to be more than one-dimensional. The focus should be more on content than simply listing deals, listing trip tips or retweeting and thanking others!

That said, Adam of the Roger Smith Hotel sees great viral potential from Twitter, and Bowen at Virgin America is in love with the idea of Foursquare (as are we).

Eventually and inevitably, the conversation turned to how to handle yourself when a social media interaction goes sour, such as if you post a terrible hotel review on Tripadvisor and the hotel emails you, asking for you to remove it or taking other action. Surprisingly, even with all of Matt's up-and-down reviewing of places around the world, he says that he has never run into this issue. Perhaps business are too scared to mess with the New York Times?

On the other hand, both Virgin America and the Roger Smith Hotel embrace the bad reviews with the good, because transparency exhibits the company's confidence in their product and their willingness to be corrected. Bowen elaborated: "the rule is to keep the good, keep the bad, and be careful with the ugly." And when people get ugly, what do you do then? "Don't always be authoritative; open it up to the community and let others tell them they're being stupid."

If you'd like to hear more about the awesome points made at last night's event, you can check out Twitter by searching "Jaunted" or "92Y," since we love those who were dutifully live-tweeting the night.

Finally, we'd like to extend a huge thanks to all of you who made it and thanks for introducing yourselves to us and continuing the conversations (even after they kicked everyone out). This is a very important time in travel media right now, and we're thrilled we could share our friends and insights with you!

For more of the same goodness and love, you can always follow us on Twitter and friend us on Facebook.

Related Stories:
· Win A Pair of Virgin America Tickets At Our NYC Event This Thursday [Jaunted]
· Travel News coverage [Jaunted]

Comments (7)

Return to » What You Missed When Travel Media Took Over Tribeca Last Night

Thanks for hosting a great panel. Lots of insightful advice and interesting discussions.

Oh Foursquare, it looks like I am finally going to have to start dealing with you! Great event last night and so fun to see everyone (in person too!)

This was definitely a worthwhile event, each panelist had great insight into the world of social media and the changing landscape of how we read about, research, and buy travel. Thank you!

To everyone for coming out and asking such great questions.

I enjoyed the event and picked up a few insights, but left the place a little depressed. Sure, there's a nifty "community" aspect to all this Web 2.0 stuff, but ultimately it's all about marketing. As companies like Virgin push more and more quasi-editorial content through every available channel, newspapers like the Times struggle to retain the few remaining readers who appreciate the journalistic standards underlying features like Matt Gross's Frugal Traveler series. The problem is, it seems like the "creep" is only going in one direction. Companies can embed content into their marketing without penalty, but traditional content providers (newspapers, magazines, this blog) are rightfully crucified for accepting freebies or having other conflicts of interest without full disclosure. To say that it's a challenging environment for the handful of ink-stained wretches who still hold objectivity sacrosanct is an understatement. Of course I can't hold back the tide, but I can call it what it is. Ultimately, it will be up to readers (er, consumers) to decide where to place their trust. In the meantime, baby's gotta eat. Any of you fat cats want to hire a blogger who's good at faking sincerity? I'm in the book.

Sorry to miss the event. Would have enjoyed hearing both the journalist and business side of the Trip Advisor et al debate, which seems to be where all cocktail chatter at travel industry get togethers tends these days.

Just wanted to say that this is one of the best sites for travel. Keep up the good work!

Jaunted

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