A Better Travel Guide?

1

I’m sure that most of you are years ahead of me technology wise, but maybe this will help someone.

I’ve always copied-and-pasted from a word doc a long document of travel tips, etc., to my guests after booking. It wasn’t very convenient. A week or so ago @Carmen shared her pintrest page, and I tried it, but it wasn’t what I needed. (For instance, each Smithsonian museum would be a seperate pin, and that would be a lot!. So today I got on weebly and, though there was a bit of consternation and missteps, ended up with this enter link description here. Thankfully I had my 11 year old daughter nearby to help me, lol!!

If you want to try to make your own just visit the weebly website. I’ve sent the link to my guests booked through April and have gotten some good feedback already!

2

Nancy that’s so cool. How long did it take? Do you need to have some amount of design or tech skill to get it done? For example is it templated?

3

Thanks, VactionInsiders! No, no skill, it was super easy. Just go to weebly.com and get started. For a fee I could have an actual website, but I don’t need that right now. The only thing I wish I’d done was put a password on it, but, I’ve already given the link to many guests so won’t bother now.

Some of it is challenging to figure out, but you just keep trying different things. A lot of the templates where what they offer, and the photos are easy to upload from your computer. For instance the cup of coffee photo - that was a background I could choose from a wide variety. But the local photos I did. I was under the weather on Tuesday so it was a good time to do it. I spent a number of hours. Of course, when one starts working on something like this, there’s no end to the tweaking. But my goal is to add just enough info, not so much that it becomes burdensome.

It did help that I had my 11 year old daughter with me - she’s rather clever with these kinds of things.

Give it a try! Message me if you have any questions

4

Thanks and sounds good! By the way I’m Andy… I wish I could change the name on my profile!

Actually what I was thinking was adding it to a blog post I did recently on alternatives to the Airbnb guidebook. Would you be ok if I linked to what you’ve done? And maybe I’ll ask a couple of questions just to explain the process of what you did?

I can send the blog post so you can see, just to give you an idea of the context?

Thanks!

5

Andy, I’d love to see your blog post also. Maybe you could share a link to your blog.

6

Sure, I’d love to see your blog. thanks!

7

Awesome idea for your guests DC. As DC can be an overwhelming place to visit, it’s great to have some tips and ideas when traveling there. I’ve thought of doing this for my guests, but refer them instead to the travel guidebooks I write for. Figuring, if sales are up for the publishers, they will keep hiring me every year for the updates. :slight_smile: (also I tell them to buy the print guidebook before coming because the publisher’s website is not very user friendly.)

I do send out a guest info document with tips and ideas strictly for the local surrounding area. That’s something we really don’t have room for in the guidebook.

8

Thanks, Kona - there’s so much to do here, as you know, so most of the traveler web sites are totally overwhelming and have ads popping up everywhere. Most of my guests are coming for just the obvious sites - Capitol Building (hey I know a nicely-dressed guy who works there!), White House, Lincoln, Washington Monument. The Mall. Then they are going to buzz through Air & Space, Natural History, US History and the Lincoln Memorial all in one day.

So I wanted to make it easy for them to get that info without sorting through a lot of websites with ads screaming at them from all sides. If they don’t plan carefully and just go to the Smithsonian metro stop it’s going to add a lot to their walking.

1 Like
9

Don’t forget Ford’s Theatre! It was my favorite thing in Washington! Could have passed on Natural History! A bit dated and not much going on until T. Rex opens in 2019! Highly recommend American Indian though. Gorgeous building and displays. National Archives. A must see.

Can’t imagine doing the whole mall and the museums in one day. Lots of walking… Be sure to mention the trolleys… called Circulators? That can carry them back from the mall area for a buck. I’m still kicking myself over what I missed. So much!!!

10

Sure, just need to add what Nancy has done and then i’ll share!