MonogramsTravel arranges your whole trip
I’ve always been disappointed with travel agencies locally for their lack of enthusiasm and creativity. They want you to drive them every step of the way, telling them exactly what you want, and they’ll book it. Booking can be made directly. Travel agency I believe should separate it self from the rest by helping the customer with advise and suggestions, where to to go, what’s a good hotel for my need, transportation, and what places to visit. That’s what will make me come back.
Monograms seems to be promising just that, and perhaps a bit more. They would commit to help you decide where to go, arrange for your flight, stay, transportation and visit to the tourist attractions, and sometimes even VIP access. I hope the site delivers to it’s promise in real world. Who knows, I may end up giving them a shot someday. Be sure to check their brief video on the main page.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Hotels.com offering pillowcase with your favorite photo on it
Kinda weird, yes. Hotels.com now offers it’s customers the ability to upload or email a photo of anyone or anything (here comes a load of debate and lawsuits I guess), and the company will send over a pillowcase with your photo on it to the hotel you’re staying in. Does that sound fun?
via Travel In Light.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Hold it in to save some pennies!
What might seem like a comic series idea might soon be a reality at 35,000 feets of the ground, with British low-cost airlines Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary stated in an interview with BBC the possibility of a coin slot on the bathroom door, making some extra cash of anybody who wants to do his thing.
Something that’s really outrageous as an idea, coming from a company that tends to give low fare costs and then charge for what they call added value services, and a CEO previously quoted for suggesting sexual acts as a business-class feature. I wonder how going to the bathroom during a 6 hours flight would be an added service. On the other hand, what if a customer decides to let go of this service, and then does things more naturally. That would be more of an overhead on the airlines company it self, surely not worth the few extra pounds it could make. Maybe they will force a penalty on such act. Who knows!
Company officials have said there are still no serious plans to implement such an idea, but with time, who knows!
Popularity: 7% [?]
HearPlanet Travel App for your iPhone
HeaPlanet is a travel app for the iPhone and iPod touch that allows you by searching for a city, to find the interesting attractions around you, and if text is too boring, the app will read it for you.
Got an iPhone 3G? Even better. Now the app can automatically detect where you are, and find nearby places for you. The information it’s pulling is heavily dependent on Wikipedia, and in all cases have the source identified at the bottom of the page.
Price? Well last month The Unofficial Apple Weblog reported it was FREE for a week. Now, I can still see it FREE on iTunes App Store page saying:
“Due to our overwhelming success we’ve decided to extend our free promotion a little while longer. Thank you for making HearPlanet one of the most popular downloads in the App Store!”
So, enjoy it while it last 
. Here is a video of their coverage at MacWorld 2009, also highlighting how you can voice record yourself and tell the world about the locations you’re most familiar with.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Share Your Trip, Connect With Travellers – TripSay.com
TripSay is a virtual place for travelers to share their travel plans, connect with their traveling friends, and share tips. Imagine your self planning a trip to Istanbul, only to find that your friend is already having a similra plan. You could, if not for the whole journey, plan a shared activity on a specific day, meet a friend outside, and share more useful tips together as well.
The site is built from users interest, favorite places, past travel information and such. While I’ve had personal problems with the site using Chrome browser (if that’s related), the site does seem a bit fun and with a little work can become much more useful.
ReadWriteWeb has more insight about the site.
Popularity: 2% [?]
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