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Save/ShareThe success of Eurocheapo, a hotel review website, isn't exactly the world's greatest mystery. But it certainly raises an eyebrow, because modest Internet companies aiming to please budget-conscious travelers rarely make a buck, as EuroCheapo does. Founded six years ago, the website now earns enough to afford to have three full-time workers and a handful of freelance hotel reviewers in Europe.
The company's success, while modest, seems to be due to its focus on the post-backpacker crowd, meaning travelers who are too grown-up to stay at hostels but who don't travel with children and who don't insist on luxury lodgings. Most of the hotels it reviews are relatively cheap--say, in the $83 to $193 per night range for hotels in Rome's central Campo dei Fiori neighborhood in high season.
EuroCheapo pays freelance writers to visit and review hundreds of hotels. The best hotels in its reviewers' eyes are featured online. "We spotlight hotels that give you an authentic sense of the city you're in," says Tom Meyers, EuroCheapo's founder. "If I'm sitting in the room of a hotel in Berlin, I want the decor to say to me, 'Hey, You're in Berlin'. I don't want it to have that bland feeling of an international chain hotel."
A few weeks ago, EuroCheapo added "hotel meta-search" to its website. Now you can see its hotel reviews alongside listings for hotels it hasn't reviewed. Many, though not all, of each group of hotels can be booked online via partner hotel-booking engines, such as Venere and Booking.com. Similar to a TripAdvisor model, you can see expert reviews (highlighted as "Editor's Picks") side-by-side with hotels that have only been reviewed by anonymous customers at hotel booking sites such as Venere.
This move to mingle hotels that have been vetted by reviewers following consistent standards alongside reviews of hotels anonymous customers is an interesting development. Other travel websites will be eyeing EuroCheapo's move and mimicking it if it's successful.
Tomorrow: The funny and surprising story of how college student Tom Meyers raised the cash to create a successful Internet travel business.
[Correction: My original posting misspelled Campo de' Fiori. I regret the error.]
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Hello,
My wife and I have just returned from Russia and we visited The Hermitage when in St. Petersburg. WE found the fine art to be very appealing and the crowds of visitors to be quite apalling.
We wish to return there at some future date at the time when that facility receives the fewest visitors, logically in the dead of winter, and enjoy the facility at our leisure.
Obviously its a very complex site to visit and I want to go about acquiring information to make this second trip absolutely excellent. I am not that computer literate, but realize in terms of doing this trip efficiently this is the best source for virtually all the information necessary.
I'd appreciate your input as to the best websites, the most important information, and the best way to communicate with others on this fascinating collection of art. Obviously those visiting the Hermitage on a day trip see virtually nothing and get to closely inspect even less while there.
Thank you for your help in this matter.
Gene Solyntjes
Posted By gene solyntjes on July 25, 2007, 11:33 AM
Hi, Gene,
Our magazine, as you may know, has a Trip Coach feature where we advise people on upcoming trips.
I'll pass your name along for this.
Thanks,
Sean
Blog editor
For other readers: Interested in getting coached? E-mail your trip details—the more the better—to Letters@BudgetTravelOnline.com
Posted By Blog Editor on July 25, 2007, 4:03 PM
I can completely understand the need for a legitimate micro-chip credit card for rental use of bicycles in European cities! Why don't you campaign the U.S. to add micro-chips asap? I am sure those bikes would disappear in one season if the service did not guard them closely. Yes, they would have your credit card number and could charge your account, but it's not a bike purchase service! I am sure they don't want to have to buy new bikes everytime a tourist rides off with their bikes!
Posted By Fran Pierce on July 26, 2007, 8:51 AM
In 06/09/25 I stayed at a wonderful Gastehaus Christine in Landsberg,west of Munich. Walk to Train to Munich.
Email: Fee for 2: 55-60 euros.
Name: Bernd Kraft
Posted By Russell N. Sacco, M.D., J.D. on July 28, 2007, 10:20 PM