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11 Posts tagged with the travel_planning tag
Kevin Fliess
0

Now you can plan a trip with multiple destinations in one travel plan on TravelMuse.  This has been the most requested enhancement and we’re delighted to show it to you.


How to Plan a Multi-Destination Trip:
1. From the TravelMuse homepage simply click the Start here>> link next to Multiple destinations.

multi homepage.png

2. Fill in your primary destination and click on Add destination to add other places you plan to visit on your trip.

Multi Form.png


3. Once you’re inside your Trip plan, use the handy sidebar on the left to switch destinations.  As you do, you’ll be able to find hotels, restaurants, and attractions.and save the ones that interest you to trip.

 

LH Nav.png

 

For more information on Multi-Destination trip planning visit the help section.

 

Also In This Release – Updated Homepage Features Top Trips
We’ll be featuring some of our favorite trips -- created by users and our staff -- on the homepage each month.  This month, the TravelMuse homepage highlights these great getaways:


•    An Insider’s guide to San Francisco
•    Experience the Aloha Spirit in Maui
•    Windy City Getaway to Chicago
•    A 3-day Parisian Escapade

 

Did you know that there are now more than 12,000 public trips on TravelMuse?  Each of these trips can be copied and personalized.   To copy and personalize a trip, just click the "Copy This Trip" button and then customize the itinerary to your liking by adding and removing items.

 

Clone CTA.png

Let us know how you like these new capabilities on TravelMuse and as always we welcome your feedback so we can continue to improve TravelMuse.

 

Thanks and happy travels,

Kevin and the TravelMuse Team

0 Comments Permalink Tags: multi-destination, travel_planning
Kevin Fliess
5

The Best TravelMuse Yet

Posted by Kevin Fliess Jul 15, 2009

Today, I am delighted to announce the latest release of the TravelMuse Planner. (From the TravelMuse homepage, just type in where you want to go to try it out.) This is the most advanced yet intuitive trip planning solution on the Web and we’re really excited to share it with you! Our goals for this release were to:


1. Make the overall process of trip planning on TravelMuse even easier and more fun.
2. Make it simpler for you to find and save relevant content—both on TravelMuse and from anywhere on the Web.
3. Create a forum for TravelMuse users to share information about the Web site and the trip planning process.

 

Here’s a quick rundown on the key features:

 

A Tripfolio That Follows You Everywhere


The Tripfolio is your virtual manila folder—a central storage container for all your travel research. It’s the place where you save anything that interests you while planning your trip. You’ll notice that the Tripfolio is now bound to the right side of the site and is present when you are using the TravelMuse Planner.

tripfolio-empty_screenshot.jpg

Above: When you begin a trip, your Tripfolio is empty. As you save research, it appears in your Tripfolio.

tripfolio-full_screenshot.jpg

Above: Tripfolio with saved research items.


New! Embedded Web Search


It’s no longer acceptable for travel Web sites to exist as walled gardens. Consumers naturally visit multiple Web sites when planning a trip, but struggle to organize all that information.

 

Now, with embedded Web search, users can explore the Web and save any interesting Web pages directly to their trip plan without leaving TravelMuse—no more managing multiple windows or endless bookmarking, and no more e-mailing links back and forth to your friends while planning a vacation.

 

It doesn’t matter what kind of page it is: A hotel review, an article, a blog post—all of them can be saved and stored centrally. Now, co-travelers can save all of their favorite research in the same place.

ews instructions.jpg

TravelMuse is the first travel Web site to harness the power of the Web in this way.


The screenshot below illustrates how TravelMuse has integrated embedded Web search into the trip planning experience. Note that there are two tabs at the top of the page; one tab provides access to TravelMuse’s own great content. The second tab lets you explore the Web using embedded Web search. The power of this integrated experience is that you can save both TravelMuse content with Web content to a single place—the Tripfolio.

VS-screenshot.jpg

 

New! Community Forums


Have a question about TravelMuse or a great idea for a new feature? On the new community forum you can connect with other TravelMuse users and communicate with the TravelMuse product team. It’s your go-to location for product help and idea exchange.
We hope you like this new release as much as we do. As always, please send us your ideas and feedback so that we can continue to improve the TravelMuse experience.


One last thing: With this release, we are also refocusing our content development around the planning process. What this means is that you’ll see fewer general articles and more bite-sized pearls of wisdom specifically designed to make your trip planning experience better. Leading our content development efforts is Jill K. Robinson, who assumes the role of Managing Editor. Over the coming months, you’ll see new content emerge on the site such as destination ratings, recommended trips and thousands of activity descriptions in hundreds of destinations.


Happy travels!
Kevin and the TravelMuse Team

5 Comments Permalink Tags: planning, travel_planning, travelmuse_planner
Fiona Ashley
3

With the Dow at its lowest yesterday in 11 years, the economic prognosis in the United States may not look bright. What does this mean for travel? We know the industry is hurting and taking a huge hit on revenue, however, what we found in a survey (2009 Travel Trends) we conducted last month here at TravelMuse.com, was that the majority of travelers are actually still saying yay, not nay, to vacations in 2009. 

 

Travelers Still Assert Their Right to Travel

A full 62.2 percent plan on taking the same number or more leisure trips in 2009 as they did in 2008, with 22 percent saying they will take more trips!

 

 

People Prefer to Cut Spending Rather Than Sacrifice Leisure Travel

Consumers will be more value-conscious than ever—but will still assert their right to travel: 77 percent of respondents said they were willing to cut spending in other areas to avoid having to cut back on travel. Travelers are making their own lunches and espresso; canceling the daily paper and cleaning services; driving less to save money for their vacations; forgoing tickets to events; and planning camping trips instead of staying in hotels or staying abroad fewer days to save money while they continue to travel.

 

 

One TravelMuse user said “I just gave myself a travel/expense test—and I have 1) curtailed going out to dinner (a lot) and 2) stopped shopping for clothes for a few months now, 3) but there is NO WAY that I would give up travel—even in a recession. It is tooooooooo important. I booked a trip to Chile for my family in August and to Maine/Boston in July … plus will book Mexico soon!”

 

Travel is Important, Especially in Tough Times

Nearly 65 percent of respondents said that vacations are very important. The benefits to health, wellness and state of mind can be greatly improved by taking a break, even if it’s a mini vacation, as highlighted by the U.S. Travel Association in its Benefits to Travel survey (2008)

 

 

Where are People Traveling in 2009?

There is still a healthy desire for travelers to travel: 68 percent of respondents said they planned to vacation in other U.S. states, with a staggering 52 percent still planning to travel internationally on a leisure/personal trip. So people are not just staying at home, or staying in their own state, for that matter.

 

 

Other Industry Research and Comments in Support of YAY to Travel in 2009

TravelMuse certainly is not alone in its belief that travelers will keep asserting their right to travel.

 

The U.S. Travel Association* showed that for 2009, consumers are pursuing “good values” in the trips they plan —76 percent of respondents expected to book a packaged vacation to save money, while 67 percent planned to stay fewer nights and/or spend less on food and entertainment when traveling.

 

Forrester vice president and principal analyst, airline and travel research, Henry Harteveldt, agrees that people would rather “trim around the edges,” and as a result, travel sellers need to “help travelers find ways to stick to their budgets.” 

 

Peter Greenberg**, travel guru and New York Times bestselling author told us, “No matter what the economic conditions, there is something that transcends the current financial malaise—and that’s travel itself,” … “It’s part of our cultural DNA. We really can’t help ourselves. We will find a way to travel, no matter what. We may deny ourselves an expensive dinner or a new fashion purchase, but we will not deny ourselves the opportunities to travel. And where there’s a will—especially with travel—there are many ways.” 

 

Say YAY to Vacations in 2009

Our CEO, Kevin Fliess said “There is strong data to support the notion that people are continuing to travel despite the challenging economic times,” ... “While people are more focused on value, travel continues to play a vital role in our lives. Travel is rejuvenating—and people cherish this experience even more during tough times.”

 

Don’t deny yourself the right to travel, take a break and say YAY to vacations in 2009!

 

Tell is what you think? Yay or Nay to vacations in 2009? Are you cutting back on anything so you can take your vacation this year? 

 

The full press release is available and for more information, including full survey results, email us at marketing@travelmuse.com.

 

*Ypartnership travelhorizons™ survey (October 2008)

**Peter Greenberg’s latest book, Tough Times, Great Travels: The Travel Detective’s Guide to Hidden Deals, Unadvertised Bargains, and Great Experiences, released today (March 3), features tips for today’s traveler, such as the best day to buy airline tickets, trips you can take on just one tank of gas and destinations where the dollar is still king.

3 Comments Permalink Tags: travelmuse, travel_planning, travel_trends_2009, survey_results, yaycations, naycations, staycations, peter_greenberg, forrester, henry_hartveldt, u.s.travel
Fiona Ashley
1

Here at TravelMuse, we’re raring to go now that 2009 has arrived and we have high hopes for our new President, Barack Obama. Nowhere is the inauguration excitement more prominent than in Washington, D.C., itself. That’s why we’ve released a special inauguration feature to help visitors make the most of their time in D.C. !

 

!http://www.travelmuse.com/community/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/1240/Inauguration_module.jpg!

 

We invited Debbie K. Hardin, former White House staffer, to share some of her top tips.  Working for the Clinton administration, as the director of presidential messages in the communications department, she attended a number of inaugural parades and balls. She was even in attendance for the first swearing in of President Clinton, so is well positioned to give us valuable insights from the best viewing venues and culinary creations, to historic experiences and affordable fun. 

 

In addition to Hardin’s great insight, we also include the best places to eat, sleep and explore in and around Washington, D.C. Lastly, tell us where you plan to celebrate Inauguration Day in our  poll, or elaborate in a comment below. Here at TravelMuse, we’re planning a team huddle in our conference room to stream and project the footage from 8:30 a.m. (PST)!

 

If you’re lucky enough to attend the inaugural events or are planning a future trip to our nation’s capital, TravelMuse will help you to research, organize and build the best trip possible. The inauguration feature can be found at http://travelmuse.com and includes insights such as:

 

•    Inauguration Day Planning Tips—Whether you plan to join or avoid the crowds on January 20, this section helps you navigate the nation’s Inauguration Day offerings.

•    5 D.C. Hot Spots With Obama-Inspired Menu Items—Check out the culinary creations of chefs throughout the nation’s capital who salute the inauguration with special drinks and dishes ranging from the Obama Roll to vodka-and-fruit shakes.

•    7 Top Presidential Attractions in Washington, D.C.—Beyond the White House, these historic options get you and your family closer to the Chief Executive.

•   44 Free Things to Do in D.C.—Make your trip even more memorable with this list of affordable experiences.

 

For full details on our press release, click here.

1 Comments Permalink Tags: travelmuse, travel_planning, travel_tips, obama, washington_d.c., family_travel, inauguration
Fiona Ashley
0

At the PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summit, Hollywood, Calif. We’re excited to be making a couple of new announcements.

 

1.    Plan-It! Widget for Bloggers

Bloggers can add the Plan-It! widget to individual blog posts, enabling their followers to save and share relevant content within the TravelMuse Planner.

 

The Plan-It! widget provides a solution to help travelers easily collect and centralize their research—while also increasing visibility for bloggers. Blogs that feature the Plan-It! social bookmarking widget allow visitors to quickly save content from the blog by simply clicking the Plan-It! button on any page. The content is then stored directly into the TravelMuse Planner—a centralized place to collect, organize and share travel research. Within the Planner, individuals can easily create trip plans and share the research they’ve collected with friends, family and fellow travelers—driving more traffic back to the blog postings they’ve saved. Bloggers can visits Plan-It! for Bloggers to find out more and easily add the Plan-It! button.

 

Sites using Plan-It include: UpTake, Ciao Bambino, Compulsive Traveler and TravelingMamas.

 

 

2.    Crowd Sourcing

This new feature provides insights into the hottest travel destinations and topics on the Web. As individuals save content into their TravelMuse Planner from TravelMuse.com and from around the Web, lists of most popular destinations and topics are generated and dynamically updated based on trip-planning behavior—view this example destination page for Barcelona to see popular bookmarks. By capturing the actions of crowds, TravelMuse can provide valuable insight reflecting the interests of travelers in real time.

 

See TravelMuse at the PhoCusWright Conference on stage at 10:16 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 17, or visit us at our table on Monday or Tuesday in the Laurel-Doheny rooms.

 

For full details click here.

0 Comments Permalink Tags: travelmuse, plan_it, travelmuse_planner, travel_planning, crowd_sourcing, phocuswright
Fiona Ashley
0

We’re excited to work with the local Junior League Chapter, the Junior League of Oakland-East Bay, Inc. (JLOEB), on their annual fundraiser. The Junior League was founded in 1935 and is an organization of women, who to this day are committed to building better communities and making a difference in the lives of children and families served by the League.

 

TravelMuse is delighted to have this opportunity, and as we continue to effect change in building our travel planning community, we hope we can help other groups like Junior League. Starting now and running through November 30th, the team here at TravelMuse will donate $1 per each League-generated visitor who signs up and starts planning a trip using the TravelMuse Planner—a centralized place to collect, organize and share travel research. There is no cost to participate and no obligation to book a trip. (The total donation is capped at $1,000.)

 

Whether League members are looking for destination ideas on where to take their next family vacation, organizing a girls’ getaway, embarking on a romantic trip for two or meeting other League members at the 2009 Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI) Convention, TravelMuse.com now makes the entire process easy for anyone to plan a trip. TravelMuse.com is also the JLOEB 2008-2009 exclusive travel partner and a silver-level sponsor of the Fifth Annual Artful Living Home Tour, Nov. 7- to 8, 2008, in Alamo and Diablo, Calif.

 

“Oftentimes, all it takes is a simple action to result in something truly impactful,” saya Tricia Stenger, president, JLOEB. “The League produces tangible benefits for children and their families throughout the Bay Area, and I am ecstatic that our philanthropic efforts through TravelMuse will further expand our combined impact in the community.”

 

At TravelMuse, effecting change is one of our core values, and we believe companies should not only invest in their employees and partners, but in the community at large. The Junior League is well known for building better communities, and we’re thrilled to work with their members on this program to further inspire others to make a difference.

For full details, read our press release.

 

0 Comments Permalink Tags: travelmuse, junior_league, family_travel, community, philanthropy, trip_planning, travel_planning
Kevin and Eric
1

Did you know that 20 percent of travelers report spending more than 10 hours to plan a trip? (source: TIA.org)

 

Think about the last time you planned a big vacation. How was the planning experience for you, and how long did it take?

 

Since we started thinking about what we’d like TravelMuse to be, we consistently came back to the amount of pain involved in planning trips and how we wanted to enable people to easily research, plan and book a trip, regardless of how complex the itinerary is.

 

Today, we’re excited and proud to announce Social Trip Planning within the TravelMuse Planner. Planning is really at the heart of what we do, so we are just thrilled to share it with you. Read full release

 

With Social Trip Planning you can plan trips with friends and family, and reuse the travel research of people you trust. Let’s face it, who would you rather get advice from—your best friend whom you’ve known all your life, or “crazy4cabo” whose comments you read on advice sites.

 

Here’s a list of just some of the many new things that this release enables you to now do on TravelMuse.com:

 

 

 

 

 

  • Create a day-by-day schedule of your planned activities,, restaurants you’re eating at and places you’re staying from our repository of more than 100,000 points of interest and 90,000 hotels spanning hundreds of destinations globally. Or you can add any page you find on the Web.

  • Invite people you’re traveling with to collaborate on the plans. Everyone can add research and modify the schedule, and everyone gets notified immediately of changes to the itinerary.

  • Network with people whose travel advice you trust. View your friends’ trip plans and repurpose their research.

  • Keep apprised of the trips your friends are planning (if they choose to let you see them) and give them the benefit of your experiences.

  • Combine research you find on the Web with reference information and travel articles on TravelMuse, and easily drag and drop these items into a scheduler. You can even move entire days around when the need arises!

 

 

 

 

 

The net result: You can now plan trips the way you’ve always wanted to, with great content and easy-to-use tools, plus with a little help from your friends.

 

So stop e-mailing links back and forth and abandon the manila folder—try the new TravelMuse Planner for yourself today!

 

Finally, we have to extend our deepest thanks to the entire TravelMuse team and their understanding families who pulled out all the stops to make this release possible.

 

Happy planning!

Kevin and Eric

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Comments Permalink Tags: planning, demofall08, travel_planning, travelmuse
Fiona Ashley
0

DEMO just announced the list of companies participating in this year’s DEMOfall 08, expected to have the largest attendance ever. Travelmuse is looking forward to participating alongside these other companies in San Diego and telling press, bloggers and analysts all about our new release.

 

Kevin, Eric and I are bound for San Diego tomorrow on Southwest Airlines. Stop by and see us at booth #24 if you’re also heading to DEMO, or follow us on our blog here and on Twitter @[TravelMuse|http://twitter.com/TravelMuse].

 

In the meantime, here’s more from DEMO’s press release earlier today and the list of companies participating at DEMOfall 08:

 

Leading Technology Conference Continues to Highlight the Best in Entrepreneurship from Around the World

 

The DEMO conferences, known for launching some the world’s biggest technology products, will kickoff this Sunday with 72 new products poised to launch onstage in just 72 hours. Beginning its nineteenth year of supporting innovation, DEMOfall 08 will highlight products from more than 11 countries and 19 states. Known as the conference that launched products from Google, Apple, Palm, Intel, Yahoo!, and TiVo, the fall conference will host one of its largest attendances of journalists, investors and business professionals in its history. DEMOfall 08 is being held from Sept. 7 - 9 at the Sheraton San Diego. To learn more about the event and register to attend visit http://www.demo.com.

 

“Every DEMO we strive to identify the companies that will defy all the odds and have significant impact in the technology markets. Ours is a year-long process that culminates in seventy-two hours of products that are more than disruptive; they change the rules of the game as we know it,” said Chris Shipley, product analyst and executive producer of the DEMO conferences. “I am very excited to unveil the class of DEMOfall 08. They are innovative, they are important, they are fun, and they represent the future products and solutions we all will be using soon.”

 

The DEMO conferences are held twice a year requiring the DEMO team to hold in-depth interviews with more than 1,000 companies ready to launch new products at the event. This rigorous process ensures that DEMOfall 08 attendees will, for the first time, see new products from around the globe including  Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Taiwan. Some of the products launching at DEMOfall 08 include:

 

    • products that help you manage, deliver, and socialize your mobile phone and content.

    • tools that enable you to personalize, navigate and deliver multi-media, rich-media presentations and television content over the Web.

    • a solution that brings RFID right to the consumer.

    • an application that promises to keep spam out of your inbox for good.

    • a tool that takes the mystery out of eating healthy wherever you are.

    • services that take personal finance management to a new level.

    • a solution that makes everyone a game developer.

    • tools to make you fall in love with your photos again.

    • products focused on reducing our impact on the planet from energy consumption to traffic congestion.

 

Videos of each live onstage demonstration will be available on http://www.demo.com beginning Monday afternoon Sept. 8.

 

DEMOfall 08 Demonstrators

 

Accordia Group, LLC; New Rochelle, NY; http://www.accordia-group.com

Adapx, Inc.; Seattle, WA; http://www.adapx.com

Alerts.com, Inc.; Bellvue, WA; http://www.alerts.com

Arsenal Interactive, Inc.; Mountain View, CA; http://www.heycosmo.com

Asyncast Corp; Campbell, CA; http://www.rocketron.com

Awind Inc.; Junghe, Taiwan; http://www.awindinc.com

beeTV; Milano, Italy; http://www.bee.tv

Best Buy; Minneapolis, MN; http://www.giftag.com

BizEquity Corp.; Spring House, PA; http://www.bizequity.com

Blue Lava Technologies, Inc.; Honolulu, HI; http://www.bluelavatech.com

Cerego; Tokyo, Japan; http://www.usa.iknow.co.jp

Cinergix, Pty Ltd.; Melbourne, Australia; http://www.creately.com

Clintworld; Boenningstedt, Germany; http://www.clintworld.de

CoreTrace Corp.; Austin, TX; http://www.coretrace.com

crowdSPRING, LLC; Chicago, IL; http://www.crowdspring.com

DesignIn, Inc.; Marblehead, MA; http://www.mydesignin.com

Dial Directions, Inc.; Alameda, CA; http://www.dialdirections.com

DOCCENTER; Omaha, NE; http://www.doccenterinc.com

Enterprise Informatics, Inc.; San Diego, CA;

http://www.enterpriseinfomatics.com

Familybuilder; New York, NY; http://www.familybuilder.com

ffwd.com, Inc.; San Francisco, CA; http://www.ffwd.com

Fortressware, Inc.; Mountain View, CA; http://www.fortressw.com

Fusion-io; Salt Lake City, UT; http://www.fusionio.com

G.ho.st; Ramallah & Modin, Palestine and Israel; http://g.ho.st

Green Sherpa; Santa Barbara, CA; http://www.greensherpa.com

Infovell, Inc.; Menlo Park, CA; http://www.infovell.com

Intelius, Inc.; Bellevue, WA; http://www.zumende.com

Invision TV, LLC; Bethesda, MD; http://www.invision.tv

iWidgets, Inc.; San Francisco, CA; http://www.iwidgets.com

Kadoo Inc.; Washington, DC; http://www.kadoo.com

Koollage, Inc.; San Jose, CA; http://www.koollage.com

Mapflow, Ltd.; Cork, Ireland; http://www.eirlift.com

Maverick Mobile Solutions, Pvt. Ltd.; Maharashtra, India;

http://www.maverickmobile.in

MeDeploy; Hamden, CT; http://www.medeploy.com

Message Sling; Worcester, MA; http://www.messagesling.com

MeWorks, Inc.; Taipei, Taiwan; http://www.meworks.net

Microstaq, Inc.; Austin, TX; http://www.microstaq.com

MixMatchMusic, Ltd.; Burlingame, CA; http://www.mixmatchmusic.com

Momindum; Paris, France; http://www.momindum.com

OpenACircle.com; Dallas, TX; http://www.openacircle.com

Paidinterviews, LLC; McLean, VA; http://www.paidinterviews.com

Paragent, LLC; Muncie, IN; http://www.paragent.com

Photrade, LLC; Cincinnati, OH; http://www.photrade.com

PlanDone, Inc.; Petaluma, CA; http://www.plandone.com

Plastic Logic, Ltd.; Mountain View, CA; http://www.plasticlogic.com

Qtask, Inc.; Burbank, CA; http://www.Qtask.com

Quantivo Corp.; San Mateo, CA; http://www.quantivo.com

Radiant Logic, Inc.; Novato, CA; http://www.radiantlogic.com

RealNetworks, Inc.; Seattle, WA; http://www.real.com

Rebus Technology, Inc.; Cupertino, CA; http://www.rebustechnology.net

RemoTV, Inc.; New Haven, CT; http://www.remotv.com

Rudder, Inc.; Houston, TX; http://www.rudder.com

Semanti Corp.; Alberta, Canada; http://www.semantifind.com

Sim Ops Studios, Inc.; San Francisco, CA; http://www.wildpockets.com

SitScape, Inc.; Vienna, VA; http://www.sitscape.com

SkyData Systems, Inc.; San Mateo, CA; http://www.skydata.com

SpinSpotter; Seattle, WA; http://www.spinspotter.com

Telnic, Ltd.; London, England; http://www.telnic.org

TetraBase, LLC; Boothwyn, PA; http://www.tetrabase.com

The Echo Nest Corp.; Somerville, MA; http://echonest.com

tikitag, an Alcatel-Lucent Venture; Antwerp, Belgium;

http://www.tikitag.com

Toolgether; San Mateo, CA; http://www.toolgether.com

TravelMuse, Inc.; Los Altos, CA; http://www.travelmuse.com

Trinity Convergence, Inc.; Durham, NC; http://www.trinityconvergence.com

TurnTo Networks, Inc.; New York, NY; http://www.turnto.com

UbiEst S.p.A.; Treviso, Italy; http://www.ubiest.com

UGA Digital, Inc.; Taipei, Taiwan; http://www.ugadigital.com

Unity Solutions, LLC; Clearwater, FL; http://www.unitysolutions.com

Usable Security Systems, Inc.; San Francisco, CA; http://www.usable.com

WebDiet, Inc.; Henderson, NV; http://www.webdiet.com

Xumii, Inc.; San Mateo, CA; http://www.xumii.com

Zazengo, Inc.; Santa Cruz, CA; http://www.zazengo.com

0 Comments Permalink Tags: travelmuse, travel_planning, demofall08, conferences, san_diego
Kevin Fliess
0

Most travelers visit numerous Web sites when planning a trip, but they lack a simple way to organize their findings or share research efficiently. TravelMuse can help solve that problem. Today we released the TravelMuse Plan-It! widget for site publishers.    (Click to read the full press release.)

 

Visitors to sites that feature the Plan-It! social bookmarking widget can simply click the Plan-It! button on any page and save content directly into the TravelMuse Planner—a centralized place to collect, organize and share travel research. Content publishers can download and install Plan-It! by visiting the Plan-It! page on TravelMuse.com. 

 

 

 

This widget is perfect for travel content Web sites such as CVBs, DMOs, B&Bs, travel blogs— any quality travel site that wants to empower its readers with the ability to more easily plan trips.

 

 

Three TravelMuse partners—which all provide great trip planning content—have already deployed Plan-It!: Uptake.com, CiaoBambino.com and CompulsiveTraveler.tv.

 

  • Uptake aggregates and organizes reviews from thousands of different sites so that you can get a complete picture of a hotel, restaurant or attraction before you arrive. (You can read about how UpTake is using Plan-It! on the UpTake blog.)

  • CiaoBambino provides very rich and detailed reviews of high-end family travel destinations and properties.

  • CompulsiveTraveler has beautiful, engrossing travel videos organized by activity and destination.

 

If you’re a traveler, explore these sites and try out the Plan-It! widget. Click on a page featuring the widget, and that content is automatically stored inside of a TravelMuse trip plan. 

 

 

 

If you’re a publisher, visit our partner page to learn more. Plan-It! is free to download and use, and gives your site visitors the power to more efficiently plan trips. We hope you find this tool as cool and useful as we do. 

 

 

[ |http://www.travelmuse.com/about/plan-it.htm] 

 

 

0 Comments 0 References Permalink Tags: plan-it!_widget, publishers, uptake, ciaobambino, compulsivetraveler, travel_planning, travelmuse
Fiona Ashley
1

It’s all go, go, go here at TravelMuse, and over the course of July we continued to get the word out about the company through blogs, consumer magazines, press, TV and radio.

 

As much as she prefers to be behind a camera rather than in front of one, Donna flew out to Miami and was interviewed by Joel Connable on NBC6 news about our Inspiration Finder and planning tools. We were listed as one of their Cool Travel Websites. Watch the video footage here:

 

The August edition of Mens Journal hit the shelves in mid-July and featured TravelMuse as one of Three New Travel Services—the added advantage is we can legitimately display the cover shot of the very fit Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in the office! I’m allowed to say that—right? In fact, why don’t I just share it with you…

 

 

 

Kevin did a couple of radio interviews, first with Travel Hub Radio and then KOMO 1000 News Radio in Seattle. He was also interviewed by Verne Kopytoff of the San Francisco Chronicle, where we were featured as a new site offering creative tools for finding and planning vacations.

 

Vani Rangachar (Los Angeles Times) in the Dallas Morning News said, “Easily its coolest gadget is the user-friendly “Inspiration Finder” … and I also liked Trip Plan, which allows you to collect disparate info in one place by bookmarking and labeling Web sites.”

 

A big thanks goes out to the blogging community too for their continued interest. Donna and I attended the BlogHer ‘08 Conference in San Francisco earlier this month, and we had a great time reconnecting with Stacy Morrison of Redbook and meeting a number of other women bloggers!

 

Christina from coolmompicks said, “TravelMuse’s original content and cool trip planning tools make it an interesting place to spend some time; I may never get to a Family Surf Camp but it sure was fun to read about.”

 

Nicole Feliciano of Momtrends covered TravelMuse and talked to me about tips for planning a vacation when bringing children aged 0-6 and what my vacation plans were.

 

We’ll have an exciting new company announcement next week … stay tuned!

1 Comments Permalink Tags: travelmuse, press, media, blogs, family_travel, travel_planning, inspiration_finder
Kevin Fliess
2

Want to plan a trip but don’t know how to get started? Too busy this summer to even pick a destination? Or maybe you’re just so worn down by all the economic doom and gloom that the last thing on your mind is putting your hard-earned discretionary income into a vacation.

 

Well, we feel your pain. Heck, we work at a start-up!

 

TravelMuse is a travel planning platform that supports you wherever you are in the planning cycle: from learning and education through detailed planning and booking. We’ve worked hard to pull together a set of tools and content that support the complete lifecycle of travel planning.

 

How to Plan Your Trip in Three Easy Steps

 

1.    Pick a destination. Try the Inspiration Finder. It allows you to quickly narrow your focus to destinations that are right for you—based on your preferences and needs.It’ll recommend up to eight destinations that fit your budget and desired activities and are within your maximum travel time and are good for the ages of travelers going.Fewer than eight results that meet your needs? Then you’ll get some alternative recommendations to consider that come close.

 

2.    Plan your travels. The TravelMuse Planner can help you organize your research once you’ve winnowed down the list to some really cool and interesting places. Use the “add to trip” action button on any TravelMuse article, hotel page, restaurant or attraction to instantly deposit your research into your appropriate trip plan. Share your trip plans with your travel companions and invite them to add items to your trips.

 

And of course it’s human nature to visit lots of sites as you plan your trip. You can use the TravelMuse Bookmarker to collect pages from anywhere on the web.

 

3.    Now you’re free to book your trip! TravelMuse includes a complete online reservation system to support all your air, car, hotel, cruise and package reservation needs. If you book elsewhere, you can easily add confirmations to your trip plans—so that everything is neatly stored in one central location.

 

One of the joys of travel is the anticipation of the trip. No matter where you are planning your vacation, chances are we have something new and insightful for you in our destination guides and articles. TravelMuse provides many ways to immerse yourself in your destination and enjoy some armchair travel before you even hit the road.

 

There you have it. Travel planning has never been easier, more beautiful or more fun.

 

Thanks and happy planning!

2 Comments Permalink Tags: planning, inspiration_finder, planner, travel_planning

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