7 tips for blogging your way to a better trip

Christopher Elliott Travel columnist • Profile • E-mail

Had a problem with your last trip? Fire up your PC and post something online.

Go on. You just might change the travel industry like Carl Larson did. When he tried to check a regulation-size box on a recent JetBlue flight, an unfriendly ticket agent demanded that he fork over $50. The reason? The box contained a folding bike.

So Larson blogged about the experience on the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s site, calling the airline’s policy “ridiculous.” The story was picked up by another blog, bikeportland.org. Then it made its way onto another site called the Consumerist.

It didn’t take long for JetBlue to fold. Not only did the airline refund Larson’s $50. It changed its rules, too. “Customers traveling with folding bikes in a bag that fits within the standard checked bag weights and dimensions will not be charged the bike fee and will be treated like any checked bag,” a representative told him.

Bloggers are changing the travel industry.

• When Julie Yack had a bad stay at a Las Vegas hotel, she published the details on her blog. “It proved rather effective,” she told me. “The general manager called me that day, told me the hotel owners now know what a blog is, and worked hard to make things right.” That included an apology and an offer of a free two-night stay.
• Debbie Dubrow fired up her laptop after her car rental agency offered her “aged, unclean, and in many cases broken” car seats for her child. The resulting blog post was devastating. “It eventually led ABC News to pick up and investigate the story,” she told me. “Its impact reached far beyond a single news broadcast, though.” Indeed, the company pledged to clean up its act, and California agreed to revisit its child safety-seat laws.
• Catherine Connors hit the blogosphere after a flight attendant demanded she “cover up” with a blanket when nursing her infant son on a flight. The post caught the attention of other bloggers and national media. “WestJet changed and clarified its policies for flight attendants on in-flight breastfeeding,” she says.

The travel industry isn’t just hip to blogging. In many cases, it takes blogs more seriously than the mainstream media. “Blogging has a sense of authority and authenticity that other media doesn’t have,” says Rebecca Goldberg, a hotel design expert and editor-in-chief of Boutique Design magazine. She’s been tracking the influence of bloggers on the hotel industry, and says it grows with each year. Other travelers — particularly those booking their hotels online — feel that blogs are more believable than what they read in a newspaper or watch on TV. “If I read something in a blog,” she says, “it reads more like advice and less like a promotion for the hotel.”

How do you become part of the blogging revolution in travel? Here are a few ideas.

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1. Get in the habit
Becoming a travel blogger may be easy at first — all it takes is a computer and an Internet connection — but it’s a lot of work over time. Max Hartshorne, a blogger who edits the travel Web site GoNomad.com, says only a few rules apply. “Don’t write blog posts longer than 300 to 400 words, or about four paragraphs,” he says. “Make sure the headlines are specific, and aren’t misleading.  Post at least three to five times a week — or don’t bother.” Travel blogging takes some discipline, but if you feel as if you’ve got something to say, Hartshorne says you should get started now.

2. Find a specialty
Want to start a general-interest travelogue? Good luck. There are tens of thousands of well-read general travel blogs. But focus on a single topic, like renting cars or visiting a particular destination, and you’re off to the races, say experts. “You don’t have to just say, ‘This is my topic,’” says Richard Laermer, author of “2011: Trendspotting for the next decade” (McGraw-Hill). “You have to say, ‘What’s my niche?’” Become an expert, so that when people read you, they’ll come away with the feeling that you believe in what you’re talking about.

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