DING DING! What makes a GREAT Trip Report?

[Sweet Willie]

Originally Posted by UAL_Rulez

What makes a great TR?

1. Absolutely, under no circumstances, must Economy travel be written up - unless the traveller paid for premium class and got involuntarily downgraded.
No one cares to read about what it's like to travel in WHY.

2. Menus, aircraft type, seat assignment and characterization of the cabin and seat must be provided, with pictures if at all possible.

3. A full description of the experience - including specific behaviours of check-in agents, lounge personnel, ground services and flight attendants should be included - how did these people interact with the traveller and validate his/her premium service experience? Or fail to do so?

4. Pictures of all catering - the presentation and quality of the food and beverage should be fully described. How well were the traveller's appetites sated?

5. Preferably, contextualize the premium experience. How much better was F than C?

6. Justify the ride - state fare paid. How did the value recieved compare to the price?

7. Intent to purchase again - would you pay for the experience next time, or select another carrier?

8. Annoyances and distractions - please describe detrimental factors such as noticeable NRSAs in the premium cabin, nasty F/A attitudes, presence of self-proclaimed upgraders, etc.

I'm much more interested what activities/dining the traveler actually experienced at their destination, so the above generally makes a very boring trip report IMO. I also don't feel Y is written up enough, the experience between carriers is as great as in C or F.

[ranles]

I do research for all our trips on sites specific to the area we are traveling. It might start (1) with airlines flying into an airport and out of one near me. Picking an airline that I have points on or one that provides good pricing. This may require some questions on FT about that airline, if I am unfamilar with it (starting with search and reading recent postings). Then I (2) check to see if there are hotels that I might have points I can use, or brands I am willing to pay for. Finally, I (3) bing or google "city name attractions" to see what activities interest us that are available. This third step helps suggest the time we will spend on the trip (we are retired).

I read trip reports to gather information over a broad range of "items" aimed at a particular area or destination. With the data outlined, the activities chosen, and the length of stay chosen, I start looking for the missing. These thing I often will pose of the appropriate board in FT.

I write trip reports trying to provide similar destination information as to specific options chosen for flights, lodging, dining, attractions. I try to be more detailed where the information maybe a bit off average, leaving the reader to assume average, elsewise. I also try to post summary of harder to find data. Without "post overload", I also will answer questions that I posed on FT, that were not answered, but I subsequently found out. This gives the "record" a completeness for those "searching" later. I also post if there is a mixed review, giving my recent experience.

My reports are long, but I do try to make them easy to scan. My wife handles all the pictures. They are posted to a site that allows a "slide show" format. They are posted in order of our trip, match the order of my write up and have captions. Either the write up or the pictures can be viewed independently, based on what "you" are looking for.

Most of our trips are 3 weeks or so, and are not very business travel oriented. When we were doing our business travel, we answered question posed on specific airlines, hotels, dining options, clubs and frequent point generation, but did not do trip reports.

A few of our TRs can be found by searching "ranles". Only some of them come up, so I guess that the rest are archived or ?

In sumary, TR posting is all about what the poster does, and what that person wants to share. I try to inform, others amuse while many have other motivations or goals.

Our typical trip requires 250 hours of prework and about 1/2 that amount of time to organize, write-up, sort, improve, select, title and post. Driving trips with multiple states, hotels, etc. take more. I hope that time serves others well.