What happened to Lonely Planet?
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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What happened to Lonely Planet?
For a number of years now Lonely Planet has released its destination travel guides not only in book format, but also as a PDF which can be downloaded onto your computer, tablet, phone or whatever. You could even buy separate chapters as PDF files. Suddenly this feature has disappeared and PDF downloads are no longer available. Now, this is a real nuisance because by storing them on my iPad it really saved not having to carry the heavy paper versions of the guide around. Any idea why this has happened and whether it will be temporary? I know LP isn't perfect, but their hotel recommendations tend to be pretty solid, as are all the museum and sight seeing suggestions. But it has definitely become more oriented to the yacht club crowd in recent years.
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Had various changes of ownership over the years.
International travel shut down for ~2 years due the pandemic would not be good for the travel guide book business. As would increasing internet access even in remote places: all on-line in an instant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonely_Planet
International travel shut down for ~2 years due the pandemic would not be good for the travel guide book business. As would increasing internet access even in remote places: all on-line in an instant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonely_Planet
In April 2020 Lonely Planet made the decision to close its Australian and London offices and reduce staffing levels globally in response to the downturn in the travel business resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The company continued to publish its guidebooks, phrasebooks,[18] maps, children's books and inspirational pictorials but chose to close its magazine.
#4
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Yeah, I saw that but I don't have a Kindle. My friend has the German Tolino on the other hand. Maybe they felt people were sharing the PDF files too much and they thought they were losing money.
#5
Join Date: Nov 2018
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ahh reread, your initial post, I use the kindle app on my iPad.
#6
Join Date: Feb 2016
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You can also use the free
instead of a device if necessary.
#7
formerly known as Tad's Broiled Steaks
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Used to go to thorntree (their fellow traveler Q&A website) for rando' bits of travel advice. People on their seemed to know the score a lot of them time -- IIRC one of the former mods in FlyerTalk's China forum used to post a lot there -- and it was so much preferred than whatever the hell TripAdvisor spit out (not to mention, those "this thread has been closed due to inactivity" posts).
Is it still around? Meh.
Is it still around? Meh.
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Used to go to thorntree (their fellow traveler Q&A website) for rando' bits of travel advice. People on their seemed to know the score a lot of them time -- IIRC one of the former mods in FlyerTalk's China forum used to post a lot there -- and it was so much preferred than whatever the hell TripAdvisor spit out (not to mention, those "this thread has been closed due to inactivity" posts).
Is it still around? Meh.
Is it still around? Meh.
Lonely Planet's online community, the Thorn Tree,[20] was created in 1996. It is named for a Naivasha thorn tree (Acacia xanthophloea) that has been used as a message board for the city of Nairobi, Kenya since 1902.[21] The tree still exists in the Stanley Hotel, Nairobi. In April 2020, the forum was locked and left in read-only mode as part of Lonely Planet temporarily halting business in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2021, the Thorn Tree was shut down.[22]
#11
Moderator: Delta SkyMiles, Luxury Hotels, TravelBuzz! and Italy
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You can also use the free Kindle app instead of a device if necessary.
#13
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You can also use the free Kindle app instead of a device if necessary.
Wonderful idea, I will try this, although my iPad is getting on in years. I presume Kindle is fairly user friendly to work with. One day I must get the iPad Professional and read my music scores there, although I do like paper when it comes to music.
Just as I wrote above, I still tend to prefer paper when dealing with books and music. But I just wonder how much of that is a misplaced reluctance to change!
#14
Join Date: Apr 2009
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The Kindle app is also available on Windows and MacOS too, so you can read Kindle content on a laptop/desktop if you prefer. With respect to the Lonely Planet series, many of their titles (~700) are available for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
Last edited by Interpol; May 30, 22 at 10:31 am