1. Please try to describe yourself in just 5 words
Interesting traveller; social media fan!

2. Tell us about the travel site www.wimdu.co.uk and when it all started…
Wimdu started back at the beginning of the summer. It has since grown into a global company with thousands of cheap apartments available in over 50 countries around the world. Wimdu.co.uk serves as an online marketplace for travellers to find affordable accommodation when abroad. It can also be used as a way to see a more “local” side to your travel destination. I’m passionate about travel myself (spent the last year and half on a round-the-world trip) and it’s exciting to see travel companies who are actively trying to promote travel & tourism.

3. What was the decision to develop this travel site?
While there are other travel accommodation websites, Wimdu’s focus has been to provide quality offers in major European travel markets. Wimdu is based in Berlin where each summer tourists flock to the city and end up renting cheap places to stay for a few weeks or a few months. Because of the constant fluctuation of people in and out of apartments here, it makes sense to be able to rent out free rooms to those that need them for short periods. Plus, it gives travellers a different perspective of the cities that they visit rather than stuffy, formulaic rooms.

4. What is so special about this site?
Wimdu’s website allows you to search for apartments worldwide. Every property has a calendar associated with it and you can search by various amenities, whether there’s breakfast available or even an indoor fireplace. All these advanced search features help you to find exactly what you’re looking for when you travel. And it can accommodate for just about every type of traveller—budget, luxury, families…

5. Have you ever come across a blog, website or magazine that you thought was interesting and if yes, which one and why?
Many! I’m a travel blogger myself in addition to working for Wimdu. I’ve written about my past year and a half of travels around the world at travelsofadam.com, though I’m now living in Berlin so it’s now turned into a website about why Berlin is probably the coolest city in the world (no offence, Vienna). I’m also a bit of a social media addict so I’ve come across hundreds of sites through Twitter simply because they’ve shown up in my feeds. Some of my favourite people to follow on Twitter are GOOD Magazine, Letters of Note and a million different travel blogs because they all share unique & interesting stories.

6. Which travel sites do you like?
There are A LOT of travel sites out there. Trippy looks like it might be an interesting one to pay attention to.

7. What inspired you to develop www.wimdu.co.uk?
While I didn’t personally develop the website, I am interested in the future of the travel industry. Renting holiday apartments is becoming increasingly popular around the world. But in Europe there was a need to provide enhanced searches for specific types of travellers, not to mention quality places to rent and Wimdu helps to serve that purpose. In fact, there are over 600 apartments in Berlin, alone!

8. What is your personal goal for this travel site in 2011?
Wimdu has a lot of exciting ideas for the future! As for travel accommodation, there are many different travel trends which will affect the industry. Over the summer, Wimdu hosted one lucky winner of our “dream job”—Pauline got to travel around Europe for two months staying in various Wimdu apartments. She shared her adventure and photos on the Wimdu travel blog which was fun to follow along. Wimdu UK also uses Twitter and Facebook to share interesting apartment offers through social media which will only become more active as the website grows. You’d be surprised how many tree houses are on offer through the Wimdu website!

9. Any comments you would like to share with us?
Be sure to check out the Wimdu.co.uk website for your next trip abroad! There are places to stay in almost every major city: Rio de Janeiro, New York, Milan, Hong Kong…you name it!

Curious how Wimdu works? Check out our video:

1. Who are you?
Hardy Egger, CEO & Owner of LIFESTYLEHOTELS www.lifestylehotels.net.

2. What do you like about what you do?
I love developing our “baby” LIFESTYLEHOTELS each day!

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
Nothing – also “unloved” tasks have their own appeal if they support success.

4. Please tell us about ‘Lifestyle Hotels’ and your aims?
LIFESTYLEHOTELS is a positioning platform for individual, design oriented and stylish hotels worldwide. We communicate to some 50.000 Lifestyle aficionados through various channels. 1½ year ago we started with social networks, most important: facebook with some 9.000 fans.

5. Are you working with blogs and if yes, what is your favourite blog?
Not yet!

6. Tell us about your current and future projects!
We continuously extend our portfolio with new LIFESTYLEHOTELS. One of the next important steps is our new website.

7. Tell us about your favourite hotels!
I love all of our LIFESTYLEHOTELS because of their individuality and authenticity.
Each of them has a certain lifestyle and its own spirit that makes a stay very special.

8. Are there any trends you see in the hotel industry and which you want to share with us?
The decision for a specific hotel is made by 75% of all guests in the internet.
For this reason it is important to present pre-selected choices to the guests, like we do on www.lifestylehotels.net.

9. Any comments you want to share with us?
Broaden your horizon and discover the world. So travel, travel, travel!

1. Who are you?

2. What do you like about what you do?
Every day brings new challenges and problems. Solving these on my own would be impossible. But working with such a great team as we have it makes all this possible and enjoyable. It is always amazing to see what you can achieve when everybody is working together to reach the goals we set for ourselves.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
I had no time for traveling since we started pocketvillage. You read about all these extraordinary experiences every day and think back to your own awesome trips … that really gives me itchy feet.

4. Please tell us about ‘Pocketvillage’ and your aims?
While traveling through Africa with my friend Florian Harkort in 2009, we got quite frustrated by the fact that our guide books had for the hundredth time taken us to places swamped by tourists and to non-existing hostels. We ended up giving those books away and continued our trip without much further planning. We made unforgettable experiences traveling “off-the-beaten track” like this and want to share the possibility to do so with everyone. We found out that there are in fact brilliant off-the-beaten track tours, that give you this possibility, but that it is very difficult to find them and if you find them, you’ll have troubles comparing them. We therefore came up with the idea to develop pocketvillage, a search engine that aggregates the widest choice of exceptional niche travel offers – adventurous, cultural, local, responsible, or off-the-beaten-track activities, tours, and places to stay. We also wanted to make the planning process of voyages as joyful and as easy as possible and therefore invented a so called “Inspire Me-process”. This tool lets you intuitively browse through the offers and makes it easy to find the ones that best fit your individual interests.

5. Are you working with blogs and if yes, what is your favourite blog?
Yes, I’m working with blogs. We actually have our own (blog.pocketvillage.com), where we feature weekly a personal travel story, a travel photo of an amazing place and Top 5 Travel Tips. I don’t really have one favourite blog, as they all have their personality and background-story behind them and are thus very fascinating.

6. Tell us about your current experiences with regards to the travel industry?
Well none of us at pocketvillage really did have a travel industry related background before we all started. But what keeps us together is the joy and the interest in traveling. We are therefore even more thankful and deeply impressed by the way the travel industry welcomes us as travel-newcomers on the market. We are only online since March 2011 and already won 1^st prize for our travel iPhone App (which isn’t even on the market yet) at Tnooz Hack in Las Vegas in April and have just been voted “best startup 2011” at the VIR Online Innovation-Days by Germany’s leading online travel platforms.

7. Are there any travel trends you want to share with us?
Scientific studies, our own experience and the market show us that many people look for extraordinary travel experiences and we think that this trend will still increase. People individualize their lives, they do want to individualize their holidays as well. But above all, they want to get the most out of it. In my opinion, booking one week all-inclusive resorts not seeing anything of the culture and the background of the country your traveling to is out, traveling like you are living with locals is in.

8. Any comments you want to share with us?
Well thank you very much for the interview. I wish you wonderful future travel journeys, wherever you are heading off to!
Hakuna Matata, Martin

1. Who are you?

2. What do you like about what you do?
Traveling! Our passion for travel was the reason we started this. In every city we go, we meet many interesting locals who are interested in writing for us. Meeting people with a passion for their city is so much fun!

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
Right now, we have quite a lot of technical projects, like the PDF-version of our cityguides we’re about to launch. It’s nteresting for our business, but it also means spending a lot of time behind our laptops. We prefer enjoying cities, and talking to locals!

4. Please tell us about ‘SpottedbyLocals’ and your aims?
www.SpottedbyLocals.com is a series of cityblogs that offers travelers the opportunity to experience cities just like a local, by offering local tips through a new network of blogs on European cities. On the 23 cityblogs real locals write about the spots they regularly frequent in their city, and update this information regularly. All Spotters are presented prominently on the site with their real names, a picture and a detailed personal profile. We met all our current 130 Spotters in person.

5. Are you working with other blogs and if yes, which ones and why?
Yes, we cooperate with a few other websites, who are also passionate about “local travel”. E.g. www.Tripbod.com, GoingLocalTravel.com and www.whl.travel. Together, we try to explain the benefits of “going local” while traveling:

• Understanding other cultures is good for the world
• Buying local is better for local businesses

6. Your TOP 3 city experiences and why?
That’s a difficult question… When people ask us what our favorite city is, we also tell them it’s the city we’ve been living in for the last 11 years, Amsterdam. It’s a compact city, but there’s more than enough new things to experience at any time. And it’s so beautiful… Every time I drive my bike around the Canals, I’m proud to live in Amsterdam

7. Your TOP 3 food/restaurant experiences and why?
1. A picnic on the riverside in Ljubljana in mid-summer 2009 with a bottle of white wine and plastic cups! They call it “the beach” in Lubljana:
www.spottedbylocals.com/ljubljana/trnovski-pristan
2. Meat galore in Zagreb at Bistro MZ in Zagreb. 100% local guests only, and Barbecue smell in your clothes, guaranteed.
www.spottedbylocals.com/zagreb/bistro-mz
3. Bangladeshi food in Budapest – Better than in Bangladesh (where I’ve tested the food too!)
http://www.spottedbylocals.com/budapest/bangla-bufe

8. What are your favourite websites and why?
I love catching up with our local writers (“Spotters”) on www.Facebook.com and www.Twitter.com – it’s so nice you can see what everybody is up to.

1. Who are you?

I’m a passionate traveler and I LOVE what I do. I began my career spearheading sales and marketing efforts for Ritz-Carlton and Montana’s Triple Creek Ranch. In 2002, I founded JG Black Book of Travel (www.blackbook.travel) to give a voice to those boutique experiences that make travelers feel intimately connected to a place. Today the firm provides expert marketing, promotion and sales services to the world’s finest travel providers.

2. What do you like about what you do?

Having such a worldwide breadth of destinations makes every day unique. And I especially love finding smaller travel providers – true hidden treasures – and sharing them with the industry. Our partners are on par with the best and most-recognized travel brands in terms of service, style, amenities – you name it – but they don’t necessarily have the resources to get their names out there. We provide them with numerous services, including brand recognition from being a part of the collection, to give them a leg up in the field.

Every day I get to help connect people with the opportunity to live out their dreams with experiences they wouldn’t otherwise know about.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?

At JG Black Book of Travel, we believe the tourism industry is changing. Travelers and companies are much more involved in giving back and doing good, but the promotion of those efforts falls short of what it should be. There’s a real opportunity for the tourism industry to connect with the next generation of travelers, who are much more invested in social responsibility and want transparency from the companies they support.

The travel and tourism industries make up the world’s largest collection of service industries. They account for nearly 10% of GDP worldwide. But right now, we don’t do a great job of acknowledging our collective influence. At the end of the day, our voice is very powerful, and we should work to leverage it more effectively for change.

To that end, I’ve co-founded The Bodhi Tree Foundation (www.thebodhitreefoundation.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting environmental and humanitarian efforts related to travel and tourism sustainability. JG Black Book of Travel is a founding partner of the foundation, and our collection members have pledged to raise funds for select grassroots charities through their unique relationships with affluent and influential consumers.

4. Please tell us about ’JG Black Book of Travel’ and your aims.

Our goal is to build an intimate, exclusive collection of some of the world’s greatest gems, and to be ‘seen’ – to be more consumer-facing as a collection. When people first see our Directory it makes a BIG impact! And it inspires them to dream and plan their next great getaway. We want to see more of that in the future.

5. Are you working with other blogs and if yes, which ones and why?

We recently started our own blog, called the Black Blog of Travel (www.blackblogoftravel.com) a play on our signature Black Book of Travel. As frequent travelers by trade, we’re constantly asked, “Where have you been lately?” We saw an opportunity to share our own travel stories, tips, tidbits and photos. We’re having fun with it, and starting to see some traction. And it’s nice to be able to have that kind of personal connection and interaction online.

6. Your TOP 3 hotels within the collection of JG Black Book and why?

To be honest, every hotel and travel provider is a favorite. Our partners are hand-selected, geographically diverse and really spectacular! But adding new partners to the group is always exciting. We’re thrilled to have the Grand Hotel Wien and The Ring join our collection because they offer something for everyone – from classic to very modern experiences. I took a trip to Vienna about 10 years ago, and I fell in love with the charm and romance of the legendary city.

I’m excited to share some other recent additions, too: Huka Retreats – Huka Lodge in New Zealand, Dolphin Island in Fiji and Grande Provence in the Fransschoek wine country. I’ve known of Huka Retreats since the beginning of my career at Triple Creek (a fellow Relais & Chateaux property) and I look forward to working with them.

And speaking of New Zealand/Australia, we’re so proud to have Swain Tours join us. As a native Australian, Ian Swain has real local flair and great insider know-how. And much like JG Black Book of Travel, the whole team at Swain is very close-knit and passionate about what they do!

7. Your TOP 3 personal food/restaurant experiences and why?

1) Jules Verne – Imagine lunching in the Eiffel Tower, on a sunny day in Paris and enjoying a bottle of Rosé. It’s a truly singular and iconic dining experience.
2) Nautilus –I’ll never forget Nautilus in Port Douglas, Australia. I was there the evening after President and Hilary Clinton visited. You dine among the treetops, surrounded by wildlife. And the only light comes from candles and scattered candelabras – so extraordinary…so romantic! It was the single most incredible dining experience of my life.
3) La Colombe – La Colombe is just magical. Every sense is engaged while sitting in the midst of South Africa’s wine country. I dined with four girlfriends and we were all blown away by the aromas, the sounds, the ambiance … Pair that with delicious food and amazing South African wine, and you have an absolutely unforgettable evening.

8. What’s your opinion about future trends in the luxury travel industry?

The luxury tourism business as we know it from 2005 is gone. The consumer has changed. Luxury has been redefined. People want transparency; they want to have a dialogue with brands and companies, rather than be told what they should like by an “expert.” Technology is playing an important role in this movement. Generation Xers (ages 30-44) are using technology to research their options, but are tiring of Do-It-Yourself options. Instead, they want travel agents and providers to work alongside them to find their perfect fit. And Millennials (ages 15-29) are quickly becoming a viable market. They’re diverse, tech-savvy and socially conscious. We need to engage these consumers on their terms.

9. Any comments you want to share with us?

On that same subject of generational changes in travel habits, I think The Ring and Grand Hotel Wien are well-positioned to meet the needs of the market. The Baby Boomers, the Gen Xers and Millennials all have different needs and preferences, and between the two brands, there’s something for everyone.

Thanks for letting me be a part of your blog – this was fun!

There was a time when we were more concerned with the experience of travel and just coming up with decent vacation ideas than we were with what we learned and brought back from it. We rejoiced in the sheer simplistic pleasure of going somewhere new, meeting new people and doing new things. The advent of modern-day technology has ultimately detracted from this enjoyment somewhat.

A few years ago, when we still used to relish travel and do so just for the sake of it, throwing carefully laid plans and caution to the wind; the only items we really needed to concern ourselves with was enough money to get by in our destination of choice, our passport and maybe also our wallet (once you’d taken care of legalities like a VISA or necessary vaccinations, of course). These days there are a whole host of addition things to worry about, turning a onetime joy into a veritable font of worry and last-minute additions to the inventory and itinerary alike.

These days it’s all about packing cameras, computers, laptops, batteries, phones and music players. It seems that to travel, one must also transport a whole host of technological “toys, such as the ones that already permeate every aspect of home life, something which travel was supposed to be a getaway from. Then comes the matter of space and having to carry it all, as with an ever-increasing number of things to remember and take, there’s an ever-decreasing amount of space in which to transport them, thus leading to additional problems. Technology was supposed to make our lives easier and at home and at business, it might well have. However, with regards to travel for leisure and luxury, this is far from the case.

This writer would call for a return to the days of yore and yesteryear, back to when travel was travel and – above all else – back when it was easy and a pure, unsophisticated joy. Next time you embark for distant lands unchartered, don’t concern yourselves with ineffectual add-ons and accoutrements, just go as yourselves and with yourselves. You’ll find that you’re better for it.

For more travel tips and vacation inspiration, check out the Tripbase Travel Blog / Tripbase site.

Tripbase eliminates the time-consuming and frustrating online search process by providing travelers with personalized travel recommendations for their next trip.

Tripbase was named Top Travel Website for Destination Ideas by Travel and Leisure magazine in November 2008.

1. Who are you?
My name is Gerhard Langer, founder and senior editor of destinationhotel.de, an online magazine for sophisticated travelling and lodging.

2. Please tell us about ‘destinationhotel.de’ and your aims?
destinationhotel.de is an online information source, not another hotel booking platform. Our focus is to inspire and inform our readers about destinations, hotels, aviation and all the services related to travel. We offer interviews with owners, managers & architects, present new concepts and take a look behind the curtain. The appearance of destinationhotel.de is clear and elegant, the handling intuitive. And, due to the fact, that we don´t earn our money from the booking machines of the hotels, we are independent.

3. What do you like about what you do?
I know it´s hard to believe – nearly everything ! My job offers me the possibility to travel and discover new places and people, do research and write articles for likeminded people. The work on the website claims my creativity and the collaboration with so many interesting and different people from all over the world, amazes me every single day.

4. What don’t you like about what you do?
Too little time for so many things to explore …

5. Are you working with blogs?
We are planning on starting our own blog (www.blog.destinationhotel.de). It will feature a daily news update, video reports and interviews, audio programme and an own iphone/ipod touch version.

6. Your experiences with the hotel industry and its developments in general?
As long as the rooms and suites are fully booked, as long as the RevPar climbs every month, only a few in the premium travel sector were really interested in new concepts, developments and services. The actual economic crisis, which affects the travel industry in every part of the world very differently, forces the hotels, airlines and destinations to reconsider their strategy. The start of destinationhotel.de comes along with that change in the travel industry – so we have a lot to inform about, discuss and hopefully recommend. That is also the reason why we like „The Ring“ so much – a new and very exciting design and service concept in one of the most sophisticated markets worldwide.

7. Any comments you want to share with us?
´Geiz ist eben doch nicht geil´ or in english ´you get what you pay for´.

“In the cultural heart of Vienna, Austria, The Ring – Vienna’s Casual Luxury Hotel bucks the trend of traditional 5 star hotels, with a smiley, helpful concierge team who are genuinely friendly and discrete. Just 2 years old, the property retains the atmosphere of a boutique hotel with stylish chocolate browns, greens and rusty orange décor, enormous cuddle-up beds and shiny plasma televisions. [Read more ...] “

1. Who are you?
Ilonka B. Molijn–van Ginkel, business owner of BabyMoon luxury pre-birth getaways and responsible for Sales & Marketing in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

2. What do you like about what you do?
Interacting with clients from different parts of the world. Each with its own creative ideas and knowledge about its hotel and destination. New targeting challenges when a new Babymoon Package and destination is introduced.

3. What don’t you like about what you do?
There is no single thing I don’t like, but what I prefer less is the preparation of the annual tax administration.

4. Please tell us about Baby-moon and your future goals?
BabyMoon promotes the Babymoon travel trend and represents extraordinary and memorable Babymoon Packages offered by the most luxurious and finest hotels in the world. Starting with our 3rd year in the babymoon business, our goals were and will be creating awareness of the babymoon trend at luxurious hotels and resorts worldwide and seeking for media opportunities at high quality media around the world.

Up to now we enjoyed a global media coverage in North America, South America, Europe and the Middle East. With more participating five star hotels in Asia Pacific in 2009, we hope to achieve in an extensive media coverage in Asia Pacific as well.

5. Are you working with other blogs and if yes, what is your favourite blog?
My favourite blog is our own blog, BabyMoon the blog, www.babymoonblog.com
At BabyMoon the blog we feature 6 topics : babymoon, beauty, destinations, shop, spa and travel. With this extension of our website, we are able to write more details about Babymoon Packages at the participating hotels and other newsworthy features at hotels . Our editor also loves to write about must haves for Moms to Be like the Sweet Cake baby bath, chic maternity wear, Lacoste and Burberry strollers and travel equipment for your baby,

6. Your experiences with the overall ‘babymoon’ industry?
Nothing but good, the babymoon concept is very positive. It is about taking the time
as an expecting couple to celebrate your special time together.
A vacation itself is important because it is a great way to improve your health : reducing stress and recharge your batteries and to reconnect with your friends, partner or family.When you are pregnant these benefits are even more important because of the changes physically and emotionally. A relaxing pregnancy is good for yourself, your unborn baby and your partner!

BabyMoon luxury pre-birth getaways launched its website at the beginning of January 2007. During this period there were hardly any Babymoon Packages outside the United States and Canada. The company started because of the passion for this great positive concept and the lack of hardly any Babymoon Packages in Europe.

We are excited to see the coverage in Europe right now, and are looking forward to more coverage of extraordinary babymoon packages in other parts of the world as well.

7. What are your most favourite ‘babymoon-hotels’?
The Ring in Vienna: the Luxury before Birth Package is very creative and captured exactly how a Babymoon should be. With an ‘Energy Welcome Kick’, Spa Treatments for both, Presents from the famous Belly Button and a guided city tour through Vienna with a limousine to avoid too much walking, it’s the perfect mix for the ultimate Babymoon!

Hotel Dorf Grüner Baum in Bad Gastein (Austria): The perfect romantic Babymoon with a daily yoga class, baby and parent magazines, Spa treatments for both with more than 3 hours of treatments for the future mama, a horse drawn carriage ride with dinner in a beautiful chalet, a good night kiss with Häagen Dazs ice cream and a Polo Ralph Lauren baby present.

8. Any comments you want to share with us?
Celebrate your Pregnancy!