Hey Written Roadies…you’ll notice we’ve launched a new sponsorship section. What are we doing you might ask? Well, we are trying to take Written Road to the next level of service. We’ve got a bunch of cool travel writing-related agendas in store for you in 2006. In order to make those things happen we’ve sought out sponsorship. But not just any kind of advertising. We are seeking WR sponsors that are win-win for everyone…..the reader can find the product useful, and the sponsor gets introduced to our niche market of travel writers and travel lovers.
We’re launching this new section with BookingBuddy.com.
They are a travel search engine, similar to aggregators like SideStep and Mobissimo. Booking Buddy is a part of SmarterLiving.com, and has been around a while. I had heard of them, but hadn’t used them until we were just introduced. Booking Buddy is focused on simplicity for the traveler reserving their travel online. They are based on two step process whether you need a flight, hotel, cruise, car rental, or full vacation. First you select your destination and dates, and then you have the power to choose who you want to find the best deals beit from Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, or many of their dozens of other travel providers.
The beauty of Booking Buddy is that you don’t have to give up the use of your other favorite sites. You can search deals on Mobissimo, as well as Southwest, and SideStep. Booking Buddy is just there to help and provide you with one stop shopping. In fact, to get their latest Top Travel Deals, sign up for their handy RSS feed.
But the reason I wanted to make BB my Buddy, was for pointing me in the direction of Vacation Outlet. I’d always gone to Sky Auction when I wanted to dream about last minute vacation packages. Vacation Outlet is a lot more practical because I could select specific destinations and dates for my bargain vacation.
And you know I’m thinking about love travel…but did you know that anyone can get ideas for romantic travel from honeymoon destinations? Yep. Vacation Outlet has a whole section on travel suggested for Honeymoons. And to tantalize my spontaneous side…they also had Last-Minute deals. I was all over those sections!
Family travelers will also love booking through BB and the Vacation Outlet because they quote you prices on your dream trip based on how many people are going. So…no need to do the math in your head or get the calculator out! Booking Buddy summaries it all for you at the click of your mouse.
I hope that in the future we’ll see new features like linking back to the home page via the Booking Buddy logo, searching more of their partners at the same time in Step 2, and an expanded menu of options in the Hot Deals section.
Until then, I’m going to roll up my sleeves and dig into finding us a hotel in San Diego for the Thanksgiving holidays.