Do you know about curated travel? I didn’t until today.
Travel helps to expand our worldview and improve our perspectives. It shows us that as humans, we’re more alike than we are different. Whenever I’m in a new place, I prefer going where the locals go, versus going to tourist traps.
As the host of the LifeBlood podcast, I get to have conversations with amazing and interesting people everyday. This morning, I spoke with Samantha Patil who is the CEO of Well Traveled about the benefits of curated travel.
Sure, I knew about the Tripadvisors of the world. But I didn’t understand the important differences. My goal is to clarify those differences for you.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Let’s get started.
What curated travel really is
Curated means “Selected, organized, and presented using professional or expert knowledge.” You already know what travel means.
I think curated travel is the middle ground between buying a set package, like a cruise, and making your own plans with zero input. It also occupies the space in between luxury and budget travel.
We’ve all got finite resources of time, attention and money. Because of that, we want to maximize them. Curated travel helps us to do that.
The importance of parameters and filters
Too much choice is overwhelming. Not enough is irritating. We’re looking for “just right.”
Travel has a lot of moving parts. When evaluating the myriad of options, it’s nice to set parameters and filters based on your preferences.
If you’re a female solo traveler, you’ve got different priorities than a family of six. Being able to adjust your search and get input from others is valuable.
Risk and travel are things that aren’t talked about enough. We all tolerate different levels of risk, and the ability to search based on your comfort level is important. This is an area where curated travel communities excel.
The benefits of a recommendation
In 2004, Yelp turned all of us into restaurant critics. Amazon pumped steroids into review writing until banning incentivized reviews in 2016.
Airbnb and Uber took the ratings to the next level by bringing community into it. If you’re a bad host/driver or guest/rider, you’ll be penalized for it.
We love sharing what we love. When we find something good, we promote it. This is the power of an authentic recommendation. And authenticity is the key.
A financially motivated review is less valuable than an authentic one. That’s what makes curated travel recommendations from a certified community so powerful. Instead of worrying about the validity of a recommendation, you can take it at face value.
Sites like Well Traveled require a membership to join their community. You get peer-to-peer recommendations from people who have actually done what you’re thinking about doing.
Closing
We all want to get the most out of our travel and vacations. I’ve experienced the frustration over a poor hotel and restaurant choice more than once. Tapping into a curated travel community can help avoid those poor decisions.
You can find my conversation with Samantha Patil from Well Traveled here.
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