Dude, Where’s my dog? – TripAdvisor’s Business Travel Survey

After an unexplained hiatus [are you sure - Ed?], Tim Walters from Fatwire Software returns with one of his unique guest blogger posts:

My few contributions to TripAdvisor – which range from constructive criticism to eternal damnation – seem to confirm Kevin May’s theory that user reviews serve primarily to warn off the innocent rather than promote the virtuous.

In any case, they’ve won me the dubious honor of taking part in a current email-based TripAdvisor Business Travel Survey [results out today, in fact] – and it’s not quite clear whether they aren’t having one on at my/our expense.

Question from the survey: What do you like least about business travel?

Now, think about it for a second. Is your mind filled with images of:

• Travel to the airport
• Long lines at check-in
• Long lines at security
• Degrading security procedures
• Long lines at the gate
• Finding out, after suffering to be first in line at the gate, that you’re only first in line for the bus
• Knowing that first on the bus is last off of the bus
• Awful food inflight, for which you’re often charged far too much
• Bus from plane to terminal, etc.

If so, then clear your mind, since TripAdvisor offers the following choices:

• Missing your significant other and/or family
• Missing your pet
• Visiting new cities but not having the chance to do any sightseeing
• Being away from your own bed/home
• Messing up your exercise schedule
• Having to eat out all the time

Right! That’s it! What I really dislike about business travel is that it prevents me from springing up from my own bed, going for a jog around the lovely sights of downtown Bonn with my beloved pet (hopefully a dog), and returning to a fine home-cooked breakfast prepared by my significant other and/or family!

All other indignities, TripAdvisor seems to think, are insignificant.

So, just to be true to the concept, shouldn’t TripAdvisor offer online reviews/comments from users of their online survey?

Tim Walters, director international marketing and strategy, Fatwire Software