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Travel Cheaper And Smarter With Offmap
Adventure travelers now have another option in their never-ending quest to find the best travel deals online. The newly launched website Offmap promises to cutout travel agents and resellers, partner directly with local guides and use innovative technology to deliver trips at deeply discounted prices. Judging from their first few offerings, they just might be on to something.The site just launched yesterday and requires visitors to create a login profile before they can view the available options. That can be accomplished either by logging in using your Facebook account or by supplying an email address and password. Once you gain access you'll be able to not only peruse the trips that are currently available, but also invite friends to join the site and read the Offmap Blog as well.
At the moment, Offmap has three itineraries for travelers to consider. Those include a trek through the Peruvian Andes, an active summer escape to Iceland and a short kayaking tour of the Hudson Valley in New York. Trip descriptions give Offmap members a good idea of what to expect on their journeys and include a daily schedule, a list of what is included and information on the tour leaders.
All of that is very interesting and helpful of course but what is likely to catch your eye most quickly are the prices. Offmap says that they can offer up to 70 percent off similar trips from other travel companies and it is hard to argue with them based on what they have available at the moment. For instance, the trip to Peru includes six nights lodging, most meals, a three-day trek through the mountains and a tour of Machu Picchu all for just $850.
The Offmap team says that they can achieve these prices by partnering directly with local tour operators and eschewing chain hotels for smaller boutique lodging. But they've also come up with an innovative way to engage travelers in a more independent fashion too. Each trip comes with a custom built, interactive guidebook that is currently available as an iPad app or in PDF format. (An iPhone version is coming soon!) These eBooks don't require an Internet connection to work and include detailed maps, suggestions for self-guided sightseeing tours, tips on dining and nightlife and hints from past travelers. Using the app and local guides, travelers are actually getting an interesting mix of both independent and guided tours.
The site will have just a few travel deals available at any given time and once they're booked, they're likely gone. That means if you see something you like, at the price you want, you should book it quickly. You'll also want to check back on the site on a regular basis to see what new travel deals are available. Check them out at Offmap.com now.
The site will have just a few travel deals available at any given time and once they're booked, they're likely gone. That means if you see something you like, at the price you want, you should book it quickly. You'll also want to check back on the site on a regular basis to see what new travel deals are available. Check them out at Offmap.com now.
Filed under: Budget Travel, Internet Tools
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
notburtsfool Aug 5th 2012 12:23AM
Respectfully Allan Burt isn't onto anything and what he's offering isn't really 70% off just because he told you that and you took his word for it.
First, OffMap's log-in technique is by now just an old news e-commerce marketing tool- nothing special, rare or unique nowadays. Gilt Group, Rue la La, and so many more came up with this model years ago, OffMap is just a copycat, and in so many ways.
For example, OffMap is a name Burt name stole from an existing company, OffMaps, which already offers interactive iPad travel guides on Apple products. They are of course sending him a cease and desist letter already.
OffMap is nothing more than a case of you (only) get what you pay for, and with OffMap it seems you don't get very much at all- a few off-price day trips and rooms in economy hotels and youth hostels you could already do much better finding on your own by using airbnb's website where, for example, you can also find a room with a shared bathroom (exactly what OffMap is offering- NOT b'boutique lodging' as the site fraudulently claims) on the main cafe, restaurant and bar street Laugavegur, in Reykjavik's historic 101 harbor district any day of the year for $24 a night, or you can go to the backpackers' hostle OffMap sells for much more and then be in a remote place where there's nothing at all and then spend $60 each time you have to take a taxi to Laugavegur where you really want to be.
The 'big' companies that Burt is absurdly pitting himself against, which he says are charging three times as much as he is, are in fact offering customers ten times what he offers- a MUCH better value for price paid.
Anyone who has any extra money at all will have a considerably better time buying better quality and more experiences than OffMap is selling- because.... drum roll... you get what you pay for.
Regarding the audience Allan Burt claims he's targeting who is so unhappy with existing options, the truth is there are in fact PLENTY of tour companies that offer really dynamic, exciting, highly personalized adventures for young people, contrary to the 'church group' scenario you CHOSE to paint for us here and there always have been. Gap Adventures pioneered this a decade ago.
Please, have some integrity as a reporter, don't just believe everything a self-promoter tells you about himself, do some research and don't be the fool of this marketing sham which is ALL that it really is. You have an ethical obligation as a journalist to challenge people like Allan Burt rather than simply channeling them.
Jose Barreto Aug 18th 2012 12:58PM
Love to travel