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.

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