How can Trekaroo improve?

I'd like to see an area where we can review forms of transportation individually. For example, my family prefers flying with SWA when we have young children with us because if we check in EARLY, we are first to board (A Section) and can choose our seats. When we fly with older children (10+), however, we prefer NWA for their comfort and service.

For those of us that travel with tour groups or volunteer travel (volunteers for peace, etc.) as a family, it would be nice to have a specific tab for that for ease of locating on the site.

I'd also like to see the list option format change a bit, to be more streamlined. E.G, the list page would have links instead of partial reviews on it, which would be easier for the browser to read.

I would like to see a more streamlined search result page. For example, if I type in "Miami", it is currently hard to sort through the results. I like the way TripAdvisor has it set up.

I would like to know when people read my reviews or know which ones they vote on. Knowing that people are reading would keep me coming back more often.... kind of like Facebook.

I would like to have my reviews sorted by location on my review page... it takes a long time to sort through them... and the map feature really only confuses me in this process rather than helps.

When I have time... I enjoy (almost daily) checking the main page of Trekaroo for updates and changes. I've noticed, however, that I can't really tell where the location is of the new reviews. I would love to see a feature that highlights where in the country these updates are made. For example, we spent 3 weeks in Alaska this summer and I would LOVE to read new reviews on places in Alaska. If this front page feature highlighted Alaska, or somehow notified me that there were new reviews on locations in Alaska, I would be very encouraged to go and read new posts or reviews.

Anything that keeps people coming back for more on a regular basis will really help encourage the great community that Trekaroo is building.

Overall... I really enjoy Trekaroo and look forward to reading what people write and offering our own family's adventures! Keep up the great work!

I'd like an app of Trekaroo for the phone. Something that makes it easy to look up kid/family friendly activities and restaurants for our current location while we're traveling.

Southwest NO LONGER LETS families with children board first. THEY NOW BOARD AFTER "A" group, before B, if you don't already have an "A" boarding pass.

It is VERY easy to get an A boarding group pass, if you check in EARLY as I stated above. Traveling families can utilitze SWA's online check in up to 24 hours in advance to secure this option, and priority seating. If you hesitate, you'll likely end up in group C. That said, SWA does have excellent customer service (in my opinion; I've been flying w/ them since 1996) - if there is a situation that warrants a parent traveling with a child to board first, the flight attendants can work with you. To clarify: that is not the norm - but I've never known SWA staff to not go above and beyond expectations.

I'd like to see international locations added.

I agree with the addition of international locations and the filter by city suggestions. It's a great site and a real help when planning family holidays. We love Trekaroo!

Keep your suggestions coming! Love hearing from you guys. And thanks for all the love too!

As for international destinations - which ones would you want to see first? Would you say that you'd be more excited to contribute content about International destinations than domestic destinations? We can launch International destinations fairly easily, but pre-populating it content is requires more resources unless our community is very excited about building up the content. What do you guys think?

As for mobile app, iphone or andriod or both? Would you want to mark spots you've been to and rate/review them on the spot or just use it to find activities nearby while on the go?

What about bookmarks. Do you guys use them? Do you want us to improve them in any way?

Do you guys care about finding your friends on Trekaroo? Or bookmarking families who you like to follow more closely?

I find that when I am looking for a specific location it is hard to sort through all the listings. Something easier and more streamlined would be helpful.

A mobile app would be fun but please create one compatible with the Blackberry! I don't have an iphone! I'd want it to locate activities when I'm out and about.

I love the idea of some sort of phone app but would like to see it for both iphone and android. I have an android and there are a few apps I would love to use but can't because they are solely iphone. I also love the idea of adding international destinations. I use Trekaroo not only to add reviews but also to find things to do before almost every trip I take. I agree with the other commenters that the search process is a little difficult. At first glance, you can't really tell if you are about to click on activities or hotels when that long stretch of info comes up. Also, I would love an easier way to search for just parks in a city or just restaurants. There may be a way already and I just haven't figured it out!

Please consider Canadian locations. Many Americans (as I've discovered through other sites) travel to Canada and appreciate reading reviews of locations north of the border. It's easy to open up new locations and get reviews just like US locations. Just an extra service.. by adding onto the site you already have!

I think it would be fun to review international locations as well. I'm not sure how many families are able to make it to other parts of the world, but it would be fun to find out and fun to see what makes those locations good for families.

I thought of another feature I'd love to see on here.....spell check!!

Here are my suggestions. I would love to see Canada added. I think Canadians would love to be able to use our site domestically and I know my family travels to Canada because we can drive there which means we don't haveto pay for four flights. Plus I think alot of Americans visit Canada.

I agree that the search functions can be improved. I would love to be able to look up restaurants separately (it is one of the things that I especially love advice for while traveling. I love good local family friendly dining). I'd like to be able to look up lodging by type (camping, hotels, all inclusive resorts, etc) or even ammenity.

Oh- and i would love to see the blog prominently displayed on the home page. He he he.....

Ditto on the app. But how about a phone friendly webpage for those of us without IPhones? I would like to be able to rate / review and search for activities. I would really like it if it tied into Google maps so if I found a place I liked I could click and get directions as well.

When we enter a new posting, can it automatically figure out the zip code based on the address and city we entered? I hate having to go search for the zip code.

Ditto on the restaurants as a category.

Oh, and one more thing, how about lists that aren't tied to destinations. Like two categories of lists - location based and just for fun.

Ditto on the spell check!

I would love to be able to add seasonal activities to my lists that I haven't been to yet, but would like to go too. Since I haven't been there yet, I can't review it first which you currently have to do before you can add it. I'd like to be able to put it on my list and maybe even get a reminder e-mail when that event is coming up. Thanks so much for all you gals/guys do! :)

Thanks for all your suggestions. SLOfamilylife - you can add items to a list without a review as long as it already exists in the database. When you are in create/edit a list, look it up and add it. It'll show up without a review, but you can add your comments regarding events or notes in the comments box. Let me know if you need more help.

Jaybra,

Are you talking about bookmarks or lists? Could you clarify? You can create any list you like. Bookmarks - currently everything is in one list. Are you asking to be able to create different sets of bookmarks? Or is there something in the create a list function that you're asking for?

Hey folks,

An update on the mobile app. We're working on it! It's coming along nicely. It'll work on both the iphone and andriod. We'll do one test release and get your feedback on it first. Let us know if you're interested in testing. I'll send you information about how to take it for a spin.

Thanks TravelPangs for the hints! So far, I think I'm doing my list correctly, but there are a few events not in the database that I would like to add to my list of places I'd like to attend for the holidays. :)

Slofamily life- If there are locations you would like added that you have yet to review, myself of Liling can add them for you if you send us the info.

Ok, great! Thank you so much! :)

I think the bookmarks could use a little tweaking. Specifically, I'd like to be able to create lists in the bookmarks section so I could keep activities for one location separate from activities in another location rather than have them all jumbled together. I remember removing bookmarks for things in Western North Carolina when I was researching activities, etc near Myrtle Beach South Carolina. After we canceled the beach trip, I had to recreate my list for things to do near home.

I would love to see international destinations
Americas: Canada and Mexico
EUrope: France, England, Germany, Spain, Italy
Asia and Oceania: Australia, Japan, China

I agree with Lydie, it would be great to find out more on international destinations. I

As for mobile app, iphone or andriod or both? Would you want to mark spots you've been to and rate/review them on the spot or just use it to find activities nearby while on the go?



I have an android phone and love my apps. So yes please do an app for android phones. Would you want to mark spots you've been to and rate/review them on the spot yes this is a great idea.

I would like to add a destination without doing a review to it.

I would definitely be excited to see activities to do/places to go internationally. I love to travel and take my children with me. My daughter just turned three and she has already been to mexico, brazil, and canada...with plans to go to africa.

Another thing that I would really appreciate to be able to look up are classes, community rectreational activites, and sports offered in certain areas. I will be moving to southern california next month and am having trouble finding a dance studio that offers 3 yr olds hip-hop. Currently, my daughter is taking ballet, playing basketball, and learning to play drums. Because I'm relocating, I'm going to have to a lot of research. But if there was something similar to trekaroo for such things, my life would be so much easier!

I would love to be able to go to the next page of reviews for something or someone on the bottom of the screen rather than having to scroll all of the way back up. It is frustrating if the reviews are nice and long!

I think it might be nice to go over chain restaurants- which ones are the best for kids, where the locations are, etc...

Missdriggs- I love that suggestion! A button at the bottom would be very nice.

I just went on Google Maps. And I wanted to search some locations and I loved that they allowed me to do it car,public transit ,walking, bicyling. This is a great feature due to me want to take the train to PA in a couple of months and it tell me how to get around pa using Public Transites like the trolley and bus.

I too love to use trekaroo to write reviews, but also to plan for trips. That being said I have 2 wishes.
1. That the picture upload was faster.
2. That it was easier to add in new places. I have to go back and forth from local websites to trekaroo.

I've been thinking about this ever since you posted. After working with the site a bit more, I agree with the "improved search results page." There's so much there that isn't relevant (all the small print under the headings). It makes it confusing to know if what I'm searching for is there or not.

I love how it's easy to scroll through the forum and see the topics in the quote boxes. It would be nice if search results were just as clean.

I'd love the ability to review airports and have that under a separate category so it was easy to find. There are some great airports that are so kid friendly, and sometimes when we have the choice of flying through one or the other, we've chosen the one we think the kid/s will have more fun in. It's especially useful for those Trekkers who fly internationally and have long waits between flights.

I would also love a better search feature, as OCPlayParks suggested.

When clicking on an activity, is there a way to display the most helpful reviews first, then sorted by date? Sometimes when scrolling through, the reviews are especially short and not particularly helpful.

I haven't logged in before on my iPad, but tried today. I am finding it really difficult to do the things I want because it keeps forcing me to use the mobile app, which I don't want to use. I want to download the full site. It would be great if you could opt out of the mobile site for the full site. Have a button somewhere that folks can hit. Or, maybe I am just missing it. Can you help?

I was wondering if it would be possible to create a campground category? It isn't really a hotel or an activity. I think it is deserving of it's own category.

I'd love a better way to look at my own reviews and passport. It's hard to see what I've already done, and I tend to write long reviews so it's a ton of scrolling and "next page" clicking. Perhaps a pull down menu to switch between full reviews and business name/rating alone or one to choose between 5, 15, or All reviews to cut down on the number of pages the reviews are spread over. Or perhaps a "Sort By" option (alphabetical, state, cost, etc). Or how bout a "show only:" with hotels, attractions, restaurants as options. Can you tell I love pull down menus?

Even better would be a google map like the search results screen that maps only the places I've reviewed. That would also add value so that I could send people the URL to my passport directly, then let them decide to check out the rest of the site (cause who wouldn't do that?!?!).

Thanks for being so open to suggestions! <3 you guys.

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone! As for the iPad, yes we need to put in some fixes for the current mobile site to make it more iPad friendly. We previously had a "go to non-mobile site" link, but it's currently broken.

With regards to campgrounds, we have been thinking of what to do there and have had campgrounds on our list of feature requests for a while. Currently, we have some of them in activities and some in hotels, so we'll have to figure out whether we want a separate category or just a filter on top of activities or hotels.

Additional views and ways of looking at your own reviews is a good suggestion. Have you tried using the "We've been there!" tab on your passport? It has some of the features you suggested and allows you to drill down to your reviews and places you've been to by navigating via the map and your passport stamps.

Here is my wish list - 1) Spell Check - PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE 2) I would prefer not to post my reviews until after I have added all of my pictures. I like to add the pictures, review my post with pictures, then post my entire review. 3) I also would like the option to reviews on chain hotels or activities. There should be a "U.S. National" category. 4) Love the campground suggestions - I had that issue this week trying to post reviews. 5) Finally, I wonder if Trekaroo has the ability to forward reviews to the companies that are being reviewed - especially critical reviews. This would allow these companies a chance to respond to critical reviews. I'm sure great reviews would also be helpful for companies so they know what they are doing right.

Thanks Trekaroo for making all of us users feel like we really have a hand in developing this wonderful site.

We just launched a completely new version of our facebook enabled sign-in system. Please let us know if you encounter any issues!

iPad and other mobile users:
I also put in a quick temporary link from the mobile site to get you back to the regular non-mobile site. You can find it under the 'i' info link on the mobile site.

I travel by bus and train. Some infomation on those would be very helpful.

I agree with adding international destinations!! Start with Canada! Thanks, love the site!!

I'd love to see a windows phone app, love the ideas of chain restaurant info, finding friends on trekaroo, and international destinations.