Google to buy Frommer's • Hacker News Board

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#21

Post by gdilla » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 7:50 PM UTC

rwhitman wrote: post #16

Having ran a travel directory site for a bit I'm always interested in Google's ambitions in the space. I still haven't completely understood why Google bought Zagat, and now Frommer's is a bit odd as well. My theories - 1) Small business relationships - well established relationships with long-established small businesses that may never have tried advertising online. Every listing is a potential new Adwords customer.…

Google paid 151M for Zagat - is that considered cheap? Would be surprised if the Frommer's price was even half that. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21301531/google-...

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#22

Post by fishcakes » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 7:50 PM UTC

Vertical integration. Those who own content distribution (I.e. search) buy up the content. This solidifies / extends their unique ability to deliver relevant content.

A good analogy would be Comcast buying NBC. Of course google is at a higher scale than any previous distributor, so they can easily buy up lots of small but very valuable comtent producers.

Scary.

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#23

Post by jonhohle » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 8:38 PM UTC

gdilla wrote: post #21

rwhitman wrote: post #16

Having ran a travel directory site for a bit I'm always interested in Google's ambitions in the space. I still haven't completely understood why Google bought Zagat, and now Frommer's is a bit odd as well. My theories - 1) Small business relationships - well established relationships with long-established small businesses that may never have tried advertising online. Every listing is a potential new Adwords customer.…

Google paid 151M for Zagat - is that considered cheap? Would be surprised if the Frommer's price was even half that. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21301531/google-...

When you think that Zagat - a world renowned service for restaurant ratings for over 30 years - was purchased for about 15% of what Instagram cost, I would say it's cheap.

I know new whiz-bang startups can generate a lot of cash (if they are lucky), but it always surprises me how low the valuation of old guard companies can be.

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#24

Post by rnernento » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 8:40 PM UTC

Awesome, can't wait to see integration into google maps / location based services.

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#25

Post by Flemlord » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 8:49 PM UTC

I wonder how this will affect Microsoft's Win 8 travel app, which seems to be using exclusively Frommer's content.

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#26

Post by squidi » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 9:10 PM UTC

kaizenfury7 wrote: post #8

When I planned a trip to Spain, I use the Frommers 3 days guide in Madrid to plan activities. http://www.frommers.com/destinations/madrid/0056020791.html I then used Google Maps and created a custom map with all the suggested sites, activities, and eateries. I was also able to share it with my friends and collaborate over it. I think this is a great opportunity for Google to streamline all this and make another great…

I've do the the same thing for my trips and think it's great. If Google could integrate the travel guide content with the "view offline" feature in GMaps it would reduce the need for roaming too.

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#27

Post by mcherm » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 9:14 PM UTC

jonhohle wrote: post #23

gdilla wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google paid 151M for Zagat - is that considered cheap? Would be surprised if the Frommer's price was even half that. http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21301531/google-...

When you think that Zagat - a world renowned service for restaurant ratings for over 30 years - was purchased for about 15% of what Instagram cost, I would say it's cheap. I know new whiz-bang startups can generate a lot of cash (if they are lucky), but it always surprises me how low the valuation of old guard companies can be.

Comparing to Instagram, which even its defenders admit is an outlier, is poor choice.

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#28

Post by so_says » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 9:14 PM UTC

Flemlord wrote: post #25

I wonder how this will affect Microsoft's Win 8 travel app, which seems to be using exclusively Frommer's content.

Frommer's has a rich licensing program. MS is only one of their partners. You can see how prominently their content is displayed in the NY Times travel section. http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/britain/engla... I know there are many others, but they are escaping me at the moment.

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#29

Post by stcredzero » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 9:17 PM UTC

rwhitman wrote: post #16

Having ran a travel directory site for a bit I'm always interested in Google's ambitions in the space. I still haven't completely understood why Google bought Zagat, and now Frommer's is a bit odd as well. My theories - 1) Small business relationships - well established relationships with long-established small businesses that may never have tried advertising online. Every listing is a potential new Adwords customer.…

> I still haven't completely understood why Google bought Zagat, and now Frommer's is a bit odd as well...

2) Brand recognition and perception of quality control in consumer listings.

Speaking as a consumer, I'd say that both are highly respected brands.

Re: Google to buy Frommer's

#30

Post by stcredzero » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 9:21 PM UTC

mynegation wrote: post #10

mlinksva wrote: post #5

I haven't looked at any in a very long time, but I recall Frommer's guidebooks as having the feel of McDonald's, relative to say Lonely Planet. I'm eager for the Wikimedia Travel project to get underway https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Travel_Guide

In my experience full-fledged country guides from Lonely Planet are more thorough, detailed and informative. In the area of region-specific (say, Provence in France) and mini-pocket guides with pocket maps Frommer has much more presence and their guides are very good. I am as avid user of smartphones and tablets as any other HN user, but there are many places in the world where you certainly do not want to pull gadge…

> I am as avid user of smartphones and tablets as any other HN user, but there are many places in the world where you certainly do not want to pull gadgets out of the bag or pocket.

Single-purpose travel PDAs for rent in such parts of the world might be of some use. Have them optimized for the travel guide function, and make them hard to jailbreak and susceptible to bricking when jailbreaking. It may be possible to make them unattractive to steal. (You can steal them, but no one particularly wants to buy them.)