The Great Travel Site Showdown

As a member of the travel industry, I am constantly looking at what my peers and counterparts throughout the country are doing. And quite often, co-workers and constituents ask me who has the best website.

I have some standard answers (none of which will be divulged here), but that got me thinking...we should really have a vote to see which website would come out on top. If only we had a blog to run it on...

So, over the next several weeks, the Travel 2.0 blog will be hosting the first annual 'Great Travel Site Showdown' pitting the best travel sites around the nation, plus our friends from D.C. and Puerto Rico, against each other in a winner-take all contest! (Prizes to be determined later, but pride and boasting rights are included!)

Groups

Ala March Madness, the states are pooled into groups of 4 (13 in all, randomly generated by random.org), with one winner emerging from each group. Those winners, plus the next 3 highest second-place finishers* will move onto the quarter-finals, etc, etc. until we can declare a winner.

Voting will take place on the Travel 2.0 blog (see the top of the page) each Tuesday and Friday, with voting open for 5 days.

Judging Guidelines

Voters should take into consideration the design, ease of use, available travel information and technology used in the site when making their decision. Or, if you want to suck up to your boss, just vote over and over for your state!

Link To / Email

For your emailing / linking convenience, send the link below to your office, friends, cousins, etc. to ensure total domination over your smaller rivals:

http://traveltrendreport.blogspot.com/

Groups / Schedule

Group 1
Tuesday, April 1
1. Maine
2. Minnesota - Group Winner
3. California
4. District of Columbia

Group 2
Friday, April 4
5. Oregon
6. Washington
7. Alaska
8. Virginia

Group 3
Tuesday, April 8
9. Hawaii
10. Alabama
11. New Jersey
12. North Dakota

Group 4 (Group of Death)
Friday, April 11
13. Tennessee
14. Florida
15. Delaware
16. Maryland

Group 5
Tuesday, April 15
17. Pennsylvania
18. Mississippi
19. Iowa
20. Puerto Rico

Group 6
Friday, April 18
21. Vermont
22. South Carolina
23. Georgia
24. Michigan

Group 7
Tuesday, April 22
25. Utah
26. Oklahoma
27. Kentucky
28. Montana

Group 8
Friday, April 25
29. Indiana
30. Arkansas
31. Kansas
32. Ohio

Group 9
Tuesday, April 29
33. North Carolina
34. Nebraska
35. New York
36. New Mexico

Group 10
Friday, May 2
37. Rhode Island
38. Wisconsin
39. Missouri
40. South Dakota

Group 11
Tuesday, May 6
41. Arizona
42. Idaho
43. Nevada
44. West Virginia

Group 12
Friday, May 9
45. Louisiana
46. Connecticut
47. Wyoming
48. Texas

Group 13
Tuesday, May 13
49. Massachusetts
50. New Hampshire
51. Illinois
52. Colorado

Good luck all!

*By only selecting 1 second place finisher we would have ended up with a mathematically challenging 14 states in the second round, and then 7 in the quarters. So, but taking the next 3 highest finishers the tourney will advance to 16, then 8, 4, etc.