Measure Up the Competition

I often feel like technology is taking over the world and soon our brains will be uploaded onto an iPod or personal computer. That way if we want to call in sick or go on vacation, everything our brain knows will be available for our bosses and employers to access. Of course then it will turn into one of the many film versions of the story I Am Journey -- I vote for Omega Man. I love it when that zombie dude is calling out "Lisa!" at the end of the movie. And of course when Heston calls himself a narcissist.


But, I digress. Despite all the overwhelming uses of technology, I am a sucker for travel technology. I faithfully log onto Tripadvisor every time I need to find out if a hotel or bed & breakfast is decent or what kind of activities I can do off the beaten path. But I often wonder how to find a good car rental, boutique or restaurant beyond if just the product is any good. I like to know if the waiters are pretentious little freaks or if a certain diner or boutique's customer service is worth spending money on alone.

It seems I found my answer in Measuredup.com where you can look up businesses, restaurants, coffee shops, travel services, boutiques, bars, -- just about any business establishment and read reviews from 'normal' people. So you can avoid traps where businesses treat tourists like locus and hit up the ones with a local appeal. And it's also a pretty fun way to get involved in the local scene while you're traveling. Or you can pretend like you are a local, which is a whole other kind of fun in and of itself.

You can also write your own reviews at Measuredup.com about businesses in your hometown or about the places you hit up while you're traveling. It's a nice way to give free advertising to your favorite haunts, but it can also be dangerous. So be selective if you're going to write a bad review, make sure it warrants the negativity or face putting out bad vibes into the universe that will just come back to bite you in the ass.

I checked out their travel section and found a lot of interesting information about everything from a crappy Days Inn in new Mexico to a lazy car rental company right in my own neighborhood. It seems most of the reviews are unflattering complete with those little frowny faces. I found one 'smiley' face in 2 pages of reviews. But to be fair, I wouldn't necessarily refuse to patronize those businesses based on one or two bad blurbs. For example, someone was complaining about bad customer service at the new Sky Bus airline. This airline is designed to be a basic commuter service with no frills, not a customer based airline. Regardless of if I think the bad reviews are warranted or not, I would make sure I was prepared for whatever complaints seem to pop up at Measuredup.com.

So before you go hunting for that posh restaurant, check out what others have to say first. You might save yourself acute annoyance and an overpriced martini.