Schmaps

Schmap, a new online city guide has been very clever and scoured Flickr for photos of monuments, landmarks, bars and restaurants. If they find a photo relevant to one of their reviews, then they send an e-mail to the (usually amateur) photographer, informing them that their photo has been nominated for inclusion in their online travel guide.

I received such an e-mail last week, regarding two of my Hotel Okura photo's and it succeeded in making me feel rather proud for about 5 minutes. Those 5 minutes were enough for me to grant them permission to use my photo for free if it was selected... and it was. It's really very clever, the way Schmap approach you, namely with a seemingly personal e-mail from the managing director, Luke Ritchie, calling you by your first name and congratulating you on the nomination of your photo(s). I suckered for it anyway . Now all they need to do is get more critical reviews from visitors rather than the now rather old-fashioned paragraph-blurb about a restaurant. That's what made IENS so big in the Netherlands.