Want to know how much that trip will cost you? Even better, want to know how much that trip has already cost everyone else? A new website, cost4travel could just revolutionize the way you budget for a
vacation.
So far cost4travel.com is in the beta stage but I think the concept is promising. Right now they are collecting data from travelers just like you in order to provide a comprehensive search for travelers just like you. But what do they do you ask? Well…
The plan is that this website will be able to give you a high, low and average cost for whatever trip you search for. You’ll be able to search for transportation costs, accommodation prices, daily activities and who knows maybe even audio tours. Best of all, your search results are not based on aggregate travel sites like expedia and kayak but rather on the information travelers like you have input into the system. Like we’ve always said here at noambit… “The best advice comes from someone who’s just been there.”
One of the biggest benefits I see with this new site is the ability to check train prices in Europe. All too often, travelers in Europe find it hard to narrow down an accurate price of a simple one way ticket from one city to the next. What does a ticket from Naples to the Herculaneum cost? Finding an accurate answer is not as easy as you’d think. Hopefully with cost4travel travelers will have a forum to share this type of information in one easy, searchable location.
As mentioned though, this site is for all intents and purposes in production. That means they need you to produce it. Without having to offer up a ton of personal information you can register with the website and begin sharing your trip information. You just log in, create a “trip” in your profile and fill in as much info as you have. Car rental prices, restaurant reviews, ferry tickets it’s all there for you to report and the more the merrier. The hope is that soon, all of this info will be accessible on the go through those increasingly popular and more and more travel “must have’s”; iphones.
I’ve played around with the site a bit and with the understanding that this is all in production I’ve only ran into one issue. You’re asked to provide, through a drop down window your “trip’s purpose”. Family reunion, gap year, honeymoons, spring breaks are all among the choices but where is the choice for plain old and simple “fun”. None-the-less, I encourage others to try it out and let us, or them, know what you think.
