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Google bought Frommer’s Travel Guides

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Rucksack Brian started this discussion 12 years 3 months ago

Google has purchased Frommer’s travel guides for approximately $23million USD.

Google hasn’t decided yet whether they will keep printing the Frommer’s guidebooks or if they will move them to an online-only format.

I wonder what this means for guidebooks, now that Google owns all that content and could put it online for free with ads or simply incorporate it into travel search results.

From The Wall Street Journal:

The Frommer's deal follows Google's 2011 acquisition of Zagat Survey, whose reviews and ratings of millions of businesses have since been incorporated into Google+ local-business listings. Google said Monday that the Frommer's brand would be melded with the Zagat brand. Frommer's data about local businesses around the world could boost the Google+ business listings—where both Zagat ratings and individual customer reviews are displayed—and Google Maps.

With Zagat and Frommer's, Google is betting it can become a trusted guide for travel and local-business information by using expert ratings and aggregating online comments from thousands of customers, the way Yelp.com and TripAdvisor.com do.

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Rucksack Brian

11 years

It seems Arthur Frommer wasn’t happy with Google’s plans to phase out the printed guides, so he bought the Frommer’s brand back from Google. He will continue to publish the guidebooks.

Google sells Frommer's guides back to Arthur Frommer

"It's a very happy time for me," Frommer, 83, told The Associated Press. "We will be publishing the Frommer travel guides in ebook and print formats and will also be operating the travel site Frommers.com."

Details on how much Mr. Frommer had to pay to get his brand back from Google were not disclosed.

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Ria

11 years

ha! well he's an old timer and i guess old timers like paper in their hands. personally, i'd be happy to view it all in an e-guide. i don't miss the days of carrying books around.

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Saskia

11 years

It depends on where I am going and for how long. On many trips I actually still like having a paper copy, just to be able to check a map or look up an address without having to pull out and show off my IPad in the street...

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