Pinterest has put paid to having a desk covered in sticky notes, but the site can also be useful when booking – or even looking for – that next holiday.
Pinterest operates just like a personal noticeboard – Mac users will be familiar with the sticky note concept of saving images to a desktop. Like blogging, some Pinterest users specialise in one subject, but treat it as a visual blog.
Travel companies have now started signing up to Pinterest, such as the tour operator China Highlights (http://pinterest.com/chinahighlights/) and also STA.
Pinterest users also repin links to websites like Broke Backpacker, meaning you can source holiday ideas and travel companies you might not find easily using an online search of the main travel websites. Ever thought of travelling down a Texas river? It’s all there on Pinterest.
If you find an image or link you like, you can pin it to your own personal noticeboard – meaning hotels, resorts, events like festivals or beer festivals can be pinned and saved for future reference.
Pinterest digital noticeboards can be organised exactly as you want, with holidays you have been on, things to go, places to see – and people you have met.
A Pinterest noticeboard can also act as a review to help others make the right choice when looking for holidays or accommodation – most Pinterest images show the good rather than the bad or the ugly, butonce you have spied a resort of hotel you like the look of at Pinterest, it is easy to find out more using Tripadvisor.
Pinterest users can also follow each other’s posts – if you take a look at a Pinterest travel blogger, it is easy to follow where they have visited and perhaps consider booking a holiday somewhere new or where you might not have thought of previously.
You can also pin useful travel websites to your own noticeboard, as well – pin your favourite travel booker, for example, or NHS Choices travel health advice. Make sure the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is pinned there for updates on political situations or outbreaks of illness like dengue fever at more far-flung holiday destinations.
Many Pinterest travel bloggers will also pin maps to their boards, which you can repin to yours and print out – saving time and money rummaging round the shops for the right town map of your holiday resort.
Better still, upload a map to your mobile phone, pack and go – and then pin your own holiday snaps on Pinterest.
What if you end up going on holiday to an unsuitable destination or a dodgy hotel? You could be recompensed for your holiday nightmare.