Guidebook giant Lonely Planet was hoping to extol the virtues of its new virtual sales rep system – but appears to be running into a storm of sorts with a decision to almost ignore the Bangkok riots.
The product news concerns the new Platinum Planet service, an web-based system which works by providing information and materials to independent booksellers as well as offering customer support and “best practice” for retailers.
But Lonely Planet appears to have upset a number of travellers with its playing down of one of the biggest political disturbances in years in Bangkok, the main transport hub and backpacker re-fuelling stop in Asia.
There was no mention or any offer of advice via its popular Twitter profile during the past 24 hours for those in or planning to travel to Bangkok, despite the rapid escalation of violence between government soldiers and protesters.
But what enraged many is the lack of coverage on the main Lonely Planet website.
Critics were astounded that the top story on one of the world’s leading travel websites had decided to focus on a story about a US basketball player. this was later pushed down by an article about the Lonely Planet awards.
The second story, Is It Safe to Travel to Thailand, only sent users to a comment thread on the site’s popular Thorn Tree forum. An extra link pointed to a news story on the BBC from the previous day.
The decision is understood to have infuriated a number of Lonely Planet authors.
Lonely Planet officials have responded in the comments section below…
A few points on this story. Specifically on the unrest in Bangkok, this has been featured prominently on the homepage of our site since the disturbances began. It has usually been at the top of the list of articles and it is still featured prominently on the homepage. Articles are posted and updated during the day and newer ones appear above older ones. Bangkok has also been covered in our editorial blog and on our Thorn Tree forums, where there have been rolling updates with both advice for travellers and on-the-ground updates. I also covered this topic on the live chat I just wrote on the Guardian website in the past few hours and have given several interviews on the subject, as is Tony Wheeler in the coming days. We’ve also been re-tweeting updates about this since the situation began. This hardly counts as playing down the situation.
@tom – hey, thanks for chiming in.
Why isn’t the story top, front and centre on the site then, if it’s that important – especially as it has reached a critical phase?
Some might argue that a link to a story on the BBC from 24 hours beforehand (before the soldiers attacked the barricades) is not really keeping visitors up to date.
Agree?
The story above is only reflecting what we have read and heard.
Sorry I missed your Guardian live chat.