Cheapest Destinations Blog is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Like Being Manipulated? Read Stories with “Hot” “It List” or “Where to Go This Year”

You’re waiting in the dentist’s office, perusing the newsstand, or surfing through your RSS reader and you can’t help but be drawn in to the headlines:

This Year’s It List!

Our Hot List Issue!

The Hot Spots for 2011!

Where to Travel This Year!

It’s a tactic as old as magazines themselves and it’ll probably persist long after I’m dead and gone, when we’re reading our info on hovering holograms that follow us around the house.

The problem is, it’s mostly b.s.

These headlines sell magazines, they generate clicks, they are a great way to generate some press for the publication. The important reason to do them though, the one you’ll never see discussed in the editor’s intro, is that these lists create a whole new batch of advertising targets for the sales reps to go call on.

“Congrats, you’re going to be in our upcoming ‘Hotels so hot we can barely set foot in them’ issue! And I’ve got a 1/4-page spot reserved for you right before your destination’s section. Just 12 grand and we’ll also give you 50,000 pop-up ad impressions on our annoying website for free!”

I’ve spent close to two decades now reviewing hotels. If I had five bucks for every hotel that appeared in these issues before going out of business a few years later, I could take off the month of April.

As for the “hot place to go this year,” there’s an uncanny correlation between where a new luxury hotel has just opened and what destination is now supposedly the place to be. A new Aman Resort or Ritz-Carlton? It’s hot. That’s why, despite all the crime, traffic, pollution, and general ugliness, Travel & Leisure will gush about Acapulco. Some fancy new hotels opened there, hotels like Banyan Tree that have plenty of ad money to spend. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be touching it with a 1,000-foot pole.

Here’s one thing you can count on for real: if you see a place showing up in these articles over and over for a few years running, you can bet the big money crowd will soon be following the shepherds’ calls. It’s the main reason prices have risen so dramatically in Essaouira, Istanbul, Prague, Tallin, Siem Reap, Krabi, and other places that used to be backpacker haunts. It’s been happening fast lately in Peru’s Sacred Valley, Cartegeña, and Hoi An.

There’s no fighting and you can’t hide, but you can ignore the sheep and chart your own path.

steve

Thursday 31st of March 2011

good to know about mexico/indonesia/nepal....but panama seems to see prices increasing rapidly.

are there *any* good deals out there right now for 4-5 day trips? i've scoured travelzoo, cheap caribbean, and sherman's travel, and all the advertised prices are just not available for any dates i input....

we got a great bargain to sw florida in january ($610 for 2 non-stop tix, mid-range hotel, and car), and even got a good deal on 4 nights in aruba in december ($1820 all inclusive package for 2), but i don't see anything that comes close to those bargains at present. should we give interior mexico a try?

tim

Friday 1st of April 2011

Well, there are others of course for packages: SkyAuction, Site59/Lastminutetravel, SmarterTravel, Budget Travel online, Bookit.com, and on and on. I see deals every day, but I'm not in the market right now so I haven't been paying much attention. Airfare is going up though of course with fuel past $100 a barrel and the summer coming. The new normal is going to be higher because of that.

steve

Wednesday 30th of March 2011

tim, every year or so i 'rediscover' this blog and remember how excellent it is. you were the one who encouraged me to travel internationally - gave me the courage to discover nicaragua in 2006 while everybody in my social circle looked at me sideways for wanting to go there....

i'm extremely pessimistic about the dollar, and watched my purchasing power erode throughout the last 5 years (notwithstanding a short blip in 2009, and taking latin-american hyper-inflation also into account) in latin america / south america.

my girlfriend and i am temporarily relegated to taking short trips of 4 to 5 days, but i'd love to go somewhere cheap and interesting within the next month or two that makes sense for a trip of such short duration. we're in boston. right now - what are the best deals (countries) available that you see this very minute?

best regards, steve

tim

Wednesday 30th of March 2011

Steve, my purchasing power in Mexico is greater than it was five years ago. When I bought my beach house in the Yucatan 7 years ago it was 10.2 to the dollar. Now it's usually around 12. If you get away from the coasts, it's a great value. Panama and Ecuador use the dollar as their currency, so no decline there. Indonesia's as cheap as it was five years ago. So is Nepal. There are always bargains out there if you're coming from a developed country---they just shift around a bit.

Rebekah

Friday 25th of March 2011

Thanks for the tips Tim. I'm going to give Afar a try.

Rebekah

Wednesday 23rd of March 2011

Hi Tim, I love your blog but was also wanted to subscribe to a travel magazine or two. What do you recommend? I'm looking for a magazine that inspires me to travel to places that are very interesting, beautiful and affordable (hotels less than $100/night. I really prefer more like $40/night but don't expect to find those places listed in major publications). I also like lots of great photograhs and want places I can actually go to and tips I can use. No armchair travel please. What do you recommend?

tim

Friday 25th of March 2011

Rebekah,

Magazines really aimed at shoestring travelers never seem to survive very long---there's just not enough potential ad revenue in serving that fragmented, independent audience. The closest thing to it is Budget Travel and I think they walk that line between serving readers and serving advertisers about as well as you can expect. As for inspiration that's not all about luxury hotels though, check out AFAR and Wend. Or Outpost if you're in Canada. Otherwise, blogs and independent travel sites will serve you much better. A bummer as I love reading magazines, but that's reality.

Anny

Thursday 17th of March 2011

I have to admit I've been one of the writers contributing to these Hot List and It List issues for years now. I've always wondered how the editors picked who got featured in there because sometimes the true hot hotel in town (the one all the local buzz people are talking about) will get shot down by my editor, while another that isn't even fully open yet will get the nod. It seems so arbitrary. But it's a paycheck for me, so I nod and say ok.

tim

Tuesday 22nd of March 2011

Anny, I'm too cynical to get hired for those jobs, but I hear the tales of editor conversations from writers friends who do get these gigs. It's comical.