George Oberle – Editor
Review Friends is a travel blog authored by George Oberle and also a few guest authors. All are travel industry veterans and specialists in their niche. Our goal is to post candid and unique observations about travel and the travel industry. Some of my observations have been developed as editor of the popular user-generated hotel review web site: ReviewResorts.com.
ReviewResorts.com started out as an academic project at Saint Mary’s College of California. The premise of the project was that actual travel experiences of real people just like you are much more valuable than “sales fluff” written by hotels. This project was very successful and I continued on as editor of the site after the completion of my degree.
Prior to my position as Editor in Chief of ReviewResorts.com I owned and operated WesTrav International a mid-sized travel company for 18 years. The agency specialized in Hawaii and Mexico beach vacations. In 2003 the agency was acquired by Peak Travel Group one of the largest travel companies on the West Coast. I stayed on as a webmaster for Peak Travel for 7 years. During this period at Peak Travel I learned about web and e-mail marketing, web development and search engine optimization (SEO) to make Peak’s online efforts one of the most successful in the industry.
In 2011 I coordinated 230 travel agents in an online marketing effort entitled “The Travel Blog Project” which encompassed blogging, social media posting, website SEO and online marketing. The success of the Travel Blog Project led ASTA to invite me to conduct a few webinars about website SEO and online marketing specifically for travel agents. I was also asked to be a session speaker at the ASTA annual travel show in Las Vegas this past September of 2011.
Enjoy the Journey,
George
