In The Independent’s new travel trends column, Trendwatch, we dig into the types of trip, modes of transport and top buzzwords to watch out for.
How much research do you do around your destination and hotel before booking a trip? In the run-up to a recent holiday to Mauritius, I fear I lapsed into stalker territory – trawling the internet for any photo a passer-by may have taken of my prospective chunk of beach, hotel grounds and surrounding coastal area. I clicked compulsively through Tripadvisor’s “traveller” images – the real ones, with room service trays and dirty towels left out – through oyster.com’s “mystery shopper” images; through row upon row of sparkling #filtered Instagram images posted just that day.
