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ODP Editing Guidelines for Travel Categories

• Purpose of Travel Guidelines
• Scope: Which categories are affected?
• Aggressive Submissions and Multiple Listings
  • How Many Listings?
  • Deeplinks, Mirrors, and Affiliates
  • Spam
• Topical Travel Categories
• Site Placement Guidelines
• Lodging
• Travel Agents
• Tour Operators
• Air Travel
• Other modes of transport
• Travel guides
• Travelogues
• Attractions
• Glossary of Travel Terminology
• Consolidator, Tour Operator, Travel Agent/Agency, Travel Supplier, Travelogue
• Lodging: Bed and Breakfast, Hostel, Hotel, Inn, Motel, Resort, Vacation Rental
• Navigational Links between Regional and Recreation/Travel

Purpose of Travel Guidelines

These guidelines are designed to assist placing and describing travel sites, and to supplement the ODP Guidelines, Regional Guidelines, and the Regional Template.

These guidelines address the two primary difficulties that editors have when dealing with travel sites:

1. Aggressive Submissions and Multiple Listings - Owners and promoters of travel sites are among the most aggressive submitters to the Directory (re: spam). These guidelines are aimed at addressing spam from the travel industries, and to help editors handle these sites consistently.
2. Travel Ontology - Many editors have difficulty deciding where to list travel sites. These guidelines address this issue by reviewing different classes of travel sites and discussing where they are listed.

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Scope: Which Categories are Affected?

Travel sites are generally listed in three places in the Directory:

1. Recreation: Travel
2. Topical travel categories - like Sports: Cycling: Travel or Recreation: Travel: Specialty_Travel: Backpacking. These categories generally either live in Recreation: Travel: Specialty_Travel or are @linked there. Travel categories that may exist outside Regional or the Recreation/Travel branch are treated the same.
3. Travel_and_Tourism categories at all levels of the Regional branch.

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Aggressive Submissions and Multiple Listings

Owners and promoters of travel sites are among the most aggressive submitters to the Directory. It is common for sites to be submitted multiple times in one or more categories. It is very important that editors of travel categories are aware of these practices.

• How Many Listings? - Provide they meet the general guidelines for inclusion, travel sites are generally listed once in the Directory, most often in the appropriate Regional category. In some cases, a site may be entitled to one listing in a Regional category and a second listing in either Recreation/Travel or a topical travel category. Specific information for each type of site can be found below.
• Deeplinks, Mirrors, and Affiliates - Travel sites aggressively employ these tactics in an attempt to obtain multiple listings. Editors should not list sites which do not offer unique content. Travel affiliates are an especially large management problem; editors can find assistance using internal tools.
• Spam - ODP Guidelines for dealing with spam are clear: "Sites that repeatedly or persistently spam the directory will be blocked from submission, and their sites may be removed from the directory."

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Topical Travel Categories

Topical travel categories list resources, directories, tips and advice, travelogues, travel agents, tour operators, and other travel providers which are specific to a type of travel. These categories may "live" in Recreation/Travel/Specialty_Travel (i.e. Recreation: Travel: Specialty_Travel: Backpacking) or in topical categories throughout the Directory (i.e. Sports: Cycling: Travel). The same guidelines apply regardless of where they are located.

1. Larger topical travel categories should be subcategorized into more specific subtopics. For example, the Ecotourism travel category is further subcategorized by topic.
2. When all possible subtopics have been exhausted, large categories should be further subcategorized using the following standard subcategories:
   1. Destinations - Use this for arranging sites by geographical region.
   2. Guides and Directories - Use this for travel guides, portals, or directories which focus exclusively on the particular type of topical travel.
   3. Lodging - Lodging establishments ranging from resorts to hotels to bed and breakfasts. Rarely would topical categories have a need for this subcategory, as most lodging is not topically specific.
   4. News and Media - Use this for news, publications, and similar sites focussing specifically on a particular type of travel.
   5. Travel Agents - Only travel agents whose primary focus is the particular specialty travel should be listed here. Travel agents that will book travel of this form as part of a larger business do not qualify
   6. Tour Operators - Only tour operators whose primary focus is tours of a particular specialty should be listed here. Tour operators that offer tours of this type as part of a larger business do not qualify.
   7. Travelogues - Travelogues which focus on one or more trips of this specialty form may be listed here.
3. These subcategories should be linked back to the corresponding Recreation/Travel subcategory with an @link/relcat pair.
   For example, the Backpacking Travelogues category contains a related category link to Recreation: Travel: Travelogues, and the latter contains an @link named Backpacking@ pointing to the former.
4. Further subcategorization of these standard topical travel subcategories should not be done, except by geographic area as a last resort.
5. Editors should use their discretion and common sense when applying these standard subcategories. Not all subcategories will be appropriate for all topics. Further, editors may create additional subcategories at their discretion. Remember, good editors doen't strictly adhere to rules and regulations, rather they use guidelines as basis for good common sense judgment.

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Site Placement Guidelines

Guidelines in this section are intended to assist with the placement of travel sites by their type. Editors should use their discretion to make exceptions to these guidelines where it makes sense.

Lodging

• Recreation/Travel Listing Criteria
• Lodging directories which cover more than one continent, or sites for global lodging chains.
• Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism Listing Criteria
• Lodging directories which focus on one continent, one country, one state/province/county, or one locality should be placed in the corresponding Regional/../Lodging category.
• Individual lodging establishments - including hotels, motels, inns, vacation rentals, bed and breakfast establishments, hostels, resorts, and other "specialized" lodging - should be listed once in the directory in a
Regional category.
• In larger English speaking countries, lodging establishments are listed in Lodging categories of the locality cat where the establishment is physically located. In smaller countries and those where English is not the primary language, lodging establishments are usually listed in categories encompassing a larger geographic area when there are not (yet) enough sites to create a locality category.
• In general, deeplinked lodging pages on travel affiliate sites should not be listed. Editors should always attempt to locate the "official" site for a lodging establishment.

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Travel Agents

• Recreation/Travel Listing Criteria
• 
  
Recreation: Travel: Travel_Agents is primarily an @link farm. Few sites are listed here.
• Topical Travel Categories Listing Criteria
• Travel agents which specialize exclusively in a particular type of travel may be listed once in a topical travel category that corresponds to that specialty.
• Specialty travel agents may only be listed once in a Topical branch, and once in Regional (if appropriate).
• Travel agents offering a variety of travel packages, etc. should not be listed in topical travel categories. These travel agents should be listed in Regional categories only.
• Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism Listing Criteria
• Travel agents with a physical presence should be listed in Regional according to the Regional guidelines, most commonly in a locality's Regional/../Travel_Agents category.
• The vast majority of travel agents will be listed once in the Directory in the most appropriate Regional category.

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Tour Operators

• Recreation/Travel Listing Criteria
• 
  
Recreation: Travel: Tour_Operators is primarily an @link farm. Few sites - those which offer non-specialty tours with a global scope - are listed here.
• Topical Travel Category Listing Criteria
• Tour operators which specialize exclusively in a particular travel specialty may be listed in a topical travel category that corresponds to that specialty.
• Tour operators should be listed no more than once in the Topical area of the directory.
• Tour operators whose only "specialty" is that they offer regionally-based tours should not be listed in topical travel categories. These tour operators should be listed in Regional categories only.
• Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism Listing Criteria
• Tour operators with a physical presence should be listed in Regional according to Regional guidelines, most commonly in a locality's Regional/../Tour_Operators category.
• In addition, tour operators may also be listed in Regional according to where they offer tours, assuming they have a specific focus.  The listing description should, ideally, state where the company is based.
  

Example: A tour operator based out of Toronto which only offers tours in Kenya may be listed in both the Toronto and Kenya Tour_Operators categories.

• Subdividing Tour_Operators categories: Keep all tour operator sites listed in the same category, with descriptions which make it clear what types of tours they provide, and where they are based and the region where they offer tours. This method may result in a very large number of sites in a single category. In such cases, editors may use their discretion to create subcategories.
• The primary logical division should be between tour operators which offer tours in the given regional area, and those which are based there but offer tours elsewhere in the world. The former group of sites should reside at the root level, while the latter group should be placed in an Outbound subcategory.
  

Example: Regional/../Kenya/T&T/Tour_Operators would hold sites for tour operators that offer tours in Kenya, whether they are locally based, or based elsewhere ("inbound" operators). Regional/../Kenya/T&T/Tour_Operators/Outbound would list sites for tour operators based in Kenya which offer tours only outside of Kenya ("outbound" operators).

• Depending on the region, it may be possible to subdivide by the type of tour offered. For example, one could create subcategories for walking tours, museum tours, or adventure tours.
• In rare cases, it may be desirable to further subdivide. At this time, it is appropriate to divide into Local (for tour operators based locally) and Incoming (for tour operators based outside of the region) subcategories.

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Air Travel

• Recreation/Travel Listing Criteria
• All airports should be listed in
Business/../Aviation/Airports/.
• All airlines should be listed in Recreation/Travel/../Airlines.
• Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism Listing Criteria
• Airports should also be listed in the appropriate Regional/../Transportation category, often at the Metro Area or county/region level, but sometimes at the locality level. Editors should use their discretion.
• Airlines may also be listed in a country level category. If such a category exists, it should then be @linked in Recreation/Travel/../Airlines.

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Other Modes of Transportation

• Recreation/Travel Listing Criteria
• In general, only companies which serve multiple continents (like global car rental companies) are listed in Recreation/Travel/Transportation categories.
• Most sites for transportation companies are listed in Business categories which are then linked in Recreation/Travel with @links.
• Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism Listing Criteria
• Companies with a limited regional scope should be listed in the most specific Regional category according to
the Regional template.

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Travel Guides

• Recreation/Travel Listing Criteria
• Only general purpose travel guides which have a global scope will be listed in Recreation/Travel.
• Topical Travel Category Listing Criteria
• Only travel guides which specifically focus on a particular travel specialty will be listed in topical travel categories.
• Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism Listing Criteria
• Travel guides with a limited regional scope should be listed in the most appropriate Regional/../Travel_Guides category.

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Travelogues

• Recreation/Travel Listing Criteria
• Travelogues which span multiple continents, single continents, single countries, or standard sub-country regions (like US states, Canadian provinces, etc.) will be listed in the
Recreation/Travel/Travelogues tree.
• Topical Travel Category Listing Criteria
• Travelogues which focus on a particular type of specialty travel (i.e. backpacking or cycling) should be listed in a topical travel category.
• Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism Listing Criteria
• Travelogues which focus on a particular locality should be listed in Regional. This is consistent with the Regional-topical guidelines.

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Attractions

• Recreation/Travel Listing Criteria
• Generally, attractions are not listed in Recreation/Travel categories.
Recreation: Travel: Attractions contains @links to several topical categories, including those for Zoos and Aquariums, Theme_Parks, Museums, and several others. Sites should be submitted and listed in those topical categories instead.
• Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism Listing Criteria
• Attractions are listed in Regional categories according to the Regional Template. This will generally be at the locality level, but may differ from region to region.

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Glossary of Travel Terminology

There are a number of terms which may have different meanings to different editors. For the sake of consistency, here are the definitions of a few basic terms as they are applied to ODP travel categories:

Consolidator

A company which negotiates bulk contracts with a travel supplier (i.e. an airline, hotel, tour operator, etc.) and sells that space to the general public (either directly, or through a travel agent) at a discount.

Tour Operator

A company which assembles various components of a tour. Typically, they arrange transportation, lodging, food, entertainment, admissions, etc. and provide a guide or host to lead the tour. Tour operators sell directly to the public, and also through travel agents.

Travel Agent/Agency

An individual/group which sells travel services to the public. Travel services includes things like airline tickets, cruises, car rentals, or hotel reservations. The agent is a representative of the travel supplier, and is compensated for providing business to that supplier.

Travel Supplier

Those individuals and businesses which supply a travel service directly to the customer. This includes:

• all transportation companies, whether they offer transport by land, sea, or air
• all lodging establishments (including hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, etc.)
• tour operators

Travelogue

A travel "journal", which contains significant narrative content about one or more trips taken by the author. Travelogues are often dated, and sometimes accompanied by photographs; however, "virtual tours" or photograph collections with limited narrative about the travel destination are not travelogues, and should be listed in other ODP categories.

Lodging Terms...

Bed and Breakfast

Generally limited service lodging facilities which:

• Are smaller, owner-operated establishments which emphasize an "at home" feeling,
• Tend to be individually decorated,
• May be located in the same building as the innkeeper's residence,
• Offer breakfast which is usually included in the room rate, and
• Are sometimes limited in amenities or service hours.

Hostel

Limited service lodging facilities which:

• Offer shared rooms or dormitory-style lodging,
• May have shared bathrooms and common areas,
• Are significantly less expensive than hotels or inns, and
• Emphasize a communal camaraderie between guests.

Hotel

Generally, full service lodging facilities which:

• Are often high-rise establishments, and
• Offer a range of services and on-premise food/beverage outlets, shops, conference facilities, and recreational activities.

Inn

Generally, moderate service lodging facilities which:

• Offer a more personal approach similar to bed and breakfasts, although larger, and
• Generally offer dining facilities for at least breakfast and dinner.

Motel

Short for "motor hotel". Generally, moderate service lodging facilities which:

• Are single or dual-story establishments, and
• Generally offer fewer amenities than hotels.

Resort

Generally full-service lodging and recreational facilities which:

• Are geared towards vacation travelers,
• Offer a variety of food/beverage outlets, and
• Offer an extensive range of recreational and entertainment programs.

Vacation Rental

Generally self-service lodging facilities which:

• Contain full kitchen facilities,
• May be rented by the day, week, or month, and
• Encompass condominiums, cabins, chalets, beach cottages, lodges, and homes.

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Navigational Links between Regional and Recreation/Travel

Several categories in Recreation/Travel are the global, or root, category for Travel_and_Tourism categories in Regional. Therefore, it is important that editors create navigational links to help users navigate from the "global" category all the way down to the lowest geographic levels in the Regional branch (e.g. locality). Such navigation helps proper site placement by editors and submitters alike.

• Each Recreation/Travel category should contain @links to the corresponding continent-level (or, in their absence, country-level) Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism categories.
  Example: Recreation: Travel: Lodging contains @links to the continental Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging categories.
• Continent-level (or, in their absence, country-level) Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism categories should contain related category (relcat) links to the corresponding Recreation/Travel category.
  Example: Each of the continental Travel_and_Tourism/Lodging categories, like Europe's, contains a related category link back to Recreation: Travel: Lodging.
• Each Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism category should contain @links to the corresponding subcategory in narrower Regional categories, if they exist.
  Example: Canada's Lodging category contains @links to the Lodging categories of each of its provinces (which are narrower in scope).
• Each Regional/../Travel_and_Tourism category should contain a related category (relcat) link to the corresponding subcategory in wider Regional category(ies), if they exist.
  Example: Canada's Lodging category contains a related category link to the North American Lodging category (which is wider in scope).

The goal of such linking is to ensure that it is possible to traverse these links all the way from Recreation/Travel categories to individual locality cats (via @links) and back again (via relcats).