Show more screenshots »

Holiday Watchdog is a site dedicated to travel and hotel stays. Users can find helpful resources on holiday hot spots and accommodations that can be found in and around them. The site consists primarily of reviews of destinations and hotels that allow users to get an unbiased look at the better accommodations available in the places they plan to visit. Users can also participate on the site by providing a review of places they have visited as well as corresponding photographs to share with the Holiday Watchdog community.

Holiday Watchdog was created in 2010 as a part of Trip Advisor. Trip Advisor is one of the more popular travel related websites available today. Trip Advisor Media handles over 50 million monthly visitors across all of the websites they handle, which includes FlipKey.com, Fluxun.com, FrequentFlier.com, BookingBuddy.com, and CruiseCritic.com. Holiday Watch Dog is just one of the many travel websites created by Trip Advisor Media.

Holiday Watchdog helps provide visitors with unbiased, honest reviews by inviting the community to participate in the process. Users can submit a review of vacation destinations and hotels they have experienced. The site also allows users to post their personal vacation photographs, which can go far in painting a candid picture of each destination for anyone who may go there.

At first, the Holiday Watchdog website seems a little overwhelming. The design is relatively well organized, with open space along the sides to avoid distracting the user. However, there is a lot of information, navigation tools, and images positioned along the center that can make it difficult to know where to start. Once the user gets started, the rest just falls into place. Holiday Watch Dog also incorporates color maps and images to help the user get a better picture of where they go and the best way to schedule their trip.

Visitors that would like to create a Holiday Watchdog account can do so by clicking the small “Login/Register” link nestled at the top right hand corner of the homepage. This directs the user to the login page. Although it is a little hard to find, a black link that reads “not a member? Join now” under the blue “Login” button will take the user to the registration page. Holiday Watchdog requires a username, password, first and last name, and valid email address. After checking the terms and conditions agreement check box, the user can click the white “Register” button, highlighted with a blue paw print, to complete registration.

Anyone can create a Holiday Watchdog account for free. There is no premium paid account and all features are available to all users. Even without an account, anyone can browse the site and read reviews on their favorite holiday destinations. Users can check hotel availability through the site, which takes them to Booking.com. It is possible that Holiday Watchdog earns something for hotels booked from their site. As far as the user is concerned, there is no cost to visiting, joining, or reviewing hotels on Holiday Watchdog.

Individuals or families who plan to travel, or who have traveled, can enjoy Holiday Watchdog. The site allows users to share their opinions on many destinations and hotels, providing photos as well as reviews. Others can stop by and get an honest opinion about the places they are considering for their next trip. The site is free so it won’t cut into a tight vacation budget.

• Post reviews of the places you have experienced
• Submit personal photographs of your trip
• Read unbiased reviews posted by other Holiday Watch Dog users
• Check hotel availability from the website
• Review Google maps of each location, which are built into the site

comments powered by Disqus