These are all real and serious challenges. LTV of an average user is a tricky one because it can involve 19 "users" worth $0 an 1 worth $500, but the price of a

These are all real and serious challenges. LTV of an average user is a tricky one because it can involve 19 "users" worth $0 an 1 worth $500, but the price of an adwords click or whatnot will be set based on the $25 average value. But, you might have something for the other 19 "users" that doesn't bring the average value up to that scale. It's a legitimate difficulty. The acquisition/reacquisition and learning to use some specific software paradigm is a legit difficulty. Something that works for a hotel concierge using it daily may not work for an occasional traveler. Real problems. OTOH, I think that ultimately "travel planning" or something to that effect is not impossible, just difficult. Review sites like Yelp are great for finding something that is popular but not terrible on average, but I have gotten far more mileage out of guide books where the author seemed to have tastes that I enjoyed. Usually I don't have one, but.. There is still a ways to go. It would be facetious to seriously suggest some solution because obviously these things need to be banged out in the real world, but I can imagine all sorts of things that might work. How about you enter the location of your accommodation, tick a few boxes for your budget and travel modes (walking, taxis) and it spits out a decent guidebook chapter. Local walking maps, restaurants, bars, local gigs for this evening. Some explanations about local tipping norms, buying train tickets and maybe a one page phrasebook. Give me an app where I can push a button to do this from a Cafe's wifi and I'll at least give it a try. If I can print it out, I might. Maybe a person could be in charge of a city or part of one. Maybe not. I dunno. The idea that good ideas and execution can't penetrate this industry doesn't sound convincing to me. I have no doubt that its hard but I also wouldn't be surprised to see startups take off that really nail informational based stuff for travelers. One upside that the commercial realities of this industry can offers is a multitude of opportunities to make money from having a userbase . IE, if you have 1,000 active users in a city on any given day, that's enough to make something. In fact, I think it's something that's accessible for people to have a go at. Even authoring a local guidebook for your city (provided it is not New York or somesuch, in this case, pick an area). Keep sections up to date with weekly info and release it as an evoke, app or whatever. Information is still what the traveller needs, IMO.