Skift Take
This innovative partnership allows AFAR Media to leverage its crowdsourced content, while Westin Hotels displays an accuity for the value of offering fresh local travel intel near its properties.
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Westin Hotels hooked up with AFAR Media this year to launch Westin Finds, detailing local travel experiences specific to the destinations where Westin operates. The interesting hook here is that most of the info is crowdsourced content produced for free by AFAR readers.
The idea of using consumer-supplied editorial as a distribution model for online travel content is not new. It's the success with which AFAR has been able to build up the amount and variety of content that's unique.
Anybody can sign up for an account at afar.com and write short “Highlight” travel stories in 1,500 characters or less, with one photo. It’s popular for budding travel writers because they can create a professional looking microblog post in a short time. Pro bloggers are also active because it provides exposure for their businesses.
Day by day, the number of AFAR Highlights continues to gro
