Gusto est l'un des sites Internet "phare" du Travel 2.0.

Fondé par une équipe de professionnels de la réservation en ligne et du tourisme, GUSTO propose un ensemble de services et d'outils pour mieux préparer ses voyages et faire du networking entre voyageurs.

Jeff Wasson, nous en dit plus sur GUSTO, ses objectifs et son fonctionnement.

>Jeff, can you tell some information about you?

My name is Jeff Wasson and I am the CEO of Gusto. Prior to founding I Gusto, I was the CEO and founder of TravelNow.com (1995) which was later sold and is now part of the Expedia.com family. I am married with two daughters, 4 and 2.

>You manage a new travel social networking site, Gusto, Can you tell us the story and some fact about it?

Gusto is a way for people to research, plan and share things related to travel experiences. The most popular feature of Gusto is the Gusto Grabber, a simple browser extension that allows you to "grab" any web site and place it in your "I've Been Here" or "I'm Going Here" section, or personal profile, we call it mygusto. You can get an idea of what people are grabbing by visiting www.gusto.com/bookmarks

>Can you give us some higlights about your goals with Gusto !

Gusto hopes to become a resource for travlers looking to plan and share travel experiences. At gusto, we believe that personal recommendations from people who share similar travel intrests are the most important aspect of travel, and we have created technology to facilitate that goal.

>Who use Gusto ? A special people profil for your community !

Gusto members vary greatly, from 25 to 65. Married, singel, family travelers are all a part of the community. The one binding tie is the passion for travel.

>Some tips to start to use Gusto ?

Gusto is easy to use, and it is 100% free. It is easy to sign up, and we never spam. Potential members can see how a member profile looks by visiting mine at www.gusto.com/gustonian The Gusto Grabber allows members to bookmark any page on the web to save in their profile and to share it with friends, family and the broader gusto community. It is easy to get to work, and you can see more at http://www.gusto.com/gusto_grabber

>Internet is going faster and we talk now about Web 2.0, what do you think about this evolution in the tourism market place ?

I think the main thing to consider is that the consumer no longer simply want to look at catalogs of information, they want to participate and communicate as well. In a small town with 5 restaurants, everyone in that town knows the good ones and the bad ones, because the communicaite. Giving conumsers globally the same power of communication via technology shrinks the world a bit, and travelers have more options and there disposal to determine how to best use there vacation dollars.

>We see important impact of news technologies (RSS, AJAX, podcast, blog, socialnetworking tools, Google mashup, etc), what is your point of view ?
Some project with WEB 2.0 for Gusto ?

Yes, all of thoes technology tools are important, but too many web sites have loads of technology but don't actually solve a problem for the consumer. We blend the technology into the background. At Gusto, the ability to keep all of your travel sites organized in one place by using the gusto grabber and the ability to quickly and easily share informaiton with friends solves a problem. Most people are researching travel this way, checking professional sources and asking friends and family and other people with similar travel habits for advice, we are making that easier through technology.

>Blogs are also a new media and new part of Internet, we talk about "blogosphère". What about you and the blogs trend ?

Many Gusto members keep a blog, a service that Gusto offers. We see blogs being an extension of the dialouge traverls are creating with pictures, reviews, and bookmarks. Many blogs tell a story by outsourcing the detail chunks of the story by linking to Gusto pages that already have the information on it. For example, a blog on Gusto might say I stayed here (and link to the hotel page on Gusto) and I have these great pictures (and link their photos on Gusto). People are also using the blogs to ask questions to the community about travel.

>What are your taste for:

>Travel destination:

Two of my favorite destinations are Rome, Italy, and Key West, Florida.

>Hotel :

I have two little kids, so my favorite hotel is the Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World, Orlando FL.

>Business:
The Peninsula hotels in Hong Kong, New York, and Chicago are fantastic. The Hotel Palomar in San Francisco. The Park Hyatt in Tokyo. I like to mix business and pleasure in LA, so I stay at the Fairmont in Santa Monica.

>You have the micro

Gusto started as a way to allow friends to share travel expericenes. It has grown into a place to not only do that, but to see what other people enjoy during there travels and serve as inspiration. Gusto is still small, 10 employees, but we are working hard with our members to create a great site for people who love travel. I prefer to think of myself as of a traveler, rather than a tourist.