Where in the world this month? (Conde` Nast Traveller)

Member Name: frankie1984

Product:	Conde` Nast Traveller
Date:	07/04/08 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting, stunning photos and amazing trips

Disadvantages: Expensive if you buy per issue

I have been a subscriber to the Conde Nast magazine now for just over a year and find it to be the best travel magazine out there. There are plenty of reasons for this but first I'll tell you a little about the mag for those who don't know what it is or may have even never heard of it.

The History:
Conde Nast is a group of publishers that develops a lot of well known magazines including Glamour, GQstyle, and easy living. They also develop a lot of the sites to complement the magazines and to enhance the readers experience. The Conde Nast Traveller magazine was established in 1997 and in the same year the website to it was created under CNTraveller.com. The Editor of the magazine is Sarah Miller and the magazine has over 300,000 readers every month.

What is it?
Well stupid question you might say - the clue is in the name! But it's a different kind of travel magazine! Yes it has all the usual stuff in that you would expect to find in a travel mag such as reviews on hotels or up and coming resorts etc etc but what makes it so different?
Well for a start they produce the magazine with no freebies (apparently!) but, if this is true it does give it a certain edge as there motto is to not accept what is known as 'travel press trips' so therefore when staying in any of the hotels they visit or experiencing restaurants, airlines and any other travel related bits, they do it as if they were just a normal customer - so to get a feel for what it would be really like to experience it and comment back on what to really expect when parting with your hard earned cash for your own trips. That way there is no first class treatment just because they are trying to impress them! For this reason alone it is where there slogan comes in for the magazine 'Truth in Travel' as they believe they are fully telling us the truth. It's rare that they will display a bad place to stay as they want us to experience the best bits but if they do have bad experience then the supplier of which service it is will just lose out on probably one of the biggest advertisements for it's business that it could have had!
So what kind of articles are in it?
As I mentioned all the usual stuff is in there and other bits too. I will give a brief mention to some of the more popular articles that appear in it regularly.

Travel awards:
The magazine yearly runs one of the biggest travel awards articles that they have real people vote for and these are regarded quite highly in the travel industry - for an airline or hotel to be in one of the conde nast top five of whichever award it is for is seen as quite an achievement. The magazine also does different smaller awards during the year such as the 'Gold list' That showcases the best of hotels around the world in different categories. A lot of the top hotels will score highly in a few categories.
Where to stay:
This section looks at different places to stay but one part that I particularly like in this bit is the small section that has one place as it's monthly focus and gives a quick guide on 4 types of hotel within the same area. For example this month (March 2008) is Dublin and so it gives a business, good value, contemporary and splurge option of hotels and then each has an overview of things like clientele, rooms best thing and worst thing etc. It 's a nice little section and it is nice if you are planning a trip to that particular area to get a miniature guide of what kind of hotel you are after.

Travellers tale:
This is normally a different place each month that is completely different to the last month's issue so you never know what to expect! It is one of the staff experiencing a particular area of the world that may not be that thought of or an area in a really popular place that normal travellers might normally overlook. It gives an insight into how to make the best of it and what to look or and what to avoid.
Room with a view:
This is probably my favourite part of the whole mag and really is probably quite difficult for the editor to choose each month! It is what the label says and is a picture taken from a hotel room that could be anywhere in the world. These are always pretty stunning I have to say and the pictures that are printed are always those that make you think 'wow - I want to stay right in that room!' It could be somewhere that you would never normally think is high on your list of places to visit but when you see the picture you always want to add it to those places you must see! It always includes a little bio on where the hotel is at and sometimes will even say a room number - can you imagine how many room number requests the hotel must get after readers seeing this!?

These are just a small few of my personal highlights of the magazine but it has loads of other benefits too. Such as the privilege card which entitles members to discounts at various places every month. They have bio's from different people who help make the magazine and this really adds to the feel that you can see who went where and it overall makes it feel more like you are part of it.
The photography in the mag is always top notch and it has even won awards for this along with various awards. The magazine is regarded as an upmarket type for the rich but don't let this put you off - a lot of the hotels they do feature I'll admit I would never be able to afford but the beauty of this is discovering the amazing places that you may never have even known about. A lot of the hotels and resorts they feature are not as well known but this is good for those wanting to plan special trips to places that are either off the beaten track or will maybe provide that one amazing trip. For me personally as I work in travel it is a way for me to increase my knowledge and discover new things around the world too.

The facts:
The magazine is usually between 200 - 250 pages long - sometimes longer if it is an awards edition.
The current selling price is £3.70 but subscribers can get it for a lot cheaper when paying for the year upfront by paying at the moment £29.90 for 12 issues or £7.48 every 3 months which works out a slightly less saving than all upfront but still cheaper than buying per issue. Also all new subscribers receive a free gift which is usually worth in the region of £30 - £40. Overall if you subscribe it actually doesn't work out that expensive.
The dedicated website to it is CNTraveller.com
The address to contact the mag is:
Conde Nast publications
Vogue house
1 Hanover square
London
W1S 1JU
Email is: cntraveller@condenast.co.uk
Overall opinion:
I love this mag and hope it will be around for a very long time to come - it's interesting, has stunning pictures and fascinating articles. I would highly recommend this magazine to anyone who is into their travel and think you will enjoy it very much!

Summary: A great magazine to read about fabulous places all around the world