h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This entry is mine, but I believe that it deserves at least the basics of consideration. I have never been afraid to speak for myself, and I deeply" regret the loss of the "Submit" button, but this gives others that the editors the chance to review everything.

I wrote this article on my vacation in LA, and it describes my brief stay in the Chatsworth hotel.

I would like to know how to add the "Referenced Articles" section of the Approved Entries, as I have probably refrenced several articles without knowing it.

Thank you for your time.
Ford Prefect

This is an peppy, well-written piece, but I'm not sure how well it fits the tone and voice of the majority of the Edited pieces. Its consistent use of first person, it seems, is something of a no-no, and though it details very well your stay at the hotel, it says little about the hotel itself (what does it look like?), or--perhaps more important to folks abroad thinking of visiting Southern California--about the surrounding area. I'm going out on a limb here, but this article may also be a little too negative for the Guide, which seems to prefer a healthy portion of descriptive unbiased reporting with a little wit poured over the top. Your entry is really, aside from the spendid breakfast you had there, just a very negative review of a hotel that you admit yourself may be out of date once the Ramada people get their homogenizing hands on it. And if you write an entry that has as its moral, "don't go here because the place is lousy," then why indeed inform people about the hotel at all?

I'd suggest that if you want to write about hotels, maybe take a more general, descriptive approach. If you stayed at the Chatsworth one night, surely you spent some time in other hotels while in the Los Angeles area? Comparing hotels--their rooms, their ambience, their food, their service--might prove more worthwhile, leading to balanced, informative statements for the would-be traveller. But what do I know.

Entries saying "this place stinks, avoid" are fine, I reckon. That's information I want to know...

Yes, it may be out of date. The next person to go there, therefore, can update it. Problem solved...

The way to get round the "I" thing is to put it in BLOCKQUOTEs and mark it as "This is one researchers experience". The first three paras should be BQ'd, the rest is fine as is.

You'll need to learn guideML to do that - if you need help, just ask and I'll post the link...

http://www.h2g2.com/A405866

While I have nothing against review entries that say "this place stinks", I think an edited guide entry needs to be more in depth than a short anecdote on someone's visit and their problems gettting the right things sent up.

If I was reading an entry on a hotel, I'd also be wanting to know info like:

food -- is there a restaurant, room service, a bar/club, how good is the food, do they have those cute little mini-fridges with outrageously priced toblerones in them?

amenities -- is there a pool, an exercise room, do they have one of those fellows (I forget what they're called) who help you make dinner reservations and get tickets to shows and make sightseeing arrangements?

also -- is it kid-friendly? does it allow pets? do they offer non-smoking rooms? is the view nice?

Travelocity/Yahoo has an online review of the hotel which happens to provide much of this info.

Unfortunately, it may be awhile before anything happens to this, as the author of the entry does not appear to have posted anything since Rupert.


Mikey

Having reread it, I think you're right Mikey. If you want to move it to the workshop I'll second ya...

Editorial Note: This Conversation has been moved to the new 'Flea Market' Forum.

This is where we move any Peer Review, Writing Workshop or Alternative Writing Workshop Conversations where the original author has *not* posted to h2g2 for three months. This prevents the active Review Forums from clogging up with dormant entries, but in the Flea Market they can be picked up by others and polished off.