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Tag: Frommer’s

  • Frommer’s Travel Guides Will Stay Alive as Arthur Frommer Buys Them Back from Google

    Frommer’s Travel Guides Will Stay Alive as Arthur Frommer Buys Them Back from Google

    After reports that Google had quietly killed the print line of Frommer’s Travel Guides, the guidebooks have been given a new life as their creator has decided to buy back the brand.

    The AP reports that 83-year-old Arthur Frommer has reacquired the rights to his famed travel guidebooks from Google, and he plans to keep them alive in both print and ebook format.

    “It’s a very happy time for me,” says Frommer. “We will be publishing the Frommer travel guides in ebook and print formats and will also be operating the travel site Frommers.com.”

    Google bought Frommer’s back in August of 2012 from publisher John Wiley & Sons. The price of that deal was undisclosed, but reports indicate that it was somewhere around $22 million.

    Just a couple of weeks ago, reportes emerged that Google was killing the print line of the guidebooks – the last one having bee published in December of 2012.

    When Google bought the Frommer’s brand, they made it clear that they would incorporate its content into Zagat, and spread it among various Google services. The status of the print versions was always up in the air, and it appears that Google did exactly what they intended to do – grab the content and kill the rest.

    But Arthur Frommer obviously didn’t want to see that part of the brand die.

    Google confirmed that Frommer had reacquired the Frommer’s brand, and noted that the content had already been incorporated into many Google services, including Google+.

  • Google Axes Frommer’s Print Travel Guides [Report]

    Google Axes Frommer’s Print Travel Guides [Report]

    Update: Google says it is offering no comment on this.

    According to a report from travel news site Skift, Google has quietly killed Frommer’s print travel guidebooks.

    News that Google acquired Frommer’s came out back in August. Google would be buying the brand from John Wiley & Sons. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but according to All Things D, the deal wasn’t “a huge one”. Frommer’s would be incorporated into Zagat.

    Google said at the time, “The Frommer’s team and the quality and scope of their content will be a great addition to the Zagat team. We can’t wait to start working with them on our goal to provide a review for every relevant place in the world.”

    As TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez noted, “No definitive decision has been made on the Frommer’s printed guides, but the deal is supposed to enable users discover reviews across Google, which means online.”

    Skift’s Jason Clampet reports today:

    The last two Frommer’s books to roll off the presses were guides in the all-color Day-by-Day series devoted to Napa and Sonoma and Banff and the Rockies, and went on sale in early February. The last book in the traditional complete guide series was Frommer’s Florida in late December.

    Starting with Frommer’s New York City With Kids, which can still be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in other bookstore inventories and was supposed to publish on February 19, the entire future list of Frommer’s titles will not see the light of day. Many of the authors attached to these 29 titles told Skift that they were informed by editors now working at Google that the books would not publish. Some authors were told that the books would merely be delayed before new contracts were signed. None of the authors contacted reported that their titles would appear in print.

    Greg Sterling speculates that Google will ultimately kill the Frommer’s brand, suggesting that it can’t survive without the print guidebooks, though the Frommer’s site is so far still alive and well.

    We’ve reached out to Google for comment, and will update if we hear back.