Wired Guides

The top source of online travel information for the business traveler remains the aptly named ontheroad.com (http://www.ontheroad.com), a San Francisco publisher of customized industry data about 11 global centers of commerce. There, travelers can download information such as business happenings on specific dates, and information about museums and entertainment to their laptop or palmtop. It's an eminently useful service and well worth the $99.95 annual subscription if you find yourself traveling for business often.

But where do you go for other information?

Lonely Planet (http://www.lonelyplanet.com) publishes most of its popular guidebooks online, in contrast to other resources that offer only bits and pieces of their published data. Its editorial voice is also among the most irreverent in the business.

Frommers (http://www.frommers.com) is a good resource for travelers who want to save money, but it does little to address the specific needs of business travelers. However, what it lacks in information it makes up for in interactivity. The Frommers site is among the most high-tech of the bunch.

About.com (http://www.about.com), a Web-only guide, features a wealth of free narrative information about travel, including a section on business travel. But it doesn't generally contain the same depth or specificity of information that a guidebook or ontheroad.com does.

Christopher Elliott is a writer in Annapolis, Maryland. Contact him at http://www.elliott.org.

This article was originally published in the March 2000 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Wired Guides.