You would think that after 16 years, maintaining Maldives Complete would get easier, but it seems every year it just gets harder. Not because it is growing (actually, the traffic has been pretty constant…another frustration), but rather because I am working harder just to stand still. In recent years, I wonder whether my latest research trip will really be my last. The balance of the considerable financial cost of hosting and researching not to mention the hours of work against the benefit of engaging with the Maldives travel industry as a participant rather than a spectator is getting less and less favourable.
The increasing challenges include:
- Commodization of Content: When I started, content on the destination was hard to find. It existed mostly in paper travel catalogues from travel agencies (remember them?) which actually served as the source for lots of my early pictures. Now content and photos are everywhere. The issue used to be “there are so many resorts how do I choose?”, but now it’s “there’s so much content how do I choose?”. Supposedly such a situation could lead to a demand for curation, but that is not happening really (and AI could very possibly leapfrog the requirement for it).
- Google Games: SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) on Google has now become a purely mercenary process with position going to the highest bidder with the deepest pockets (not me) and Google is even downgrading non-advertisers to make them harder to find (so they can optimise click-through revenue on their promoted sites). For a good analysis of this dynamic, watch “Why Google Search is Falling Apart”.
- “Influencer” Fatigue: I’ve written a couple of pieces about these disfunctional wannabes ruining content creation (“9 Top Tips for Maldives Influencer Collaboration”, “10 Things Luxury Resorts Look For In An ‘Influencer Collaboration’”).
- Corporatization of Properties: Corporates don’t go for distinctive. They go for cookie-cutter convention. Coasting on the destination’s natural beauty and climate made famous in the Instagram age, so many corporate resorts shun true creativity. Global marketing departments focus on quantity over quality more concerned with KPI numbers than captivating content.
- Tragedy of the Commons: The people who should value a superfan of a destination are the destination themselves. I understand that most of the benefit of the Maldives Complete site is the country itself rather than any individual resort as I am helping people get to the destination, but not making any guidance about where to go (ie. no shilling). In the early days, the MMPRC was hugely supportive (especially Aima Hudhaa), but in recent years it is just focused on trade shows and international operators.
- Indirect Benefit: “Most widely bookmarked Maldives site in the travel industry” is how one Maldives travel specialist described Maldives Complete. Its benefit to resorts is indirect (ie. it helps agents who help people choose a particular resort) and doesn’t help marketing managers with the numerical metrics.
- Content Harder to Create – After 2600+ “Best of the Maldives” posts, it gets harder to find new true distinctives and originals. I struggled to write about a property I visited recently because even though it was a great property, it was very similar in spec and approach to lots of others in its price class.
In many ways, the Maldives has grown up as a travel destination and doesn’t need my help anymore. It is gratifying to receive the piles of fan (e)mail raving about how helpful Maldives Complete was for their travel planning, but crowd-based support hasn’t extended much beyond the kindly worded thank-yous. For the vast majority of people, the Maldives is a once-in-a-lifetime trip. So while they appreciate my help, once they have visited, they have no further use for me. And those who can afford to come repeatedly either (a) like to repeat their favourite resort (saves doing research and taking chances on somewhere new), or (b) have admins and agents to do their research for them.
The net result is that the website is a lot of work and expense for diminishing benefit to me.
I’m not looking for VIP treatment nor blagging complimentary stays (like the hordes of irritating “influencer” wannabes), but it also doesn’t seem right to pay extra (because I end up paying full rack racks and can’t shop for deals) along with added expensive transfers (which run around $500 and I am changing resort every day or every other day) for an experience is not a relaxing holiday in paradise, but instead running around taking photos for the database, researching pieces, getting resort information and material al for the purpose of helping the property and destination.
Patrick Staerke, Jason and Victoria Kruse, Sonu Shivdasani, and Scott Le Roi are old school industry leaders who fell in love with the Maldives long before it was the darling of Instagram. They have been the stalwarts of support who have been vital in keeping the site alive for one and a half decades. Also, the avid fans of the site like Francisco Negrin and Paola Lamperti not only buoyed me up with their enthusiasm for the site, but also helped extensively with the research.
I remain hopeful that the main benefits of Maldives Complete are a valuable resource for the destination and its prospective guests:
- Utility: Sometimes it seems like the marketing departments do everything possible to make it hard to get the basic information you want to for your prospective visit. Lots of eye-candy photos of palm trees, spa candles and sunsets without the practical details people seek out. Also, putting everything into an interactive database helps with the most common question “With so many resorts, how do I choose?”
- Unified – A key aspect of its usefulness is its unifying ALL resorts (not just a selection) – past, present and future – into one place to make for easier reference and comparison.
- Unbiased: It’s near impossible to find an objective source of information on the resort. With so much money at stake, the vast majority of content is promoting some inventory.
So, should I keep it going? Any ideas about how to get more support?
