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Is Kohnstamm lying about lying?

April 14, 2008

One of the most explosive claims that disgraced guidebook author Thomas Kohnstamm has made in interviews to promote his new book, Do Travel Writers Go To Hell? is that he didn’t visit Colombia while writing a Lonely Planet guidebook about Colombia.

Here’s what he told Australia’s Sunday Telegraph:

They didn’t pay me enough to go Colombia. I wrote the book in San Francisco. I got the information from a chick I was dating — an intern in the Colombian consulate. They don’t pay enough for what they expect the authors to do.

But let’s have a closer look at what Kohnstamm is — or more to the point isn’t — saying. He seems to imply he didn’t visit Colombia after receiving the Lonely Planet assignment. But is he saying he’s never been to Colombia?

In fact, Kohnstamm claims to have traveled to that region. (Note to my friends at the Times … you may want to revisit that story.)

So if I’m understanding this correctly, he accepted the Lonely Planet gig and then wrote the book based on previous visits to South America, and probably to Colombia. That’s a far less explosive claim, and truth be told, far less of a journalism sin.

Let’s put some Kohnstamm’s other “misdeeds” into perspective, too.

In the book, he claims he accepted free travel. Show me a travel writer who hasn’t.

He also claims he sold drugs to subsidize his poor pay. So what? I know travel writers whose pay is so bad, they have to use drugs.

So what do Kohnstamm’s claims amount to? Nothing much, really. He’s spun a few well-known facts about travel writing into bombshells that ended up being duds — at least to those of us in the biz.

There’s a better story here. I’m waiting for a legitimate guidebook author to step forward and write about what really happens behind the scenes. The elaborate arrangements with hotels and airlines that guarantee favorable coverage in exchange for freebies. The “letter of assignment” that allows guidebook authors to collect free meals and entertainment wherever they go.

I’d pay good money to read that book.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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12 comments

  • http://www.luxurylatinamerica.com/ Timothy

    The book I want to read is the one where travel magazine editors talk about how they slant their coverage to please big advertisers and pick cover stories based on what big letters and photo will move the most newsstand copies. Those things exert FAR more influence on coverage than any freebies the peon freelancers accept. Otherwise it wouldn’t be such a shock to see a bad hotel review in the likes of Travel & Leisure.

    What I really want to know though is, why is it only travel that receives these kinds of “oh my gosh” reactions? Ever know an auto reviewer that paid to rent cars? Or a music reviewer that paid for concerts? Or a golf equipment reviewer that bought a new set of clubs every two weeks? Or a fashion editor who bought all her own clothes?

    Journalism doesn’t pay enough for people to do it without someone else footing the bill for research, one way or another. If the media isn’t going to do it–and most don’t, including guidebook publishers–then the writer will make up for that elsewhere. It’s just business. Influencers have always gotten compensated for promotion and endorsements.

  • Jasper

    I may be naive, but this whole story confirm to me that LP is not what it used to be. It used to be really a good guide that you could trust. A lot of hard data, good phone numbers, and a lot of simple data. No pics that take up space, a couple of fun stories, but mostly, a true “hitchhike r’s guide to the galaxy”. The only bad thing was the horrible maps. But., if you had an LP, you’re good. Quality.

    In the last round of updates, I’ve noted that there were more pictures, less background, and due to the internet, less hard data. You can look up everything anyway. Also, they have moved away from their pure backpack demographic towards a larger audience, including families and luxury travelers.

    Furthermore, they have diluted their work into way to many little and thicker guides. There used to be one guide per country (region in the US). But now there are city guide, region guides, maps guides, language guides, etc etc. It has got very confusing to pick your guide. Do you want the city guide? Or the region guide? Also, in their hunt to cover the entire world (preferably in three guides per hot spot), they may not have selected the best authors.

    Now all of this is fine, but I have to see that either I grew out of their demographic (and I am wrong in my impression that they are reaching a larger demographic), or the quality just has gone down over the years.

    Or it’s just that they have changed from an underdog into a worldwide empire, and I like underdogs better than upper dogs.

    Anyway, I am not surprised about the story. Despite the grain of salt that CE points out.

  • Joe Farrell

    yawn.,

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  • Alan Fiermonte

    World adventure on the cheap, plagiarism, sex with chicks and drugs? Sounds like college to me. OK, this is a feature length film on publishing hoaxes if I ever saw one. Oh wait, they did that already with the movie aptly titled Hoax with that sexy Gere fella. Oh well.

    I can only imagine the press conference on this one. Reminiscent of the blowhard spin lie of “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” A spokesman of Lonely Planet (now owned by the BBC), might be overheard also saying, “Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. We should spin off a new division, call it Fake Planet and we sell fictional travel guides…for couch potatoes who never leave the living room anyways. Yeah yeah, that’s the ticket. The tag line could be: Safe travels to a fake planet. No fuss, no harm, no foul.”

    Tony and Maureen Wheeler are probably vomiting and popping valium right now over the negative attention. Gotta love big business. Anything for a un-vetted, rush-to-the-shelves, almighty publishing buck. Hey Tony, remember the days of six sigma and total quality assurance? Well you could always go on Oprah and sell some fake books. Others did.

    Note to Kate Hanni: get cracking on changing your coalition’s name again, The Coalition for Passenger Rights, Health, Safety and Truth in Travel.

    Truth in travel. Now there’s a concept!!!!

    Gotta run. My outdoor fireplace is heating up. And I am having a good ol’ fashioned book burning tonight. Beer and chips for the campfire, anyone?

  • JARaphs

    I agree w Jasper’s comment re: LP. It is solid all around, but rarely stellar. Last summer, I used Moon Handbooks for two very different trips – Baja California & the Canadian Rockies. Both were on the mark in terms of great suggestions, accurate assessments of hotel, dining and sightseeing options, and full of clear maps.

  • http://www.nerdseyeview.com pam

    Two things:

    1. World Hum has an interview with the bad boy travel writer in which he
    explains the “fiasco.” It seems that Kohnstamm’s biggest faux pas was that
    he’s just not that funny. I reckon he thinks he was being funny, but he just
    sounds like a jerk.
    http://www.worldhum.com/qanda/item/thomas_kohnstamm_the_firestorm_around_do_travel_writers_go_to_hell_20080414/

    2. I blogged quite a bit about the trials and tribulations of being a
    travel writer while working on a new Hawaii guidebook title last winter.
    wrote about how an airlines offered me comped flights if I’d list their line
    as the sole provider of flights to Hawaii and how an attractions operator
    blasted me when I asked him if my participation in his attraction would be
    comped – his “invitation” came via a service that was burying me in comp
    offers, but he wasn’t clear about the terms in his email. Forgive the vanity link, but if you’re interested:

    http://www.nerdseyeview.com/blog/2007/10/20/playing-for-the-house/

  • Mike Z.

    There an ethical dilemma here, which adds this to the list of authors with questionable tactics. So, as you suggest, Chris, let’s get some perspective; I wonder if Kohnstamm would be willing to tell us…

    1. When WAS he last in Colombia? And why couldn’t he offer that “full disclosure” right up front?

    2. Does LP permit its writers to accept comps? It may be SOP (standard operating procedure), but if LP is paying him, shouldn’t he be playing by their rules?

    3. Given that he’s expending much more energy to hype his “tell-all” book, may we assume he won’t continue writing these guides? Or, if he does, will he be honest enough to tell us whether the contents reflect his recent visits and experiences, rather than what happened years ago (and could likely have changed)?

    You’re right, Chris, the must-read book will be an HONEST look behind the scenes. So what are you waiting for — start writing? ;>)

  • Sheryl

    I’d dismiss this all as hype if I hadn’t found the LP South America guidebook a better firestarter than guide one cold night in the Patagonia. I wasn’t a bit surprised to find this book was one that Kohnstamm partly wrote. Boy, this guy is coming off in the press as a meathead winer – the type of guy I definitely don’t want to run into when traveling! LP has definitely had growing pains over the years but they’ve successfully been by my side through many adventures around various countries. I did stop following their hotel recommendations about 10 years ago but I still love the overview these book give. Remember they only claim to be guidebooks to guide you; they never claimed to be a set in stone itinerary of what you should do minute by minute. Some of their writers still pour their hearts and souls into these books – the Bolivia book a few iterations ago was a major stand-out. I guess that just like in any industry there are people with integrity (thanks Chris!) and those that we could do without.

  • Ed Kummel

    So…who is this “Kohnstamm” and why should I care? I’m sorry..while I think that everybody deserves the right to make a living wage, I take the majority of my travel information from people who don’t get paid to write stories…
    Ed
    web/gadget guru

  • KP

    “Planet and we sell fictional travel guides…for couch potatoes who never leave the living room anyways.”

    Three excellent ones: Phaic Tan, San Sombrero, and Molvania. Now that’s what you call a great guidebook.

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