Allison and Michael the founders of Darn Good Digs which features “out of sight inns for in the know travelers” talk to Europe a la Carte.

1 What is the aim of your web site?

The aim of our website is to create an unbiased and reliable list of extraordinary small hotels, inns, and bed and breakfasts around the world that aren’t outrageously priced. We also hope to support the world of independent travelers and independent travel businesses, so we only list places that are not owned by large corporate chains.

2 What prompted you to start your own web site?

We love to travel, and part of the fun of traveling for us is finding super cool, small places to stay for under $150, and preferably way under $150! But we’ve learned that finding such places isn’t always easy. Often times, travel websites provide so much information that it is difficult to sort out the best of the best accommodations, or they lure you with spectacular photographs of rooms that cost $500 per night. Over the years, we have stayed at some amazing, hard to find gems and we started Darn Good Digs as a way to share them with other like-minded travelers. We realized that our website would be a much richer travel resource if EVERYONE shared their all time favorite accommodations, and that’s how we came up with our idea of the nomination process. The best part of the website is definitely getting new nominations!

3 What has been the hardest aspect of having your own web site?

Without a doubt, the greatest challenge is finding time. We both have intense jobs and we have a three year old son who rightfully demands a lot attention, so Darn Good Digs has become our late night project.

4 What is the funniest thing that has happened to you running your website?

When we started our website, neither of us had a clue about computer programing so Michael can be the kind of head-strong person who likes to do things himself, and so he decided to teach himself HTML. He went to the Brooklyn library to check-out some computer programming and web design books. A few months later when we sent our source code to a computer-wiz friend, we realized that HTML had changed a bit from the 90’s when our library books had been published! Next time we’ll go to the bookstore and spend the few extra dollars to get something more up-to-date.

5 Is there anything you would do differently with the benefit of hindsight?

We’re not sure if there’s anything major that we’d do differently, but looking to the future we know we want to continue to add more content to the site and keep trying to improve the design. We plan on starting a blog soon about our search for Darn Good Digs, and we hope to inspire more and more travelers to nominate their favorite places!

My comments – Michael was pretty brave attempting to learn html, I have managed to grasp the absolute basics after years. You do have to know the basics though to run a website or blog even if you do have an IT consultant. It is hard to find the time to create and develop a website and/or blog when you have a day job and/or family commitments.

Let’s hope that Europe a la Carte readers can nominate some great accommodation in Europe on Darn Good Digs.