Frommer’s Back in the Travel Game

Arthur Frommer has decided at age 83 that his world famous travel books should not be slated for obsolescence. The travel publishing legend will re-acquire the brand sold by Wiley & Sons to Google last year. The Frommer’s Guides appear to be alive and well in their founder’s hands again.

A story at CNET by Steven Musil tells of Frommer getting back what he sold to Simon & Schuster back in 1977, and a massive data set Google evidently never had any intention of putting in print. While Google has been integrating all the Frommer’s info into their own Google + and other travel oriented wares, the search giant removed the bookstore from the Frommers.com site last September without hubbub.

For those unfamiliar, Frommer’s maintained perhaps the world’s most extensive information guides on restaurant, hotels, attractions, and other hospitality and tourism related data. Travelers for decades have relied on these extensive guides to help find and enjoy the best there is in the world of travel.

For some time it has been evident Google would be pushing hard into the online travel game, but exactly how the Frommer’s, Zagat, and even Motorola buys would be put to use has been something of a mystery. Clearly the mystery is now solved, Google Travel, if there is such a thing, is about data sets and putting Google technologies behind them. It will be interesting to see what Mr. Frommer (left) does with his company now.

Image credit: Arthur Frommer – courtesy Wikipedia