Best of the Web: Cyberspace Allies of Road Warriors

www.magellans.com
What it's good for: Travel-related products for sale, which range from wrinkle-free clothing to modular telephone adapters. A "Travel Guides" area includes a country-by-country database of information.
Don't waste your time if: You're looking for more than rudimentary information about overseas travel. Our reviewers wanted more details about cell-phone usage abroad, customs regulations, language, and travel warnings.
What our CEOs had to say: You can easily slide from reading to buying. "I went in to find the bandwidth in Brazil and ended up buying a suitcase," reported one CEO.
What you should know: The site is the online version of the Magellan's paper catalog. The owner, Magellan's International Travel, founded in 1989 and based in Santa Barbara, Calif., is a three-time Inc. 500 winner.

www.office.com/travel
What it's good for: A gateway to sites that offer things like driving directions, traffic reports, airline-ticket purchasing, and flight status.
Don't waste your time if: You already have a good set of travel sites bookmarked. This site primarily links visitors to popular sites like Priceline.com and MapQuest.
What our CEOs had to say: The site is easy to use but limited. "They seem to get it right in terms of aggregating pertinent information," said one panelist. "But why don't they evaluate the best business hotels by city, proximity to airport, price, and amenities?"
What you should know: Beware of sales pitches at every turn.

www.roadnews.com
What it's good for: Helping people who travel overseas with a laptop.
Don't waste your time if: You want information quickly. The site lacks a keyword-search function, and it's replete with links to dead ends.
What our CEOs had to say: They either loved it or hated it. "A real treasure trove of information on all those hard-to-navigate technical issues inherent with changing electrical systems, Internet service providers, and local phone systems," said one. "The concept is great," said another. In contrast, one CEO asked, "Is this a Web site for people who travel but can't ask their IT department questions?"
What you should know: The page formatting is so wide that you may have to scroll left and right to see everything.

www.skyguide.net
What it's good for: Heads-up on frequent-flier promotions, airport and airline-route information, and other travel tips.
Don't waste your time if: You're clamoring for an online version of SkyGuide, the pocket guide in which American Express details all manner of information about 75,000 direct and connecting flights. "I love SkyGuide and have used it a ton," said one CEO. "But why doesn't American Express put this service online for a fee? The site only lets you sign up for a print subscription."
What our CEOs had to say: The site is useful, offering news and notes "written in a great quick, informative style," one CEO observed. Another particularly liked the tips on airport business services, saying it's a "great site to check out before your layover." But one dissenter said that "it's a site about nothing."
What you should know: Timely and dated information sometimes exist side by side. Last fall, for instance, the site highlighted an array of November frequent-flier promotions. Nearby was an August survey of business travelers.

www.trip.com
What it's good for: Alluring reading matter. Recent selections ranged from an advisory about the risks of "toting a small office" in a backpack, to a travelogue about Bulgaria. Besides including a good guide to flights, hotels, and rental cars, the site also offers a "Tools for Travel" section, including maps of airports and cities, a database of U.S. business addresses, and tables of travel deductions allowable on state tax returns.
Don't waste your time if: You expect to find something more enticing in the "marketplace" area than a handful of ads.
What our CEOs had to say: Much of what they found on Trip.com warmed their hearts. "I could envision using this site as a quick way to get the lay of the land," one said. "The presentation is very clear, ads don't interfere with the content, and the searchable database provides access to targeted information." Another CEO particularly liked the ease with which he could use the site to track an airplane's flight status.
What you should know: A lot of valuable news and information is buried in the "NewsStand" section.

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