Source: TravelShark™

Following last month's successful acquisition of eat.shop guides, leading online global travel network TravelShark has rebranded the popular international series of hyper-local travel-planning books as rather. The company also announced the release of eight new rather books, including rather paris, rather new york city and rather los angeles, in time for holiday shopping at the new rather.com.

The new rather offers even more compelling photos and unbiased, curated reviews of unique and unexpected dining and shopping venues in the world's finest cities. TravelShark soon will be launching new rather mobile applications to give locals and travelers a way to experience a city the rather way, as an insider.

Shoppers will find the first rather books-for Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Paris, Portland and San Francisco-as well as the latest editions of eat.shop books for eight other cities at rather.com. rather guides focus on the undiscovered gems in each city, such as unique restaurants and shops. Over time, the series will grow to include rather recommendations for outdoor activities, cultural events, and alternative sightseeing spots.

The rather publishing business will be led by eat.shop guides' founder Kaie Wellman, now TravelShark's Head Curator. Longtime fans of Wellman's eat.shop guides will find the same honest advice and unique travel tips in rather books.

"Our readers have never been satisfied with the typical suggestions other guide books offer; they would 'rather' experience a city with a sense of place and a spirit of discovery," Wellman said. "With TravelShark, rather will be reaching more print, digital and mobile users in more cities around the world."

TravelShark's comprehensive network of thousands of online travel-planning websites continues to grow, with an increased company-wide focus on being the premier source of hyper-local, curated travel content on all of its city sites. Following the release of rather, the company will be launching additional consumer-facing products and services across the network in 2012.

For more information on TravelShark and its online global travel network, please visit www.travelshark.com.

About TravelShark | TravelShark offers travelers hyper-local, curated content about the world's best destinations along with cutting-edge tools to make travel planning every bit as fun as it should be. TravelShark's newest addition, SharkDive, is the world's most sophisticated recommendation engine, helping travelers discover their unique travel preferences and matching them to personalized vacations. TravelShark will soon launch TravelTypes, an insightful travel typing system to help travelers get a real feel for how they, their friends, and their family travel. TravelShark features hundreds of online city guides, Sharky recommendations for unique and unexpected travel "finds," a home for amazing travel photos on SharkPix, a tool for building shareable itineraries of your last trip, and thousands of content-rich, destination websites. TravelShark is headquartered in Singapore, with a U.S. office in Boulder, Colorado. Make your next trip the perfect expression of you with TravelShark. To learn more, visit www.travelshark.com, or call +1-720-239-1280 or +65 6734 8515.

Samantha Lee
TravelShark
+1 (720) 239-1286