TripGems.com website lets travelers share hidden gems

You can use this website to tap into the experiences of other travelers. A collection of hidden gems around the world awaits.

Name: TripGems.com

What it does: It’s an online home for storing your memorable travel locations as well as sharing your favorite global secrets with others.

What’s hot: It’s an easy-to-use tool that encourages users to share their destination hot spots — whether it’s a great restaurant, park, museum, bar or other attraction. When you “add a place,” it lets you search by location and then asks you to write a short comment about why you like it. Click on “Popular Places” — such as Amsterdam; Cape Town, South Africa; New York; or Auckland, New Zealand — to see how a city looks. As the content grows, I hope it will add categories for quick links to travel topics such as hotels, restaurants, etc.

What’s not: It’s a new site, so there weren’t many gems in U.S. cities I was interested in. From a user perspective, I needed an easier path to loading photos. You can sign in by connecting through Facebook (and with an email address), but I didn’t see a way to add photos quickly with Facebook. I had to upload them first from my desktop. Ugh.

—Jen Leo