Best Cities in America? T&L Launches Survey

Travel & Leisure magazine launches second annual "best city" survey. Cast your vote

Dave Letterman doesn't have a monopoly on "top ten lists." Magazines trip over themselves in compiling issues devoted to the "top ten" this and "ten best" that. Advertising sales staffs love them, as do the promotion people, who send out press releases that get their publications mentioned in newspapers and on TV. Bloggers and on-line discussion boards are awash with comments from people who agree or disagree with the selections.

Top hotels. Top spas. Top ski or golf resorts. Top restaurant's. Top beaches. Top for families. I understand why publications do them, and I don't take them seriously, but they are fun to read. You might enjoy them too, especially if you live someplace that regularly appears on such lists and want to see where your town ranks. Boulder, CO, where I live seems to be on every list for fittest cities, best cities for walkers or cyclists or rock climbers, best scenery, most environmentally conscious, etc.

Whatever the theme, there are two ways magazines go about making their selections. One is for editors to compile a list and assign writers to describe them -- glowingly, of course. The other is a reader survey. Frankly, I think editors' selection is "fairer" -- if there is such a thing as fair in this ad-driven effort. I think back of my days as a contributing travel editor of Skiing magazine. We all had skied many more places than most readers. If, for instance, a reader had a season pass to, say, Killington or Winter Park or Heavenly Valley, that naturally became his/her favorite. Most Westerners had never skied the East, and neither Easterners nor Westerners tend to ski the Midwest.

I do enjoy voting and picking things though, so I fill out reader surveys -- except Conde Nast Traveler's, which I consider too long, too boring, too time-consuming and also too pointless, because the same hotels, restaurants, spas, cities, etc. appear in the magazine. year after year. And in my opinion, the printed result is fairly dull too. Frankly, I just skim it.

Travel & Leisure's methodology is a hybrid. The editors make the initial selection of cities, and they, readers get to participate in online survey. The 2008 survey is open for voting now. The editors have pre-selected 25 cities -- alphabetically from Atlanta to Washington, DC, and geographically from Boston to Honolulu. Houstonians are going to be annoyed because while Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio are on the list, Houston is not.)

To see the results of the 2007, click here. To participate in the 2008 survey, click on one city at a time -- theoretically ones you are familiar with -- and rate it on a 1 to 5 (or no opinion) on eight thematic screens (Culture, People, Food & Dining, Nightlife, Shopping, Quality of Life/Visitor Experience, Type of Trip, Holiday Experience). You have until June 15 to participate. Ironically, the grand prize in the optional sweepstakes for those who have completed the survey is a trip to Australia.