New VisitBrooklyn.NYC Needs a Human Touch

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce (of which I was once a member) has created a new travel guide, VisitBrooklyn.NYC.

Overall, it has some useful elements, notably event listings, but it's not a good single guide for visiting Brooklyn. Is there one? Not really. The one Fodor's guide is out of print. Some general NYC guides at least hit some highlights.

For hotel and restaurant reviews, it's better to go to specialized sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Eater, and The Infatuation (the latter two only for food), or even just Google reviews.

Travel articles, like the New York Times's "36 Hours in Brooklyn," are somewhat useful, since they've been vetted, though--as I wrote--they typically send visitors skittering around Brooklyn rather than pursuing nearby neighborhoods and attractions.

Outsourced to AI?

Some the new guide's content is so bland, without editing or fact-checking, I suspect it was produced by an artificial intelligence program, with little follow-up.

Consider the screenshot above left, regarding attractions in Brooklyn Heights. It cites an aggregate review score and a total number of reviews, neither of which are referenced with a link.

An excerpt regarding the Brooklyn Heights Promenade: "At the edge of Brooklyn Heights, overlooking the bustling metropolis of New York City, lies the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. A haven of tranquility amidst the urban landscape, this elevated walkway offers visitors a respite from the chaos below."

From Google Gemini: "It provides a peaceful escape from the city's hustle and bustle, acting as a 'haven of tranquility' amidst the urban landscape, according to user reviews on Google Maps." Bing.

Overview

VisitBrooklyn.NYC It contains event listings (Now in Bklyn), mini-profiles of Neighborhoods, Eat and Drink, Where to Stay, Things to Do, Shop Brooklyn Made, and Visitor information.

The latter offers  basic information on transportation, fast facts, useful phone numbers, and info on alcohol, smoking, and cannabis. That doesn't much help people figure out what they should be exploring.

Oddly enough, no tour guides or companies are listed, though I'm sure some are Chamber members.

There's a decent list of rooftop bars and the Celebrate Brooklyn concert lineup. The Museums & Galleries page unwisely places the Brooklyn Museum at par with smaller, infrequently open neighborhood galleries and ignores the New York Transit Museum, the Brooklyn Children's Museum, Weeksville Heritage Center, and the Museum of Food and Drink.

The guide offers a few selective trip planners, such as a decent one for Brighton Beach. Listings for Brooklyn's live theaters are useful, but the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) calendar ends June 8.

Am I being too tough on a fledgling effort? Well, it's hard to do this right! (The website launched, as far as I can tell, very recently, and new Instagram content began in March.)

Neighborhoods

The section on neighborhoods needs some editing, for example mixing up Williamsburg and East Williamsburg, both of which get credit for "a mix of historic buildings, modern developments, and waterfront parks."

Um, only Williamsburg has waterfront parks. Also, the claim that East Williamsburg has "a historic Jewish community" rather applies only to Williamsburg.

The listing for Bedford-Stuyvesant offers a few highlights, but doesn't explain how the neighborhood's vast and deserves some guidance on how to approach it.

The listing for DUMBO, Brooklyn's most touristed neighborhood, offers a bland description--"a trendy neighborhood known for its stunning waterfront views and converted industrial buildings"--with no guidance for specific spots.

The listing for Brooklyn Heights does mention a few attractions, but wrongly suggests that Montague Street leads to Brooklyn Bridge Park and recommends checking out "Pilot, a historic 1924 schooner," which is currently closed..

Other listings are pablum, as if scraped from a real-estate website, rather than oriented toward visitors. Park Slope "is a family-friendly neighborhood known for its historic brownstones and vibrant community," with "a mix of local shops, cafes, and restaurants, along with several parks and playgrounds." Um, hello: Prospect Park?

Kensington "is a diverse and family-friendly neighborhood with a mix of residential housing and local businesses. The area is known for its tree-lined streets, parks, and community-oriented atmosphere." Um, hello: Little Bangladesh?

Things to do

It's not intuitive to find, but If you click from the main page on Things to Do and ignore the drop-down list, you get Things to do: Neighborhood. This can be useful--or not.

The Brooklyn Heights listing, excerpted in the screenshot above, does include the New York Transit Museum--actually in Downtown Brooklyn. However, if museums are places to visit on a rainy day, it should be listed on the Museums page.

The DUMBO listing includes Brooklyn Bridge Park, Jane’s Carousel, Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, A.I.R. Gallery, and St. Anne’s Warehouse. However, Empire Fulton Ferry State Park is now part of Brooklyn Bridge Park, and there's no mention of Time Out New York Market in Empire Stores, among the most visited attractions, or even the cliched photo opportunity at a key DUMBO intersection.

Bizarrely, the listing for Kensington includes mention of Tea Arts & Culture and The Legacy event space, neither of which have an address or website. (The former, I believe, operates floating public events, and the latter might be a Hasidic banquet hall in nearby Borough Park.)

What about food?

I took a quick look at the restaurant listings.

Why only five Thai restaurants in Brooklyn, especially when two--Ugly Baby and Thai Farm Kitchen, mistakenly termed Thai Farm Chicken!--are closed? I've been to five Thai places in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens alone!

(Note: Thai Farm Chicken, perhaps the result of an AI hallucination, now appears in AI search results, credited to a "Brooklyn travel guide.")

Why only nine pizzerias? Omitted are the DUMBO coal-oven favorites Juliana's and Grimaldi's, the legendary L&B Spumoni Gardens (in Gravesend and now DUMBO), and the eight places that led Grub Street to claim The Best Pizza in the World Can Be Found in One Square Mile of Williamsburg.

(Note to clients: I think Brooklyn's best slice joint is not in Williamsburg. I can direct you there or accompany you if a visit works logistically.)

Sources like Yelp, The Infatuation, and Eater would be far more useful.

What about hotels?

The hotels are purportedly listed by neighborhood, but that's a fuzzy, misleading exercise. Some hotels in Downtown Brooklyn are instead classified as being in Brooklyn Heights or Boerum Hill. (Here's my advice on hotels.)

Moreover, the listings clearly aren't vetted. One hotel claims to be "minutes" from the Barclays Center, which translates to "25 minutes by foot." Neither of the two "Coney Island" hotels are near the amusement district.

Despite the name, the "Comfort Inn Prospect Park" isn't near the park and thus shouldn't be classified as in the neighborhood "Prospect Park" (which, of course, isn't a neighborhood).

The promotional language obscures the fact that some hotels can be dilapidated or dangerous, at least according to TripAdvisor reviews. Always check!

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