TripAdvisor Offers Business Listings For Hotels
Hotels can list URL, telephone number and e-mail address on their property listing on every TripAdvisor site.
-- Hotels, 11/17/2009 8:09:00 AM
NEWTON, Mass. – November 17, 2009 – TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest and most popular travel community, today announced that accommodations can enhance their TripAdvisor listing with their url, telephone number and e-mail address, to appear on TripAdvisor sites beginning January 4, 2010. The new TripAdvisor Business Listings enables owners to provide direct contact information to their properties on all TripAdvisor sites around the world. The listings represent a new opportunity for property managers to directly connect to millions of researching travelers, converting potential customers to paying guests.
TripAdvisor Business Listings are sold on a flat-fee subscription basis, with a cost that varies according to an accommodation’s number of rooms. One-year subscriptions begin at $600 per year in the U.S., and those properties that purchase before January 31, 2010, will receive an introductory 50 percent discount on their subscription. Innkeepers, B&B owners and hoteliers can register now at www.tripadvisor.com/businesslistings.
“Many hotels, inns and B&Bs already recognize TripAdvisor as a major source of referrals and new business, but until now, there was no way for them to link from the TripAdvisor site to their own,” said Steve Kaufer, founder and CEO of TripAdvisor. “TripAdvisor Business Listings will allow property owners to connect to customers more efficiently and likewise for travelers ready to book.”
“We are looking forward to participating with the new TripAdvisor Business Listings. Our efforts are focused on growing revenue from all online channels, especially our web site,” said Daniel Donahue, general manager at the Lenox Hotel. “The Lenox Hotel is proud of the number one hotel ranking in Boston on TripAdvisor. We see this tool enhancing the user experience on TripAdvisor because it provides direct access to a hotel’s web page with one simple click.”
More than 75,000 hoteliers have registered on the TripAdvisor Owners’ Center www.tripadvisor.com/owners, since its launch in March 2009, to monitor their properties’ reputations, have a dialog with guests, and optimize their listings on TripAdvisor. Growing numbers of hotels also choose to advertise to TripAdvisor’s continually expanding audience – the TripAdvisor Media Group has expanded from three to 14 TripAdvisor branded sites around the world in four years, and added two more sites in China, including daodao.com, a leader in the Chinese online travel market.
“Without question, B&B owners know their guests are using the trusted and valuable information on TripAdvisor when deciding where to stay. Direct links to B&B web sites on TripAdvisor property pages will enhance the travel research process and will be a big service to the millions of travelers who do their due diligence on TripAdvisor,” said Jay Karen, CEO of the Professional Association of Innkeepers International.
“As TripAdvisor grows globally, this new feature shortens the distance between travelers and hoteliers,” said Nathan Clapton, vice president of partnerships for TripAdvisor. “The 50 percent introductory offer allows hoteliers to lock-in a great price for the entire year.”
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This strikes me as relatively unethical. www.hrabaconsulting.com/blog/2009/08/27/tripadvisor-ethics-watch-pay-to-list-phone-and-website/
Doesn't it seem like it's exploitative. The Mom and Pop inn won't stand a chance to the neighboring hotel's branded flag budgets.
I am happy for my hotels, but in the long run I think this will damage Trip Advisor's trust and efficacy.
michael hraba @hhotelconsult - 2009-18-11 16:05:00 PST -
This is great news for hotels and I am astonished that
Expedia let this happen. This is the #1 review site
currently whether we like it or not. Having a direct link
to sites is going to make a major difference.
Martin Soler - 2009-18-11 03:49:00 PST -
It seems TripAdvisor are adopting the Google model (similar to Google Ads). Unless hoteliers monitor how much business is incomming from this channel then they are better off gaining a generic ranking through consumer reviews.
The questions now for me to watch are, will TripAdvisor suffer from more, so called, "Black Hat" techniques, like more engineered friendly reviews and how will they deal with poorly reviewed hotels who are prepared to pay?
TripAdvisors business model was always open for a more commercialized option once Expedia wanted their ROI but now the field is open for other new review sites, with a more open model, to leverage this policy change. The financial business model will have to depend on a more "seen to be" independent method.
Perhaps we are seeing the beginning of the end for TripAdvisor as I know from my own experience I will not continue to review sites knowing that my efforts are for financial gain. My efforts have always been to improve the quality to the customer through "Voice of the Customer" feedback.
David Wood - 2009-17-11 23:49:00 PST
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