HOTELS

Derek Gale

The Power of TripAdvisor, Part II
April 9, 2008

Yesterday TripAdvisor announced that it now features 15 million user reviews and opinions, up from 10 million in June 2007. What's more, TripAdvisor-branded sites reached more than 25 million unique monthly visitors in the past year, according to the comScore Media Metrix Digital Calculator Report, July 2007 .

In my last blog post, I argued that hoteliers should monitor their presence on TripAdvisor and do everything they can (within ethical behavior) to get a good ranking and good user reviews. My fellow blogger, e-marketing expert Scott Van Hartesvelt, also advises hoteliers to "study the feedback you receive on third-party review sites" in his latest blog post on practical applications for social media.  

Here's a bit more on why doing that is worth your time: A 2007 study by comScore Inc. revealed that U.S. consumers are willing to pay 38% more for hotel services receiving an "excellent" or 5-star rating than for the same services receiving a "good" or 4-star rating. And 87% of the more than 2,000 respondents to the survey on which the comScore study was based reported that an online hotel review has a significant influence on their purchase.

If you still aren't convinced, take it from a colleague: Yesterday, while at the HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Strategy Conference in Chicago, I was talking with Jim Zito, corporate director of e-commerce for Morgans Hotel Group, about hotel e-strategies and participation in social media. He told me that while he'd love to be able to spend time exploring everything that's new and cool in that area, "sometimes you just need to focus on TripAdvisor responses."

Posted by Derek Gale on April 9, 2008 | Comments (1)