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I'm always amazed when an innkeeper tells me they've never heard of TripAdvisor.com. Sometimes they've been in the industry for years. On the other hand, I talk to other innkeepers that don't pay much attention to TripAdvisor.com other than to read the reviews and post an occasional management response.
TripAdvisor.com has such a strong online presence that it's possible that their listing of your inn might appear higher on search engines, like Google.com, than your own website. TripAdvisor.com is becoming very dominant and powerful, yet with a few little tips, you can put TripAdvisor.com to work for you. It can become one of your best marketing tools for promoting your inn and driving more prospective guests to your website, looking to stay with you.
TripAdvisor.com Notables
TripAdvisor.com is making some big moves to position itself as one of the preeminent online travel resources. They are looking to acquire six different travel marketing websites (which includes VirtualTourist.com, BookingBuddy.com, SmarterTravel.com, SeatGuru.com, TravelPod.com and Travel-Library.com). They are continually pushing to be the largest in the industry.
To add on more web browsing power, TripAdvisor.com has also paid Facebook.com (one of the largest online social networking websites much like Myspace.com) $3 million dollars for its "Where I've Been" application which will allow them to reach a whole new audience.
The TripAdvisor.com-branded sites now attract over 25 million unique visitors every month, many of whom are your customers.
TripAdvisor.com Features
| Listings: | The list destinations (hotels, inns, bed & breakfasts, restuarants, etc.) |
| Forums: | Message boards where travelers ask and answer travel-related questions. Their main purpose is to educate their visitors on possible destinations. |
| Reviews: | Hotel and destination rankings on TripAdvisor.com are based largely on guest reviews. These reviews are meant to keep inns honest and to raise their level of service. If the review is accurate (as much as we don't want it to be) the inn may need to make some changes. For inns that run a clean ship, it helps weed out the inns that sometimes give the industry a less than favorable image. If you receive an inaccurate harmful review, you will need to post a response to fight it. |
| GoLists: | Lists of places and activities compiled by users that they recommend: travel themes, must-see attractions, stops on a walking tour or ideas for a rainy day. |
| Maps: | TripAdvisor.com combines their popularity index with Google Maps. This feature will makes it easier for guests to find you according to amenities. |
| Pictures: | How does that old adage go... a picture is worth a thousand words? Very little is as important as a good picture. When visiting your website the first thing to catch a guest's attention is your professional pictures. So why not get your pictures out there in this virtual community where traffic is significant and guests are always looking. Take the time to make sure TripAdvisor.com has the latest and greatest pictures of your inn. |
How can I get my Inn listed on TripAdvisor.com?
If you are not listed on TripAdvisor.com, please visit: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/getlisted_hotel_new.html. Fill in all the information and make sure you submit your best photo. If you need help making your photo the right size and shape, give any of us Red Carpet Professionals a call whether you are involved with Reservation Nexus or not. We'd love to help and to get to know you.
Make sure to take the time to write a unique and enticing description.
Embracing TripAdvisor.com
How do you get TripAdvisor.com to work more for you? The simple answer is you need not only to be listed on TripAdvisor.com, but you need to be among the top listings in your area on their site. How do you do that?
You need to start sending out thank you e-mails to all your guests a few days after they stay with you. Include in these thank you e-mails a link to TripAdvisor.com and invite them to share their positive experience with others.
We highly recommend you use an all-in-one guest management system like Reservation Nexus that automates thank you e-mails for your inn. Manually sending out thank you e-mails is time consuming and impractical.
Now, let me share with you how powerful automated thank you e-mails can be with an authentic example. In their area of Saratoga Springs, New York, Brunswick Bed & Breakfast was ranked 24th on TripAdvisor.com. It was a rare day when a guest would stay with them by finding them on TripAdvisor.com. Brunswick then started sending out automated thank you emails to their guests and after only 2 months they climbed into the top ten and now see many more guests from TripAdvisor.com! Who wouldn't agree that this is a very impressive and lucrative strategy?
Times are changing but the rules are still the same.
Everything is moving to the Internet. More and more guests are not only reviewing your inn on websites like TripAdvisor.com, but they are booking online more and more. That's not to say phone reservations will completely go away, but the trend is that guests will use the Internet more and more.
The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) did a survey of 702 people. They found that a total of 57% of people booked their last foreign vacation online, with 19% doing so by telephone. The 25 to 44 year-old age groups were the most web-savvy with 68% saying they booked their last vacation online and a good ratings/feedback on travel websites (51%) was the reason for choosing a destination. That's half!
We've found that TripAdvisor.com can also help improve your rankings within sites such as Google.com, Yahoo.com and MSN.com. Information published in April by Jupiter Research continues to confirm that the ranking of your website on Google is critical to being seen. Today nearly 30% of web users limit their searches to the first page of search engines only. This is up from 15% in 2002.
There are two possible explanations:
- People are more impatient more than ever before.
- Search engines are producing better results and people don't have to look much beyond the first couple of pages.
Most likely it is a combination of the two. The rule will always be to attract more customers and to give the customer what they want. Do you have a TripAdvisor.com strategy yet?
Take a few minutes and make sure you are listed on TripAdvisor.com. If you are not sending out automatic thank you emails that invite guests to rate you on TripAdvisor.com, I'd highly recommend you start.
If you need any help or have any questions regarding TripAdvisor.com and automatic thank you e-mails please contact any of us Red Carpet Professionals at Reservation Nexus.