Tripadvisor - Business Details

[Martin]

We've just had an email from Tripadvisor announcing the forthcoming introduction of 'Business Listings' on their website.

Put simply, if you pay them, they will put your contact details on your Tripadvisor listing. This includes your telephone number, email address and website.

It's not cheap, being £180 for up to 10 bedrooms and £300 for 11-20, but it doesn't need many people to click on your own website and book instead of one of the commissionable channels, to recoup that cost.

Has anyone else had the email? What are your thoughts?

This is due for release in Jan 2010.

Cheers,

Martin.

[_Sharpe]

TripAdvisor is a 1000 lb gorilla. You can't ignore it. You can't make it go away.

So I'll be chucking a £180 banana at it in January.

[Rolando]

Thinking about it. We like Trip Advisor but they are very inflexible. I'm in a village just outside a big city so I am listed in that village and consequently not found as easily as B&Bs in the city. If you look at the way their site works it shows nearby B&Bs to yours and they're all in the city, once you click on one of them, it only shows nearby B&Bs in that city and not any in villages near them.

If I became a paying customer, perhaps they would start listening to my complaints, but then again they might have their ears stuffed with £180 of bananas!!

I think most of their users are sufficiently web savvy to be able to find my website if they find my listing on Trip Advisor so not sure £180 is worth it.

[Der Alte Fritz]

Same here in Winchelsea, with the main town Rye being just two miles away.

I do not think it is worth it. My listing was covered in booking.com, lastminute.com, etc, etc, "lowest offers" "check availability" buttons and banners. You can bet your £180 is going to buy a microscopic button on the third tab from the left. Guests will inevitably press the biggest button and you will get few bookings from it.

This is the trick the AA plays. You pay for a link to your own site. It is on the listing but so deep inside as to be almost useless. Not a good use of £40.

[Martin]

I think most of their users are sufficiently web savvy to be able to find my website if they find my listing on Trip Advisor so not sure £180 is worth it.

Yes, this was my thought process too.

However, it does seem that it is possible to request that the commissionable channels can be removed from your Tripadvisor listing - which would just leave your own one in place. However, you need to ask the respective channels to remove the links - not Tripadvisor - which may make the relationship with the channel a little more difficult.

Cheers,

Martin.

[Der Alte Fritz]

Yes, this was my thought process too.

However, it does seem that it is possible to request that the commissionable channels can be removed from your Tripadvisor listing - which would just leave your own one in place. However, you need to ask the respective channels to remove the links - not Tripadvisor - which may make the relationship with the channel a little more difficult.
Cheers,
Martin.

Good luck with that one Martin,
I have spent best part of six months trying to get expedia and hotels.com to remove their links from my Trip Advisor listing and still have the latter in place. And I do not even have a contract with them! Have given up as it looks as we may be joining soon anyway so they will be back soon.
cheers

[Martin]

Lee from Laterooms has confirmed that he is able and willing to remove their booking link from our property on Tripadvisor.

I won't be asking him to do that unless I can ensure that ALL commissionable channels will also do the same, otherwise I achieve nothing.

Even then I'm still not entirely sure we'll do it.

Cheers,

Martin.

[474wendyb]

I don't like Trip Advisor. Just because they are huge doesn't mean to say we should chuck money at them. I find them very States orientated anyway. Personally I wouldn't chuck anything at them except my frustration with the site.

[joyful]

TripAdvisor is a 1000 lb gorilla. You can't ignore it. You can't make it go away.

So I'll be chucking a £180 banana at it in January.
Love it! Brilliant description. Gorrilla is about the right description.

[joyful]

I don't like Trip Advisor. Just because they are huge doesn't mean to say we should chuck money at them. I find them very States orientated anyway. Personally I wouldn't chuck anything at them except my frustration with the site.
I think we all agree you just can't get through to anyone at Trip Advisor. Basically a bit of a monster.

[bandbshrewsbury]

Is it true that tripadvisor is owned by expedia?

[Martin]

Is it true that tripadvisor is owned by expedia?

I'm pretty sure that's correct.

Cheers,

Martin

[greenbarncottages]

Some very good news is that there is potentially a class legal action being mounted against TA, being co-ordinated by a reputation management organisation called KwikChex, based in Bournemouth. There's also a site dedicated to keeping an eye on what TA are up to called tripadvisorwatch, with some very interesting information.

Too much to hope for the demise of the gorilla, but it may serve to make TA, and those such as Holiday Rentals, who publish malicious reviews actually be responsible for them, rather than being able to shrug their corporate shoulders and hide behind US law. They might then be useful.

[joyce_taylor]

I am waiting to find out what happens to the mass court case against tripadvisor.They have started ringing me trying to get me to buy an `enhanced listing` I keep saying no thank-you but they keep ringing back.