This is blog post about how to use Tripadvisor in tourism business. Tripadvisor is the world’s largest international travel guidance platform, which helps hundreds of millions of people monthly in planning, booking and taking a trip. Travelers across the globe can use the Tripadvisor site as well as the app to discover where to stay, what to do and where to eat based on guidance from those who have been there before. There are over 1 billion reviews and opinions of nearly 8 million businesses in Tripadvisor. Also, travelers turn to Tripadvisor to find deals on accommodations, book different experiences, reserve tables at restaurants and discover great places to see and visit nearby. Tripadvisor is global travel guidance company being available in 43 markets and 22 languages.
How Tripadvisor works?
There are a lot of features for travelers in Tripadvisor, but here are the most useful advices how to use Tripadvisor when planning and booking your trip.
Account
You don’t necessarily need an account to use Tripadvisor if you just want to read reviews or search for restaurants, sights and accommodation options. But if you want to write reviews, post photos, ask and answer questions in the forums, book experiences and accommodation or reserve a table in a restaurant, you need to create an account. That can be done using Google, Facebook or your email address. Once you have created your account, add some information of yourself to your profile so that other members will know a bit about you.
Book an accommodation
Tripadvisor isn’t actually a booking website. It began as a website that offered information about different travel destinations, and as it grew Tripadvisor began partnerships with existing booking websites. This way it could add prices and availability to the information it presents its users.
In Tripadvisor you can view prices of different accommodation options and see immediately the best deals with Tripadvisor partners, as well as the other available deals at the same price or higher. You can click on any link to be taken directly to a partner website and book your accommodation with the best possible deal.
Read traveler reviews
There are millions of reviews in Tripadvisor which are written by everyday travelers just like yourself. Through reviews you can learn everything possible before making a decision about where to book your next vacation. You can filter through reviews and select options that apply to your travelling lifestyle to find out which hotel, sight or excursion would be perfect for you. However, when reading the reviews, it is recommended to use common sense and not blindly believe what others write. Opinions are always subjective and vary according to the author.
Write your own reviews
Help other fellow travelers by writing your own reviews once you have stayed in a hotel, ate in a restaurant or experienced a tour. Give them tips about the best places to stay and experience, and on the other hand you can help them avoid for example bad accommodations. Anything you write will help future travelers in planning their next trip. Remember to tell the truth!
Save your travel ideas
While browsing through Tripadvisor, you can save travel-recommended places for your trip. You can also view the things to do, restaurants and hotels you have saved on a map. This is a handy tool, because it helps you remember places you’re interested in as you plan your trip. It can also keep a record of the places you’ve been, so you never forget them.
Tripadvisor App
Tripadvisor also has an app which you can download to your mobile phone. Here is a good tutorial on how to use the app.
How to use TripAdvisor in tourism business?
Why to start using Tripadvisor in tourism business? The most important reasons for companies to join Tripadvisor is to build the brand visibility and grow revenue. Millions of travelers use Tripadvisor every month when planning their trips, so it is a great opportunity for companies to get their products visable and available. As much as 96% of the hotel and hospitality brands worldwide say that Tripadvisor reviews are influential in generating bookings. The other important reason is reliability. According to researches, more than 90% of customers trust what other customers say and choose their travel destinations based on these recommendations. Travelers find Tripadvisor reliable, because the reviews and opinions are written by other travelers. They don’t have to be afraid of false advertising or misrepresentations of different service providers, when they can read what their peers have really experienced.
Things to remember when using Tripadvisor in tourism business
Use of Tripadvisor requires an account and basic use is free for companies. Here’s a list of things to remember when using Tripadvisor in tourism business as a tourism company:
- Ensure that your company information is correct and up-to-date – you only have one chance to make a first impression. Add at least the company’s official name, address, reservation service and price information, website address, phone number and the company’s location on the map as well as company’s industry.
- Give a catchy and selling description of your company. Stand out from your competitors!
- Add quality photos to your profile because companies with more images get more attention. Remember to use visually consistent material.
- Tell your customers that you are in Tripadvisor! Encourage them to write a review. Add Tripadvisor widget to your website. The least you can do is put a Tripadvisor sticker on your company door.
- Track your reviews. Set up alerts that notify you every time there is new review of your company. Then you will be in a better position to protect your online brand reputation.
- The most important thing: communicate with your customers. When you receive a review, positive or negative, respond to the review. Write a unique response to each review. Remember to be professional and polite, and use the same tone of voice as you use in other medias. Participating in the discussion with your customers is a sign of trust. Don’t be alarmed if someone gives negative feedback – that’s part of the game and experienced travelers know, how to interpret whether the feedback was appropriate. Notice that Tripadvisor removes comments that contain vulgar language. Remember to thank for appropriate negative feedback, but handle complaints privately directly with the customer. Keep in mind that more promptly you reply, more likely you are to receive new booking inquiries – higher responsiveness is equal to better customer engagement.
- Collet the customer feedback you receive and use it in your company’s quality improvement and marketing.
CASE: Lapland Safaris – An Example how to use Tripadvisor in tourism business
It was quite difficult to find a good example of a company that uses well Tripadvisor in tourism business. Lapland Safaris in Rovaniemi was close enough the best I was able to find. In my opinion, they have a good description of their company, they have lots of good photos which are added by the company as well as by the travelers and the most importantly: they communicate with their customers regularly.
My own experiences and impressions
I’m not a subscribed user of Tripadvisor, so I don’t have a personal experience of what kind of features Tripadvisor could offer when using an account. But despite that, I have used it numerous times when planning my trips. Mainly, I use it to search for local restaurants and I have to admit that reviews made by other travelers do have an impact. I have usually chosen to eat in those restaurants which have the best reviews, and they surely have been good restaurants. Before my latest trip to Senja Island in Norway in July, I used Tripadvisor to look for different sights. I got very good tips about the sights and places to visit there.
It was interesting to get familiar more deeply with Tripadvisor, particularly for the business use. Now I really understood how important tool Tripadvisor is for companies who want to improve their brand visibility. It also gives companies a possibility to grow revenue. But as always, it is very important to have a good strategic plan and enough resources to get the most out of using Tripadvisor.
Share your thoughts in comments about using Tripadvisor in tourism business!
References
App Of The Day 2019. How to Plan Your Vacation with TripAdvisor. Accessed 22 September 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUZiku1TzCk.
Bassig, M. 2019. Tripadvisor Statistics Your Company Should Know. Accessed 25 September 2022 https://www.reviewtrackers.com/blog/tripadvisor-statistics/.
Kaakkuriniemi, A. 2017. 6 vinkkiä Tripadvisorin käyttöön. Accessed 25 September 2022 https://flowhouse.fi/blogi/tripadvisor-vinkit.
Laaksonen, K. 2019. Tripadvisorin yritysprofiilin luominen. Accessed 24 September 2022 https://blog.kuulu.fi/tripadvisorin-yritysprofiilin-luominen.
TechBoomers 2018. What is TripAdvisor and How Does It Work? Accessed 22 September 2022 https://techboomers.com/t/what-is-tripadvisor-how-it-works.
TripAdvisor 2021. Become a Tripadvisor member. Accessed 22 September 2022 https://www.tripadvisorsupport.com/en-US/hc/traveler/articles/498.
TripAdvisor 2022. Media Center. About TripAdvisor. Accessed 21 September 2022 https://tripadvisor.mediaroom.com/US-about-us.
TripAdvisor 2022. Travelling soon? Save your amazing ideas with all in one place with Trips. Accessed 24 September 2022 https://www.tripadvisor.com/Trips.
Thank you Mervi for a very comlete interduction and reminder lists about Tripadvisor. I have not used it much. I have only use it to find restaurants when traveling. For that it works pretty well. I am always a bit skeptic though when reading reviews there, so I always double or tripe check rewiew also from somewhere else or try to find a blog review also.
With your instuction I shoud try to make my company profile there.
Thank you for your comments, Sonja! So nice to hear that you found the instructions useful. I totally agree with you that it is good to check the reviews also from somewhere else than from Tripadvisor. Then you’ll get a better idea of whether the reviews are true or not.
Hi, TripAdvisor for me is quite unfamiliar app. I have seen the reviews on hotels or travel destinations site, but i’ve never put review my self there. It’s quite helpful for business to get bad or good impression for the costumers. Definitely would try to use this app more on trips.
Great read” I didn´t know you could actually search for things with it by review score. Might have to start reading our companies reviews!