Earlier today at the New England Innkeeping Show Jay Karen, the CEO of the Professional Association of Innkeepers (PAII) sat down with Stephen Kaufer the CEO of TripAdvisor in front of a room full of innkeepers for what was at times a tumultuous discussion. As a matter of fact, at one point an innkeeper asked Mr. Kaufer “What is Trip Advisor doing for us?” to which Mr. Kaufer presented a new offering that was announced this morning – the option to add a direct link and contact information from the TripAdvisor website to your property.
Of course, this link will not be free, but rarely are quality inbound links – especially from someone with as large a following and userbase as TripAdvisor. The rates will apparently start at $300 per year (with perhaps discounts for PAII members) and will go up based on property size.
Personally I am quite excited by the news, as it will offer me the opportunity to truly track referrals from Trip Advisor to my Vermont inn, Forty Putney Road Bed and Breakfast in Brattleboro. As of now, I could only assume that some of the direct hits by name were spawned by folks who may have seen us on Trip Advisor. To me, this is easily worth the $300 to “try things out” for a year.
Watch the video and let me know what you think. The whole interview is quite good and will hopefully be available on the PAII website Innkeeping.org soon.
The TripAdvisor press release follows:
NEWTON, Mass., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ — 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.”
should be interesting to see what uptake there is. An inbound link from tripadvisor.com isn’t going to hurt anyones google ranking and most accommodation providers will be less than 10 rooms.
Going to try the link. Can’t hurt and it doesn’t cost much. It will be interesting to find out which what comes first, the chicken or the egg. Have guests been finding us via a search engine then going to Tripadvisor, or do they find us on Tripadvisor then do a search?