The influence of TripAdvisor shows no sign of slowing. According to TripAdvisor’s recent research, the company was responsible for over 10% of global tourism spending in 2017, which equates to a huge $546 billion. Over the past decade, the influence of TripAdvisor sites has also outpaced growth in overall travel and tourism.
Far from resting on its laurels, TripAdvisor has spent the past few years releasing a flurry of new products to attract more users and advertisers to the platform. As we’ll describe in more detail below, the latest update could be a real game-changer that transforms how users interact with the site.
How are TripAdvisor’s most recent product pivots affecting hotels? In the following post, we’ll look at five features and updates that every hotelier needs to know about.
1. Personalized recommendation feed
The latest big announcement from TripAdvisor is the launch of its new “travel feed”. Currently in beta, this bold platform-wide shakeup will involve a social media-style feed that feature personalized recommendations from friends, publishers, brands, and influencers.
Once a member logs in to the new-look TripAdvisor, their homepage becomes a personalized newsfeed based on the destination that the member is looking at.
The new interface also lets users connect with their friends thanks to Facebook integrations, and follow other brands, publishers, and influencers to receive additional tips and inspiration. The travel feed even sends a notification when a user is physically close to an attraction that’s been reviewed by a friend.
During a recent interview with Skift, TripAdvisor CEO Steve Kaufer referred to the redesign as “very up-funnel”, implying that users will likely use TripAdvisor as an inspiration tool, perhaps before they start planning their trip. For hotels, this could present an opportunity to build awareness and influence decisions much earlier in the travel journey.
As such, gaining prominence in TripAdvisor’s rankings may soon take on added importance in the battle for early attention. The all-new travel feed interface is expected to go live by the end of 2018.
2. Sponsored Placements
At the end of 2017, TripAdvisor rolled out it’s new Sponsored Placements feature for hotels. Rather than simply relying on the quality of their reviews, this was the first time hotels could bid to reach the top spot in the search results page for a given destination.
