Snapchat has grown a lot in its six-year history. From selfies and flower crown filters to spectacles and geolocations, the company reports 173 million active daily users that post three billion snaps per day. And now the app’s latest update, which was announced last week, includes hotel and restaurant reservations through a new feature called Context Cards.
NB: This is an article from Koddi
What are Context Cards?
Context Cards provides a new way for Snapchat users to view information about a specific snap’s location without having to leave the app. Snapchat has partnered with companies like TripAdvisor, FourSquare, Michelin, OpenTable, Uber and Lyft to provide contextual information and allow users to read reviews, make a restaurant reservation or even hire a driver.
How do Context Cards Work?
To see a Context Card in action, all you have to do is swipe up on a snap with a geolocation filter or one that appears in Snap Map or Search. You’ll then be able to see business details such as the address, website, hours and ratings. Depending on the type of business, you may also see features that allow you to book an Uber ride or a table at a restaurant. Today, we’ll take a look at context cards with TripAdvisor, specifically for hotel properties.
Context Cards for Hotels
With the TripAdvisor integration in context cards, not only can users view TripAdvisor ratings and customer reviews for properties, but they are also given the option to call the hotel, visit the hotel website, or view the hotel on TripAdvisor.com.
In the example below, I used the Snap Map to find and watch stories located near the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa. By swiping up on a snap story, I was able to see the context card and read reviews about the property from TripAdvisor.
Initial Observations and Recommendations
Right now the location of the ‘View on TripAdvisor’ link is at the bottom of the reviews page. This will likely limit the number of users that actually click through to the TripAdvisor website. It will be interesting to see if it eventually moves to a more optimal position like the spot where the OpenTable link appears when viewing a restaurant Context Card. It is also unclear how SnapChat is populating the map feature. I noticed that the Residence Inn in Fort Worth does not currently have an icon on the map even though it is listed on TripAdvisor, FourSquare, and has a Geofilter.
While this product is still in the infancy stage, it will be an important one to keep an eye on especially since it’s already integrating with one of the major metasearch publishers. For hoteliers, we recommend the following:
- Hotels in a highly-snapped area may have the potential to drive additional mobile traffic to their website or TripAdvisor page. Keep a close watch on your mobile traffic and booking numbers to see if any slight changes or spikes could be linked to social media activity.
- This could also be a great time to spend some extra time managing your TripAdvisor page. With reviews appearing front and center on Context Cards, it’s a good idea to closely monitor any incoming reviews for your property.
- Geofilters are more relevant now than ever before. If your property doesn’t already have one, now’s the perfect time to create your own.
Context Cards point toward the growing trend of visual search, and it’s certainly not impossible to imagine a world where Snapchatters use the product to perform Yelp-like research before booking a reservation at a restaurant or hotel. The cards are currently only available to users in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. We’ll be eager to see how this product evolves as it matures and becomes available to other language markets.
