Perhaps learning from the mothership, TripAdvisor-owned Cruise Critic has signed its first agreement to supply user reviews to a third party agent site, Virgin Holidays Cruises.
The spin-off agency from the main Virgin travel brand will carry reviews from Cruise Critic from this week, the first agency site to take its user content. Professional reviews carried have been syndicated to other sites in the past.
Virgin will include the five most recent reviews for a ship, including an overall rating, ratings of on-board facilities, as well as information about the reviewer such age range, number of cruises taken, cruise style and whether they travelled with children.
Virgin says the decision to include the reviews is part of its plan to provide as much detail about cruises as possible, with consumers eager to get feedback from previous passengers.
The decision to offer reviews out to agency websites comes after a lengthy period into Cruise Critic's history as a powerful presence on the web for prospective passengers, and four years into its ownership by TripAdvisor.
However, allowing other sites to carry reviews has been a significant part of the TripAdvisor strategy, providing widgets for sites to carry content, to wider third party agreements with major travel and non-travel brands.
In June 2011, TripAdvisor revealed that over three times as many people view its reviews on sites other than those belonging to the user review giant.