NB: This is a guest post by Brian Payea, head of industry relations at TripAdvisor.
According to a recent MSNBC poll, 86% of respondents indicated that they rely on TripAdvisor and other travel sites to gauge traveler sentiment before they make their lodging choice.
Beyond guest reviews, your property’s TripAdvisor listing includes many additional pieces of information that can influence a traveler’s decision.
So, with millions of consumers searching online for a great place to stay, what will they think of your property based on your TripAdvisor listing?
Based on historical data, TripAdvisor is expecting significantly more traffic in January than in previous months.
The following are a few tips I’ve shared at our recent Master Class events to help you enhance, manage and market your TripAdvisor listing.
1. Update your primary listing photo regularly
Guests want to see what your property looks like today, and your primary listing photo can help you make a great first impression. So, keep it current. Change it with the seasons, or showcase renovations and new features.
2. Add photos
As a general rule of thumb: the more photos, the better – travelers consume them at higher and higher rates. Make sure you have more than 20 photos for your property.
Travelers are 150% more engaged on listings with 20+ photos, than those with only a few photos.
3. Encourage guests to write reviews
While it is against TripAdvisor’s policies to offer guests incentives in exchange for positive reviews, it is perfectly acceptable to ask your guests to write a review on TripAdvisor.
There are many resources to help you do this under the “get more reviews” tab on your owner’s page.
You can download widgets, email links and other web tools, and you can also order custom cards and download flyers that offer your guests a friendly reminder to submit a review when they return home.
4. Add widgets to your own website
You are already aware that travelers want to know what other guests have said about your property and your service, so you can show your confidence in your customer service by showcasing your ranking right on your own site.
TripAdvisor offers several badges and widgets that let you add reviews on your own website and promote your TripAdvisor ratings and accolades, such as “recommended on” or “Bravo!”
5. Add videos
Google predicts that 2011 will be the year of video. You can add an unlimited number of videos to your TripAdvisor listing, and you can tag each of them with six keywords to help you get found in search results.
It’s a great way to be discovered by travelers searching in your region, so get creative.
6. Highlight key features
Once travelers have read the reviews and you’re one of a few properties they’re considering, how do you differentiate yourself to close the sale?
Fill in your Hotel Details tab with rich descriptive details that help distinguish your hotel from your competitors, making sure to include your unique offerings.
7. Monitor and respond to reviews
As I’ve noted in a previous article on Tnooz, responding to reviews - both positive and negative - shows you’re paying attention and taking customer feedback seriously.
According to a recent TripAdvisor survey, 76 percent of travelers said they have a more positive view of owners who respond to online guest reviews.
We frequently hear from hoteliers who track referrals closely that they get more bookings referred from their thoughtful management response to an occasional negative review, than from the positive reviews.
8. Evaluate your performance
Need some help figuring out the bottom line in all those reviews? You can track customer satisfaction and assess recent performance in comparison to competitors using your Track Performance tab on your owner’s page.
See how many reviews you’ve gotten compared to your competitors, and see how you score on the key satisfaction metrics for your eight most recent reviews – fresh, free customer feedback for your team.
Wrap up
The beginning of the year is a great time to visit TripAdvisor’s Owners’ Center and tap into the site’s free marketing resources and tools that can help you stand apart from the crowd.
Check it out to take full advantage of TripAdvisor’s free resources. Whether you’re encouraging guests to write reviews, posting videos on TripAdvisor or adding a widget to your website, you’ll be much more likely to catch the attention of travelers.
And if you’re looking for a way to enhance your listing even further, consider upgrading to a Business Listing, a paid subscription that allows you to prominently display your URL, phone number, email address and other contact information on your TripAdvisor listing page, and get more direct bookings.
NB: This is a guest post by Brian Payea, head of industry relations at TripAdvisor.