UPDATE:
TripAdvisor hired John Dila to head the team as director of customer care on March 2 2011. Dila joined from crowd-sourcing startup InnoCentive and had previously worked at eBay.
ORIGINAL POST:
TripAdvisor is building a global customer care operation for members and hotel owners.
Spokeswoman Emma O'Boyle says details will be available soon about a customer service unit under development.
O'Boyle made the statement in response to a published report that TripAdvisor was considering setting up a hotline which hotel owners could use to get faster action from TripAdvisor concerning troublesome hotel reviews.
"Our Owners Center remains the most efficient way for business owners to report suspicious reviews," O'Boyle said, adding that details would be forthcoming about a customer service unit.
Although TripAdvisor isn't ready to detail plans for the customer service unit, it is currently advertising for a director of Customer Care for a customer service and call center in its headquarter city, Newton, Mass.
The job description calls for the Customer Care director to "lead the implementation and administration of TripAdvisor’s Customer Care operations. The primary objective is to build a global team of exemplary customer service agents dedicated to delivering a superior customer experience for TripAdvisor’s member and owner community."
The job description notes that the director would be charged with "hiring and managing a global team of customer service agents."
A hint about the global nature of the operation comes from TripAdvisor's preference that the new-hire be proficient in French, Italian, Spanish or German.
TripAdvisor has never had a customer care center for consumers and hotel owners, but introducing call centers might make sense given the company's development of Business Listings for hotel and vacation rental owners and any other new business to business operations currently under consideration.
Some hotel owners long have complained that TripAdvisor has been slow to respond to their concerns and perhaps offering a toll-free number for such issues could make a difference.
The development also occurs as a legal action by hotels against TripAdvisor has been threatened.