After an extensive period of testing and eight months on from initially disclosing the idea to investors, TripAdvisor has pushed its metasearch service live across all platforms.
TripAdvisor confirmed in January this year that pilots of the new service were under way for both mobile and desktop versions of the site, with full roll-out expected in a few months.
With the metasearch tools now fully integrated into the existing site, CEO and co-founder Steve Kaufer has taken the obvious and sarcastic step of apologising to visitors for years of serving them with countless pop-up ads for prices from hotel and online travel agency partners.
"Our bad. We want to help travellers plan and have the perfect trip, not drive them crazy with endless annoying pop-ups before they’ve booked it."
Kaufer says the move "was the most logical step in the evolution of TripAdvisor", but a fully functioning metasearch for hotels also comes as Google continues to make some headway with its Hotel Finder service and online travel agencies such as Priceline and Expedia eye the media model with their Kayak and Trivago deals respectively.
What the TripAdvisor metasearch has which others have less ability to do is deep integration with existing hotel reviews - for example, a number of filters allow users to obtain results not only by the overall rating from members but also by whether it is ideal for business travellers, families or those looking for a luxury or romantic stay.
Holiday rentals are also included in the platform and the Trip Friends functionality so users can see immediately if any of their Facebook friends have stayed in a property listed or elsewhere in a destination.
TripAdvisor launched a flight search tool in 2009.