Tripadvisor is making several updates to its platform
to help travelers find and corroborate health and safety measures being
implemented by hotels and restaurants.
The platform's new “Travel Safe” tools enable businesses to
display their policies – such as mask-wearing guidelines, social distancing
requirements and sanitation procedures – in their Tripadvisor listing by
selecting items in a checklist and adding more details including links back to information
on their websites.
Consumers can also use a new “Properties taking safety measures” filter
to find the hotels and restaurants that have added such precautions, plus Tripadvisor has updated its review submission form to prompt users to validate
safety measures for hotels and restaurants they have visited.
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“If we want to get the world traveling again, the
safety needs of consumers must be appreciated and recognized as the biggest
hurdle to closing the confidence gap created by this pandemic,” says Lindsay
Nelson, chief experience and brand officer at Tripadvisor.
“With the launch of Travel Safe, we’re allowing owners
to showcase how they’re putting health and safety at the forefront to protect
their staff and future customers. As always, by submitting reviews, our
hundreds of millions of members will be the best check and balance to ensure
these businesses are responsibly abiding by their policies.”
Tripadvisor says the new Travel Safe tools are
available in each of its 49 markets.
Both Booking Holdings and Expedia
Group also offer businesses the ability to display their health and hygiene
practices in their listings on their sites, and a spokersperson from
Booking.com says the site has “an updated search experience in which customers
can filter by cleanliness scores...” Expedia did not respond to our inquiry
about filters.
Airbnb is encouraging hosts to commit to following the protocols
in its new “Enhanced Clean” program, and those that do will be labeled as such
on the site.