Small – But Important – Change on TripAdvisor for Innkeepers
Written by Jay Karen on May 27, 2009 – 4:23 pmI reported recently that TripAdvisor was going to work on my suggestion to change a small, but very important, part of a property’s page. And,…I’m happy to report, the change has been made! This is good news.
Every property page has a “Best Deals” box on the right side, in which are likely included sponsored links to various properties in your area. Prior to the change, the title of the box would have said something like “Best Deals: 1889 WhiteGate Inn,” only to find links to competing properties that are completely unrelated to the 1889 WhiteGate Inn. It was misleading and felt unfair to the people at the inn who worked hard to develop their business and brand. I understand that business on the web and within TripAdvisor can buy Pay Per Click advertising using terms that might contain competitors’ names. For example, if you Google “iPhone,” the first ad you’ll see on the right side is for Blackberry (I can’t imagine what they’re paying for that, by the way). It would be wrong if the Blackberry ad said, “Best Deals for iPhones” and took you over to the Blackberry page. That’s sort of what this “Best Deals” box felt like.
The small change TripAdvisor made (thanks to the staff I’ve been working directly with and their CEO), is that the box now says, “Best Deals: Asheville,” in the case of the 1889 WhiteGate Inn in Asheville, NC. It no longer conspicuously uses the name of the B&B to drive traffic to competing properties. I believe this results in a better experience for the web site visitor and is much more palatable for innkeepers everywhere. Thank you, TripAdvisor, for listening and acting!
And, while I had seen these changes in the works while I was at the TripAdvisor offices earlier this month, I see today that BedandBreakfast.com members now have a direct link to their listings on that directory within that “Best Deals” box. These links to the BedandBreakfast.com listings (while they say “Official Website”, which isn’t totally accurate unless your BedandBreakfast.com listing is your inn’s official website) are a good way to maintain the industry’s competitive approach to hotels. Before this addition, you’d most likely only find competing hotels in that “Best Deals” box. Efforts to keep potential “inngoers” looking at potential inns instead of being baited to hotels are good in my book!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Tags: BedandBreakfast.com, Online Reviews, TripAdvisor
Posted in Online Review Sites, Online Reviews, Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
Jay Karen, President & CEO of the
May 27, 2009 at 5:30 pm...
Nice job Jay!
To be clear, the terminology TripAdvisor uses for the links “Official Website” is standard and they would not change it. We tried to have it changed and sent them a half-dozen more appropriate terms but they call this spot “official website” and that is what they tell us they are going to keep calling it.
All in all we felt it was an incredible improvement for innkeepers to now have a link directly to their detailed listing with us where they have photos, links, contact info, avaialbility, video, etc.
Thanks,
Eric Goldreyer
BedandBreakfast.com
May 27, 2009 at 6:08 pm...
Jay, I checked my listing and sure enough, all is as you indicated. Its a small step for man and a small step for the B&B industry…but we knew weren’t shooting for the Moon (bet you’ll get close someday). Very good effort, I’ll add that to my list for dues value!
May 27, 2009 at 6:15 pm...
Sorry for the typo above. That should have been “but we knew you weren’t shooting for the Moon”. And I do also agree with Eric. It gets them away from looking at hotels and looking on his directory.
May 27, 2009 at 7:29 pm...
Thanks for the clarification, Eric. You’re right – it is a very good thing to see B&Bs within that box. The only other way I’ve seen links on a property page to a B&B is if that B&B has active inventory on sites like Expedia, Hotels.com, Orbitz, etc. The “Best Deals” box oftentimes will feature links to their pages on Expedia, Hotels, etc. For the 90% of B&Bs NOT on these sites, the “Best Deals” box was a place only for competing hotels to be seen.
Now having a link to their listings on BedandBreakfast.com is great exposure. Your members should be glad that you’re making that investment.
Joe – our work with TripAdvisor makes your dues worthwhile, and your “snack tower” makes my stay at your inn worthwhile! Oh, and the company of the lovely innkeepers is icing on the cake.
May 27, 2009 at 10:37 pm...
I agree that this small change was a long time coming. Kudos to Jay for keeping on us, and his helpful reminders delivered results. While I like the site/service, I’m not a fan of listing bedandbreakfast.com as the official website, as they aren’t, but we all agree that it is great to have them in that set of links, so our visitors, and your prospective guests, can find a way to make a reservation.
Cheers,
Steve Kaufer
CEO, TripAdvisor
p.s. we expect that in the not too distant future we will be able to offer links directly to official websites. I encourage everyone to sign up on our owners page to keep up with announcements we make on the subject. http://www.tripadvisor.com/owners
May 29, 2009 at 3:15 pm...
Whose choice/idea was it to list BedandBreakfast.com’s website in the Official Website category?
May 29, 2009 at 8:47 pm...
This was something TripAdvisor required, and BedandBreakfast.com tried convincing them to change it. They lauched it with “Official Website.” I believe they might have changed it now, so that it no longer says “Official Website.”
June 2, 2009 at 3:13 pm...
To have Steve Kaufer, CEO of TripAdvisor commenting on this blog is a HUGE commentary on the efforts Jay has made. It’s kind of like dealing with government officials. If you treat them combatively, you will get nowhere. But if you engage people in civilized, constructive conversation, are willing to try to see the other’s point of view, and are willing to compromise to get something, much can be accomplished.