Digital Business Platforms: TripAdvisor

In today’s world, where everyone is fixated on social media platforms, the most important marketing tool for tourist-centric pubs, restaurants, hotels and other hospitality venues is not Facebook or Instagram. It’s TripAdvisor.

When potential guests are looking for a place to eat or stay or play – right now or next week – the first place they check is not Facebook. It’s TripAdvisor. More than 18 million people a day search TripAdvisor for hotels and restaurants and other hospitality venues in Thailand.

If you’re not maximizing your presence on TripAdvisor, you’re missing out on new customers and essentially giving them to your competitors who are.

If you are a hospitality or entertainment venue, we at FinTech can optimize this key digital platform, adding all the data your venue needs for it to be found and the features needed to maximize your SEO. Best of all, once setup is complete, maintenance of your listing is well affordable… less than half the cost of maintaining social media.

Overview

While TripAdvisor (TA) listings are free, there is little you can do with them other than respond to reviews and upload photos. That’s why TA offers two paid programs:

• TripAdvisor Premium for Restaurants and
• Business Advantage for Accommodations.

These paid programs will not improve your ranking, but generally do boost traffic to your page and greatly increase engagement with users, leading to more bookings and reservations.

(Please note that TripAdvisor Experiences for tours, activities, and attractions sales, is entirely different from the  TripAdvisor, TripAdvisor Premium and TripAdvisor Business Advantage programs.

TripAdvisor Experiences for tours, activities, and attractions sales is a booking and payment engine based on two companies/systems acquired by TripAdvisor: Viator (2014) an online tours and activities booking agency; and Bokun (2018), a provider of business management technology for the tours, attractions and experiences industry).

TripAdvisor Premium for Restaurants

TAPR includes a number of features to enhance your listing:

• Video Storyboard – Rather than a static picture, the top of your page is graced with a video slideshow TA calls a “storyboard”. This includes photos of your choice, snippets of guest reviews and keywords of your choice. The story board grabs and holds users who then are more likely to review the rest of your page.

• Top 3 Reasons – Before users even get to the reviews, they will see your “top three reasons” to visit your restaurant. Your write the headline and choose the photo for each reason, then choose a snippet of a user review for the text. (Available in multiple languages.)
• Favorite Review – Now you can “pin” your favorite review to the top of the review list, ensuring potential guests see the best stuff first. (Available in multiple languages.)
• Performance Trends for Multiple Restaurants – Easily monitor overall trends, then go deeper with individual insights for each of your Premium-subscribed restaurants. Review your data in real-time or download and save it for later.
• Consolidated Reviews – Easily respond to reviews for all your subscribed restaurants from one place.
• Competitor Metrics – See how your restaurants compare with your competitors on TripAdvisor. You can choose multiple sets of restaurants, with results shown in an easy-to-compare table.
• Priority Phone & Email Support – No more dealing with the Owner’s Forum. Now you can speak to a TA rep directly.

Cost

FinTech’s TripAdvisor Premium for Restaurants service includes both fees paid to us and to TripAdvisor directly via credit card (only).

TripAdvisor’s charge varies depending on the current ranking of your venue, the number of restaurants subscribed and the payment term. But the average cost is US$65 (Approximately 2,000 baht as of November 2019) per month, paid monthly. If you choose to pay annually you get the approximate discount of one month free. Another 5% discount is available for subscribing 5 venues on one account.

FinTech charges 10,000 baht for account setup and 2,500 baht a month for maintenance, with a one-month deposit required. Setup includes enabling of all the Premium features, translation into all available languages, photo upload and listing optimization.

Maintenance includes replacement of expired reviews used in Premium features, rotation of favorite reviews (in all languages), addition of new photos and full monthly analytics reports. Review responses are not included and normally are the responsibility of the venue’s owner or manager. If you wish for FinTech to respond to reviews, please contact us.

More information on TripAdvisor Premium for Restaurants is available online at https://www.tripadvisor.com/Premium-c1.

TripAdvisor Business Advantage for Accommodations

Business Advantage empowers hotels, resorts and guesthouses to better market themselves to potential guests, impact booking decisions, differentiate from competitors and measure and improve their online reputations. Its feature set includes a Media Suite, Promotional Features and a best-in-class Analytics Suite.

A key advantage over a free listing is the ability to add direct contact details to your page, allowing visitors to skip booking engines and book with you directly, saving you commission fees.

• Property Page: Choose three points of contact – phone number, email or website URLS – to your property’s TripAdvisor listing page.
• Mobile Click-to-Call: Make it easy for guests to contact you — and tap into the fast–growing mobile marketplace — by activating one–click calling from any mobile device when you choose a phone number as one of your Contact Details.
• Search Links: Include your hotel website link in search results pages on high–profile TripAdvisor pages .

Business Advantage also includes these premium features:

• Special Offers: Stand out from your competitors by sharing exclusive offers on desktop and mobile.
• Announcements: Attract traveler attention by sharing your property’s latest news.
• Favorite Reviews: Showcase a great recent review near the top of your TripAdvisor page.

The included Media Suite includes the following premium features:

• Video Storyboard: This includes photos of your choice, snippets of guest reviews and keywords of your choice. The story board grabs and holds users who then are more likely to review the rest of your page.
• Favorite Photos: Use your best photos to inspire and motivate guests to choose your property by highlighting them in your photo carousel and media viewers.
• Cover Photos: Present your property how you want guests to see it by customizing the album covers on your listing.
• Property Videos: Post dynamic videos on TripAdvisor — and bring your property to life for potential guests.

Business Advantage also gives you extensive analytics including reputation insights, market position, click activity, photos & amenities, demand trends and telephone lead management.

Cost

FinTech’s TripAdvisor Business Advantage for Accommodations service includes both fees paid to us and to TripAdvisor directly via credit card (only).

The exact price of a Business Advantage subscription is tailored to each property based on a variety of factors such as location, size, etc. But a small, high-ranking beach resort can expect to pay less than 17,000 baht per year. However, subscriptions are paid annually. No monthly plan is available.

FinTech charges 10,000 baht for account setup and 2,500 baht a month for maintenance, with a one-month deposit required. Setup includes enabling of all the Business Advantage features, translation into all available languages, photo upload, promotions and announcements, and listing optimization.

Maintenance incudes:

• replacement of expired reviews used in premium features
• promotions and announcements upkeep
• rotation of favorite reviews (in all languages)
• addition of new photos, and
• full monthly analytics reports.

Review responses are not included and normally are the responsibility of the venue’s owner or manager.

Please contact us if you would like more information about FinTech’s TripAdvisor services.

More information on TripAdvisor Business Advantage for Accommodations is available online at https://www.tripadvisor.com/TripAdvisorInsights/w779.

You may also like to read our post: Improving Your TripAdvisor Ranking