EXCLUSIVE: TripAdvisor responds to your questions
accomnews compiled a list of your questions in a follow-up Q&A session with TripAdvisor after receiving lots of feedback from you about our last interview with the OTA.
TripAdvisor for Business’ commercial director for APAC and EMEA Angie Vaux answered these questions exclusively for accomnews.
Q: There have been a lot of complaints about the fees quoted for business listings. How are the prices calculated and what options are there for smaller businesses?
A: In the last year, we’ve improved our ability to demonstrate a strong ROI for partners through Business Listings. We have improved our pricing structure for Business Listings in a move towards property specific pricing.
TripAdvisor Business Listings are priced specific to the hotel or bed & breakfast. Instead of generalised rate structure, the pricing algorithm is tailored to the individual property. The rate is calculated based on key factors such as the location and size of the property, the average daily room rate (factoring in seasonality), the number of page views the property receives on TripAdvisor and the potential return on investment the property will receive from their Business Listing. Obviously these factors all vary considerably depending on the hotel or bed & breakfast.
We have developed property specific pricing to ensure fairness, which is a key priority for TripAdvisor. The annual subscription cost is designed to be a true reflection of the value that Business Listings delivers to each individual property. The benefits of Business Listings are numerous and significant, offering properties of all sizes the opportunity to expand their marketing reach on a global scale.
Q: Many property owners have also complained about not receiving commission rates for bookings made through TripAdvisor and have argued that many of business listing services are also offered by Review Pro for free. How is TA going to mitigate this?
A: The annual subscription cost is designed to represent the value that Business Listings delivers to each individual property. The benefits of Business Listings are numerous and significant – offering properties of all sizes the opportunity to expand their marketing reach on a global scale.
Q: TripAdvisor states they have systems in place to stop fake reviews yet the positive and negative fakes continue to be one of the biggest complaints – what improvements are TripAdvisor planning?
A: We fight fraud aggressively. Every single review goes through our tracking system, which maps the how, what, where and when of each review.
We back that up with a team of over 250 content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of our reviews.
The full Q&A session will be published in an upcoming issue of Resort News and Accom Management Guide.
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