87% of Hotels, Inns and B&B’s say “NO” to TripAdvisor

by Todd Lucier on May 10, 2010

TripAdvisor is a few months into their “pay to display” contact information with enhanced business listings and the tactic (at least early in it’s implimentation) has to be recognized as a failure.

For those in the industry who can’t afford to pay for displaying contact information (the service starts at $600/yr for properties with less than 10 rooms) the news that most have opted to not sign up is good.
Just 13% of accommodation businesses have listed with TripAdvisor, despite numerous invitations by email from the company to sign up.

With so much business being derived from TripAdvisor, TripAdvisor must have thought the enhanced listings would have been an easy sell to hoteliers when we first heard about the service this past November.

Offered to early subscribers at 50% off and still being flogged to hoteliers at 30% off, it is hard to believe that those who (like me) scoffed at the idea of paying to display contact information, will pony up even more cash for the opportunity. After all, other tourism businesses like restaurants get a free ride – what’s with hotels having to pay? It is hard to believe that as TripAdvisor moves to a pay full price model for the service that more hotels will be inclined to get on board.
As for the early adopters who got the steep discount on signing up, do you feel you are getting value from your enhanced business listing?

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  • hotelthirtynyc
    Trip Advisor link would be well received. I was one time mistaken. In two months our Beauview Cottage Resort net site has received 55 visits thru Trip advisor.

    NYC Special Offers
  • Maybe you will find this analysis interesting. It kind of outlines the ROI aspect of business listings.
    http://blog.miraiespana.com/tr...
  • Just a quick update - TA have been mass emailing listed properties over the past week or two saying that if you take out a business listing you can advertise "special offers" like 10% reductions, free bottles of wine etc. to people who find your property through TA. Wow, thanks! LOL!

    The reductions are still in place for anyone with a marketing budget to burn.
  • For what it's worth, I often used travel sites like TripAdvisor.com to do research on where to stay, what to do, etc. If you're not listed on sites like that, it's less likely that I'll even consider staying there. NB I also rely on reviews at Hotels.com - I'm not sure if that's a pay-to-play system though.
  • Thanks David. TA requires payment if businesses want their contact info listed. Restaurants and attractions get their contact info posted with their listing, but accommodators get dinged for cash in order to display this info. It's free to be listed and get reviewed.
  • I couldn't believe it when I saw the $10,000 annual price tag to add contact info to the TA listing for the family-owned resort I work for. Even at 50% off that's about 10 times what it's worth, IMO. Now, if I were marketing a major property in Vegas or NYC I might be able to justify the cost, but wow, I'm surprised anyone at all has opted to pay these exorbitant rates. Try again, Trip Advisor.
  • Indeed Nick, smaller properties or smaller destinations are treated the same as the big boys. I think if the cost were 10% of TA current ask, it would make more sense to try it out. I think TripAdvisor has bet on a big return. Difficult to lower the price now.
  • Todd,
    I am one that puts aside $ each year for experimental marketing. I like to try new stuff and tell others about from experience. I thought that the Trip Advisor link would be well received. I was mistaken. In 4 months our Beauview Cottage Resort website has received just 55 visits thru Trip advisor. A dismal failure!
    I'm glad I took advantage of the 1/2 price promo at the beginning.
  • Hey Gord. Thanks for the report on your investment in TripAdvisor. I'd like to be sympathetic, but as you can see I'm not supportive of the TA cash grab from hotelers, so the report of your dismall results should save others from similar dissatisfaction.
  • You're being over-generous to TripAdvisor, Todd. 13% is the uptake for Paris hotels only - not overall. And Paris is where they have had the biggest "success". If they made 13% overall they would probably be rubbing their hands with glee. But most estimates say there are about 450,000 properties listed on TA, so 12,000 is only 2.7% uptake overall.
  • Hey Phil. Thanks for paying attention. I'm sure the info on the Hotel Marketing post is slanted by a TripAdvisor release. Perhaps TripAdvisor will comment to help clarify if your take is off the mark.
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