How To Be Number One on TripAdvisor

Consistently ranked in the top 10 travel websites by Experian Hitwise, TripAdvisor is has become an invaluable tool for consumers planning their travel. So much so that TripAdvisor recently crossed 50 million review mark.

Naturally being ranked high in the market on TripAdvisor is seen as an important thing to hotels; beyond ego have do you know why?

It is all about exposing your property; the more people that see you and read all the great reviews about your property the more likely you will convert them into paying guests. For instance:

• Break into the Top 30 hotels and your property will be on Page 1

• Move into the Top 5 hotels and you will be exposed to all customers looking at your city as a destination

• Crack the sacred Top 3 hotels and add a special offer and your hotel will be included in a newsletter at no charge to you

• Become king of the hill at #1 and just watch the referral traffic and revenue pour in

So how do you start moving up the ranks; its all about your service, your product and your guests. For a guest to make a remark on any review sites their experience at the hotel has to be REMARKABLE.

Got that covered; then here are a few important factors that determines TA rankings-

1. Frequency – of the reviews. This plays a very important role telling how consistently the hotel is delivering a great experience.

2. Recency - If you got 30 reviews in one month and then nothing for the next 2 months your ranking will drop. It has to be consistent.

3. Volume - There is no magic number but as the number of reviews increase you will see your ranking improve as well.

So how do you get more reviews? If you want something you have to ask, and the same applies here. Ask your guests to review your hotel on Trip Advisor.
Now this can be done in multiple ways-

Email: As part of your post stay communication with your guests ask them to review the hotel on Trip Advisor. Make it easy; include a link to your property review page. Take one more step; shorten the URL using a service like Bit.ly, so it all becomes track-able.

At the time of checkout or during their stay: Your colleagues have numerous encounters with guests during their stay; the most asked question during these encounters “How is your stay?” What better time to ask for a review.

Having a widget on your website: This serves two purposes, first, if someone wants to read reviews about the hotel then it is right in front of them and if they want to leave a review then the option is there. This is more effective method when a guest is shopping and looking for feedback on the hotel. If a guest makes a booking after reading Trip Advisor review and they have a great experience, then the likely hood of them writing increases when they are asked to leave a review.

Integrating a link to the review page in your Email signature: Whenever communicating with the guest this gives a good spot to plug in the TripAdvisor logo.

If you deliver quality you will get feedback. It won’t be from everyone; it doesn’t have to be it just needs to be more than your competitors. It is a competition for the highest RevPAR after all.