TripAdvisor Business Advantage

This webinar was presented by TripAdvisor's Sr. Account Executive Zakary Glasberg.

Market trend update

The five phases of travel recovery

In this difficult time, travel in every market will likely go through five key phrases:
1.  Decline - News and concern spreads rapidly, people begin practicing social distancing and travel declines sharply as a result
2.  Plateau - Potential travelers stay inside to ensure safety and help "flatten the curve." In the plateau phase, travel traffic bottoms out and consumers stay indoors in an effort to flatten the curve.
3.  Emerge - As the crisis begins to pass, lockdown restrictions begin to ease and people venture out again to visit restaurants and businesses in their home cities
4.  Domestic - As confidence continues to grow, people feel more comfortable traveling again and begin to visit friends and family in their home countries
5.  International - In the final stage of recovery, people once again feel comfortable traveling abroad

There are two ways we can look at top city destinations:
1.  Top city destinations based on number of users clicking to book hotels, domestically this week
2.  Top city destinations based on fastest year on year recovery

New York drops in popularity rank, while Sedona, Arizona tops the recovery list as interest grows the most year on year. Travel planned one week out remains most popular amongst American travelers.

67% of all users clicking to book trips in the U.S. are doing so for one to two night stays. While shorter trips are more popular amongst TripAdvisor clickers, longer trips are down the least, as summer comes to a close and long weekend getaways are behind us.

Research takes a while: get ahead of it! 80% of research takes longer than four weeks to complete.

Luxury and open view properties are recovering faster than others. While summer may be behind us, beach properties continue to grow.

The TripAdvisor influence and traveler journey

TripAdvisor is the world's largest travel platform, according to Jumpshot for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, November 2019. TripAdvisor has 463 million average unique monthly visitors. They are in 49 markets worldwide and list 8.6 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions.

In 2019, TripAdvisor influenced: 470 million trips, three billion nights and $600 billion.

TripAdvisor is trusted more than any other travel brand. 80% of people say TripAdvisor makes them feel more confident in their booking decisions.

Why TripAdvisor? Because, in this difficult time, TripAdvisor is perceived more positively by the general population than any other major media brand. TripAdvisor is a trusted resource for hoteliers and travelers. 93% of hoteliers rated TripAdvisor as an effective tool to drive direct bookings.

One user's journey to book:

• User begins research on TripAdvisor
• User continues their research on other travel sites, but comes back to TripAdvisor
• User continues research on TA, starting to see partner ads, like SP and BA
• User visits direct website
• User returns to direct website and books
• User begins planning activities

Step 1: The Destinations Search Page

• Social
• Display
• Referral
• SEO
• Direct
• SEM

Step 2: Viewing property pages

Step 3: Your hotel website

Business advantage: Drive direct bookings from your TripAdvisor listing page. With business advantage, you will partner with the travel industry's most trusted company to:

• Showcase your property
• Offer exclusive promotions
• Drive direct bookings through your own channels

Tell your best story, with TripAdvisor. Influence booking decisions by providing contact details and exclusive offers. Capture guests' attention with enhanced content and media tools. Enhance guest experiences with in-depth TripAdvisor data.

Direct Booking Features - Contact Details

• Put potential guests one click or call away from booking directly with you
• Add your top three preferred contact methods to the top of your listing page
• Highlight your special offers or hotel website in the persistent banner on your listing page (in testing)

Direct Booking Features - Special Offers

• Highlight your special offers above-the-fold in the most engaged area on your listing page
• Attract different types by customizing your offers and running up to three simultaneously
• Target offers based on traveler search dates

Direct Referral Features - Mobile Click-to-Call

Make it easy for travelers to call you instantly from any mobile device.

Listing Optimizations - Favorite Review

Put your best foot forward and showcase a great recent review ner the top of your TripAdvisor page.

Listing Optimizations - Media Suite

• Highlight your best photos to inspire and motivate guests to choose your property
• Bring your property to life with dynamic videos
• Tell your story, your way with a promotional preview that blends together your best photos and top reviews

Analytics Suite - Overview

• Access key trends and performance indicators on your property, competitors and online visitors
• Easily download raw data for additional analysis
• Measure your performance against competitors with customized competitor comparisons

Analytics Suite - Competitor Comparisons

Customize competitor sets with up to five other properties for comparative analysis.

Sponsored Placements Direct

Increase visibility and drive direct bookings. With sponsored placements, you'll partner with the travel industry's most trusted company to:

• Appear above search results and on other high profile shopping pages
• Promote your direct rates and booking links
• Influence travelers to book directly

Reach and convert more travelers with TripAdvisor. Increase exposure on the world's largest travel site. Improve profitability by driving potential guests to book directly. Drive highly qualified travelers to your property. Easily manage and measure to optimize your campaign.

Only pay for the clicks you receive. Simply set a monthly budget and you'll be charged when travelers click through to your direct booking channel or your TripAdvisor listing. Never pay for impressions.

Exclusive Offer:

• Show your direct rates exclusively along with Business Advantage links
• Save on third-party commission costs with the single rate design
• Same single meta offers treatment on your listing page for travelers coming through from your ads.

Preferred placements increase your property's visibility by appearing:

• Above search results
• On local competitors' pages
• On maps view of search results
• On other search results pages across TripAdvisor

Targeting enhancements

• Automatically target booking-ready travelers with TripAdvisor's predictive analytics
• Use scheduling features to run ads for dates when you need help filling rooms
• Ads only appear when you have availability and match travelers' search criteria

Custom optimizations

• Customize your budget to fit your needs
• View comprehensive performance metrics at any time
• Utilize bookings and return data to inform key business decisions

Optimized direct bookings user flow
1.  The destinations search page
2.  Your hotel's property page
3.  Your hotel website

Best practices for success on TripAdvisor

Rejuvenate your TripAdvisor listing.

Take advantage of the free features TripAdvisor offers including:

• Updating your amenities
• Refreshing your description
• Adding fresh photos
• Responding to reviews
• Revising your user access

Safety is top of mind for travelers. 65% of respondents will not travel until they see physical changes that make them feel safer. 74% of travelers say a checklist of safety measures on TripAdvisor listing would be very or extremely helpful.

What actions can be taken to increase cleanliness for consumers? Travelers deem the following as extremely or very important:

• 82% of respondents: increased frequency of disinfection of high-contact equipment
• 76% of respondents: policies encouraging employees to stay home when sick
• 74% of respondents: staff wearing personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, etc.)

Enter: TripAdvisor's Travel Safe Initiative

On June 15, 2020, TripAdvisor launched this new program dedicated to:

• Putting travelers' minds at ease while prioritizing their safety: We aim to provide travelers with digestible information and guidance pertaining to safety as they start to plan future travel
• Supporting our partners: Aid in recovery by helping you share your safety measures and overall response with travelers as they make their plans