Needham, Massachusetts – 19 April 2017 –
TripAdvisor crossed now the 500 million reviews and opinions milestone. The popular travel planning and booking site and app now posts 290 pieces of content every minute of every day. The phenomenal growth in user-generated content has been fueled by travelers’ desire to “pay it forward” with insights and advice for millions of other global users.
Most Reviewed Hotel, Restaurant and Attraction on TripAdvisor:
- Most reviewed tourist attraction in the world: The Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain, has more than 104,000 traveler reviews
- Most reviewed hotel in the world: The Luxor Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, has more than 28,000 traveler reviews
- Most reviewed restaurant in the world: Pasteis de Belem in Lisbon, Portugal, has more than 25,000 traveler reviews
- Most reviewed tourist attraction in the U.S.: Central Park, New York City, has more than 92,000 traveler reviews
- Most reviewed restaurant in the U.S.: Café Du Monde, New Orleans, has more than 22,000 traveler reviews
“Since launching 17 years ago, TripAdvisor has revolutionized the travel industry by creating an environment where consumers can share honest opinions of their experiences and where businesses can see the rewards of achieving consistently high standards of service and value from the community,” said Stephen Kaufer, chief executive officer and co-founder, TripAdvisor. “Many savvy businesses report seeing incremental increases in the ratings and rankings on TripAdvisor when they engage with travelers by responding to reviews and using the feedback to improve their customers’ experience.”
In 2014, Oxford Economics quantified the economic impact and added value generated for the travel industry by consumers using TripAdvisor. The study showed that TripAdvisor reviews and other content are not only heavily influencing much of the world’s travel activity, but are in fact the cause of some increase in travel activity.
Oxford Economics found that reviews, in particular, play a very important part in increasing travel activity by:
- Creating Transparency: Consumers are clear about the positives and negatives of the hotels, restaurants or attractions they’re considering
- Building Trust: Consumers are confident that TripAdvisor’s content is reliable and trustworthy
- Growing Content Depth & Breadth: Travelers see an enormous amount of aggregated information and reviews about accommodations, restaurants and attractions all over the world
- Easing the Process of Searching & Booking: Travelers can easily find and compare prices and make a booking
The more content contributed by TripAdvisor users, the better it becomes at helping other users fulfill their dreams of finding their ideal hotel, attraction or restaurant. In equal measure, the more data reviewers contribute to the site, the better it becomes at answering searches with the most relevant list of businesses. What starts with a review, results in a cycle that generally leads to one of the most important marketing opportunities for a business that can result in more bookings and increased revenue.
Reviews and photos benefit consumers because they provide them with transparency, insight and a voice. Businesses that choose to engage with this review content by analyzing feedback, making the necessary improvements, focusing on the positives and learning from the negatives, are usually rewarded with greater customer satisfaction, better reviews, more visibility and, ultimately, more bookings or reservations. This is what TripAdvisor calls its Network Effect of having a listing online within its community.
A property listing on TripAdvisor is the first page, or a virtual store front, a potential customer sees when considering or researching a business. Having clear contact details surrounded by the best possible photos and embedded into well-managed reviews can go a long way in delivering more bookings.