It was long announced, now it is The world’s largest travel portal TripAdvisor has completed its transformation to a Social travel network. To Start at the 13. November, however, there is still no finished Version.
So you knew the travel rating portal for years: if you are planning a holiday, for example, in Berlin, at TripAdvisor popular attractions, museums, Hotels or Restaurants. Private people who have visited these places already, recommend them to other users or warn them.
Now the restart as a social travel network. The former reviews are automatically in the new “home feed“ will be converted to the heart piece that is highly reminiscent of the Newsfeed of Facebook. Photos, Videos or link posts with other users in and outside of the platform – for example, with Facebook friends-split. You can also click in the box to the right of interesting people to follow. In the “home feed“ running for their recommendations and proposals objectives to the company’s own favourite trip.
Screenshot Of TripAdvisor
New business model relies on travel professionals
If Google, Yelp, Holiday Check or TripAdvisor review portals are the new big Player in the tourism market. Amazing want with the new Features the competitors behind. This storable lists, travel goals and collected on the maps marked. So anyone can create, for example, the own travel guide or a travel route, save, and share – privately or publicly. TripAdvisor wants to become the Central point of contact for travel planning, the stated goal of the company.
“So far, there is no social network that is dedicated exclusively to the travel. We want inspirational content, such as, for example, Videos and small travel guide of people you can trust like your friends or Influencer, here bundle and divisible,“ says TripAdvisor spokeswoman Susanne Nguyen to the DW. This has expanded the traditional business model, so reviews of private people, and best of lists according to User vote.
Itineraries of other users can now be retrieved directly (Screenshot Screenshot TripAdvisor)
For the first time bloggers are, but also media partners such as publishers, National Geographic, and Condé Nast Traveler, as well as the British online newspaper The Independent. With your Reports and Videos, they need to provide more and high quality content. Also on bloggers and Influencers to the new TripAdvisor. How influential they really are, is unclear. A new study presented by the organizers of the major travel fair “World Travel Market“ at the beginning of November, stating for example, for the UK market that only three percent of the surveyed travellers were based at the time of booking your travel destination to an Influencer.
The history of TripAdvisor
What began in 2000 as a Four-person Startup of a Pizzeria in Needham in Boston, is already a billion-dollar stock exchange company with 450 million visitors a month and reviews around 30 languages. The brilliant business idea had wanted to book a Harvard graduate, Stephen Kaufer, co-founder and now CEO, when he was a Hotel in Mexico. He found after a long search on the Internet, the Feedback of a traveller in a chat room. The catch is That the Hotel made a very different impression than the descriptions in a Travel brochure. The basis for TripAdvisor was placed, real reviews of private individuals instead of the PR of a travel company.
TripAdvisor promises up to 30 percent savings in Hotels
Revenue the company makes with ads and links, for example, to booking systems such as Booking or Expedia. Anyone who wants to travel to Berlin, you can compare on TripAdvisor prices for Hotels. This collects TripAdvisor advertising money in the case of Booking and Expedia. After TripAdvisor 2017 had to accept significant losses of profit and turnover, to 2018 will bring the turning point: with the reorganization of the company, with less advertising money for Google Ads and with the Launch of the page on the Social travel network.
Credibility problem remains unsolved
However, even if TripAdvisor is now a social network, one of its basic problems is not solved. In September the British newspaper the Times wrote that up to a third of the TripAdvisor reviews fake could be. The World Travel Market study shows that TripAdvisor as a long-standing well-known source of inspiration and information for travelers must continue to deal strongly with reservations because of the “fake reviews“. Still, positive or negative assessments of dubious companies would be offered for sale. A Problem that TripAdvisor is trying to get a handle on. However, it is precisely the new model with Influencers on TripAdvisor could exacerbate the credibility Problem. Because the Influencer may be surrounded with Fake followers, the Influencers, and its assessment is more important than they are.
More than 127.000 users rated the Eiffel tower (Screenshot TripAdvisor)
Now the new TripAdvisor went for the first time in all the languages at the Start. Even if in a simplified Beta Version. This will improve further in the coming months, insured TripAdvisor spokeswoman Nguyen. With its millions of travel videos and photos, TripAdvisor actually has the Potential to become the Social travel network. It must, however, show only if the User accept this other Social network.