Guidance is the core mission of Tripadvisor. In an effort to deliver more relevant and meaningful guidance to both the hospitality businesses and travelers we serve, Tripadvisor, the world’s largest travel guidance company, has launched new business listing functionality to make its platform more inclusive of the diverse communities using its influential website and app.
Businesses in the United States and Canada who have claimed their free listings now have the ability to voluntarily select from several attributes that help better represent their ownership and brand, inclusive of being:
Tripadvisor’s offer of the self-identification tool was rooted in insights shared by accommodation providers and restaurants that overwhelmingly indicate that businesses on our platform will use the new functionality. Specifically:
Following an initial testing period on the platform, hundreds of businesses have already added an identity attribute to their Tripadvisor profile, prompting thousands of travelers and diners to discover them.
“Representation is extremely important to the millions of businesses listed on our platform — and to the hundreds of millions of travelers and diners they serve,” said Kanika Soni, Chief Commercial Officer, Tripadvisor. “Enabling hotels and restaurants to celebrate their diversity is yet another way we deliver helpful guidance to those eager to support these businesses when visiting Tripadvisor.”
Tripadvisor is working with leading trade associations and business advocacy groups to ensure every accommodation provider and restaurant feels welcomed on the company’s platform. Getting listed on Tripadvisor is free for every business and enables travelers and diners to start contributing reviews and photos and other forms of guidance about a business.
A business owner or operator can also easily claim their listing on Tripadvisor, giving them access to free reputation management and brand-building functionalities like:
Finally, any claimed business located in the United States or Canada that wants to self-identify can easily access and select any relevant attributes in their Management Center, and their business listing will reflect that information for millions of travelers or diners to see. As we know celebrating diverse voices is more important than ever to our community, adding an identity attribute can help businesses be discovered and patroned.
Hotel and Restaurant owners in the United States and Canada can now highlight identity attributes that will be showcased on their Tripadvisor listing page. Currently, within the Management Center experience, hospitality business owners in these regions can select any of the following attributes:
Providing owner identity attributes is entirely voluntary and is only available to US- and Canada-based businesses. Tripadvisor does not verify the accuracy of this information.
The identity attributes Tripadvisor showcases were selected based on research conducted with hotel and restaurant owners in the US and Canada. The eight attributes Tripadvisor now offers were the most frequently identified as being relevant to those owners and operators.
How do I know if one of these attributes applies to my business?
If 51% or more of your business is unconditionally directly-owned and controlled by a person or people who identifies as a member of one or more of the identity attributes outlined above, you should select that or those attributes. This criteria applies to individual owners, individual franchise owners, as well as to ownership groups of franchised chain hotels and restaurants.
However, at this stage, the identity attributes are for owners of accommodation or hospitality properties only, and do not apply to managers, managing partners, management leadership of properties or employees.
Any registered owner in the United States and Canada can add an owner identity attribute to their Tripadvisor listing page via their Management Center. Within the Management Center, under the “Manage Listings” tab, you will see a new option called “Business Identity Attributes.” Upon selecting that, you will have the option to click one or more of the attributes Tripadvisor is offering. Upon selecting, the attributes will appear on your Tripadvisor page within 1-2 business days.
What if I no longer wish to display an attribute on my profile?
Providing owner identity attributes is entirely voluntary and can be edited any time within the Management Center.
Currently, hotel and restaurant owners in the United States and Canada can highlight identity attributes that will be showcased on their Tripadvisor listing page. We hope to further expand these features with additional functionality like searchability, and make them available to businesses in additional locations in the future.
Tripadvisor, the world’s largest travel guidance platform*, helps hundreds of millions of people each month** become better travelers, from planning to booking to taking a trip. Travelers across the globe use the Tripadvisor site and app to discover where to stay, what to do and where to eat based on guidance from those who have been there before. With more than 1 billion reviews and opinions of nearly 8 million businesses, travelers turn to Tripadvisor to find deals on accommodations, book experiences, reserve tables at delicious restaurants and discover great places nearby. As a travel guidance company available in 43 markets and 22 languages, Tripadvisor makes planning easy no matter the trip type.
The subsidiaries of Tripadvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP), own and operate a portfolio of travel media brands and businesses, operating under various websites and apps, including the following websites:
www.bokun.io, www.cruisecritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.thefork.com, www.helloreco.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.housetrip.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com, www.seatguru.com, www.singleplatform.com, www.vacationhomerentals.com, and www.viator.com.
* Source: SimilarWeb, unique users de-duplicated monthly, March 2022
** Source: Tripadvisor internal log files
Casey Brogan
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