Are you aware of the imminent arrival of TripAdvisor Connect, the new platform coming soon for independent accommodation businesses? If not, it’s time to check it out!
TripAdvisor has announced that 210 Internet booking engines from 48 countries have already signed up in anticipation of the site’s game-changing online platform, TripAdvisor Connect, scheduled to launch later this year.
The number of committed booking engines has exceeded company expectations and means that more than 135,000 hotels and B&Bs worldwide will be able to participate in Hotel Price Comparison on TripAdvisor.
‘A big step forward’
Jay Karen, President and CEO of the Professional Association of Innkeepers International, welcomes the development: “Currently it seems that millions of TripAdvisor visitors may bypass B&Bs when searching by dates of stay, because there has been no connectivity to nearly all of the inventory in our industry. This initiative looks to be a big step forward.”
Tiered certification process
TripAdvisor has devised a tiered certification process for Internet booking engines to offer their clients:
– TripAdvisor Connect – hotels and B&Bs can bid for TripAdvisor meta search traffic
– TripAdvisor Connect Plus – hotels and B&Bs can bid for TripAdvisor meta search traffic and automate review collection efforts using TripAdvisor’s Review Express service, which will be integrated into the platform
– TripAdvisor Connect Premium – hotels and B&Bs can bid for traffic, automate review collection and track the results of their activity to measure their return on investment
Close to 90% of the committed 210 Internet booking engines will be TripAdvisor Connect Premium partners. TripAdvisor Connect will enable Business Listings subscribers to provide real-time availability and online booking to travellers researching on TripAdvisor via their booking engines.
To see the full list of Internet booking engines already committed as TripAdvisor Connect Partners click here