Mastering Tripadvisor: The Complete Guide to Improving Your Business’s Online Reputation

What are online booking websites, and why are they popular?

Online booking websites have been dominating the travel and hospitality industry for years. They allow travelers to book everything on their trips ranging from accommodation, flights, and other travel activities on one website, saving them so much time and effort from jumping from one website to another. Aside from this, they are a generous source of social proof to allow them to examine the businesses before creating a purchase.

For businesses, online booking sites are an excellent way to speed up guests’ bookings, payment, and check-in procedures. Instead of filling out numerous forms, guests can just print out their booking details and proceed to their reservation. Most important, they also help hotels manage and promote their rooms’ availability, ensuring all guests are offered accommodation based on their preferences.

To learn more about how businesses capitalize on online booking websites, read our complete article The Best Hotel Booking Sites to List Your Hotel in 2023.

{{blog-cta="/features/product-updates"}}

What are the top booking websites for hospitality?

When you need to fill up your hotel at the last minute or during the off-season, hotel booking websites are a great way to advertise deals on lodging and encourage reservations. These websites increase your exposure and link you with visitors easily. Hotel booking websites come in various forms, including OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), low-cost hotel booking sites, metasearch engines, and aggregators.

Here are some of the leading hotel booking websites you might want to use to promote your business:

• Google Hotels
• Booking.com
• Agoda
• TripAdvisor
• Trivago
• Expedia
• Kayak

These seven websites provide fantastic services to enhance bookings made through third-party websites and direct visitors to your website. With these booking engines, you can quickly increase occupancy rates and reach more clients.

If you want to learn more about these websites, check out our article The Best Hotel Booking Sites to List Your Hotel in 2023

Why is Tripadvisor so popular?

Travelers from around the world can now compare and book travel bargains on various booking platforms thanks to Tripadvisor. Because of this, the website continues to be one that tourists trust the most. According to recent research, 57% of those who purchase online and 60% of those who book online use Tripadvisor to plan their trips.

Unquestionably, Tripadvisor greatly impacts how most travelers decide where to go. People use Tripadvisor when planning their trips, be it for business, pleasure, or a combination of the two.

How many people can access your profile depends on your Tripadvisor rating. Your conversion rate increases as you appear in relevant searches more frequently. Recent Tripadvisor studies indicate that users only consider the Top 5 results. Additionally, when searching on Tripadvisor, only the first page of the 30 properties is displayed to visitors.

These data demonstrate how crucial it is to optimize your Tripadvisor business listing to increase sales for your company. To accomplish this, you must optimize your profile, gather reviews, and respond to them individually.

To learn more about the importance of Tripadvisor to consumers, click here.

How does Tripadvisor rank listings?

Tripadvisor uses an algorithm that aims to highlight travelers’ insights about businesses. To understand how you can be on top of the Tripadvisor Popularity Ranking, here are the factors considered in the website’s algorithm.

Quality

The quality of the experience at each business is ranked using the bubble ratings that customers submit as part of their reviews. Tripadvisor quantifies these first-hand reviews, and a company with more 5-bubble ratings will rank higher than a company with fewer bubble ratings.

Quantity

Tripadvisor relies on users’ “statistical confidence” in a property listing. For instance, a home with 500 positive reviews would still rank higher than a property with 1,000 reviews but with a negative rating, even if having many reviews can hurt your Tripadvisor search engine ranking.

Recency

The requirement to give its users an accurate and up-to-date depiction of each company listing is one that Tripadvisor is aware of. As a result, the details provided and the date the review was written are considered when determining the relevancy of each customer review. This implies that, in terms of ranking, more current reviews are more valuable than older ones.

How to create or claim a listing on Tripadvisor?

Contrary to popular belief, creating a listing on Tripadvisor is easy. You just have to register a business account on https://rentals.tripadvisor.com/register, and fill out the following details about your listing:

• Location
• Property Details
• Rates, Taxes, and Fees
• Booking Policies
• Photos
• Payout Settings
• Reviews and Posting

Tripadvisor usually takes 5 days to approve a new listing. After this time frame, you’ll receive an email stating if your listing is confirmed or denied. Should it be denied, you can message their Partner Management Center to place an appeal.

On the other hand, you can also claim listings that are previously posted on Tripadvisor. To do this, you must first sign up for a Tripadvisor member account and confirm your business ownership with a credit card or phone number. On Tripadvisor, the approval procedure for claiming listings can take up to five business days. When your application is approved, you can update your company’s details, respond to client feedback, address client inquiries, and add marketing materials to your profile.

For the complete process of placing a new listing on Tripadvisor or claiming an existing one, read our complete article Boost Your Search Rankings: Tips to Optimize Your Tripadvisor Listing.

How do I optimize my Tripadvisor listing?

Optimizing your Tripadvisor listing is the best way to attract more guests. Luckily, Tripadvisor has already made it easier for businesses to showcase their offers with a strategic listing format.

Here’s how you can optimize your Tripadvisor listing to generate higher conversion rates:

• Provide updated headlines and clear descriptions
• Provide accurate rates across booking platforms
• Use photos that will highlight your priorities
• Regularly collect Guest Reviews
• Provide the accurate location of your business
• Synch your listing with direct booking
• Secure prompt and professional responses to all reviews

It’s time to use Tripadvisor’s extensive reach to attract new clients now that it has successfully dominated the travel and tourism business. While Tripadvisor has openly disclosed how a business can appear high in its searches, it can be difficult to ask customers to consistently leave reviews on your profile. For this reason, it’s best to create a foolproof strategy to collect guest reviews.

For a step-by-step guide on optimizing your Tripadvisor profile, read How do I increase my visibility on Tripadvisor?

How can I manage my Tripadvisor reviews?

Managing your Tripadvisor reviews effectively involves actively monitoring guest feedback, responding promptly to both positive and negative reviews, and maintaining a professional tone in your responses. Start by regularly checking your review dashboard to stay updated on newly posted reviews. Respond to all feedback—thank guests for positive reviews, and address any issues raised in negative reviews with empathy and a solution-oriented approach. Ensure that your responses are personalized, not generic, to show guests that their opinions are valued. If any reviews violate Tripadvisor's guidelines, such as fake or inappropriate content, you can report them for review. Additionally, take time to analyze the reviews for common feedback trends, which can help identify areas of improvement in your services. By maintaining a strong online presence and fostering positive guest interactions, you can strengthen your hotel’s reputation and attract more potential travelers through the platform.

Enhance your Tripadvisor account by effectively managing online reviews: Manage My TripAdvisor Reviews: Quick Tips for Hoteliers

What is the importance of gathering Tripadvisor reviews?

Online reviews are essential for your company. More than 90% of tourists look at reviews before making a hotel reservation, with 33% of visitors rejecting to book a place without any reviews. Therefore, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity if you run a business and aren’t asking your customers for online reviews. This is especially true of Tripadvisor, where most business listings are hotels, vacation homes, restaurants, and attractions fully dependent on guest satisfaction.

Here are the key benefits of gathering Tripadvisor reviews:

• Building customer loyalty.
• Cultivating trust with potential guests.
• Keeping track with customer service standards.
• Managing your guests’ expectations.

Tripadvisor is undoubtedly one of the most well-known travel review websites on the web; its network of websites receives over 600 million unique visitors each month. There is no denying that Tripadvisor has become the go-to resource for travelers, which businesses should reach out to.

To learn more about the benefits of Tripadvisor reviews, read How important are TripAdvisor reviews?

{{blog-cta="/features/product-updates"}}

How to gather Tripadvisor reviews from your guests?

Now that you understand the impact of guest reviews on your business, it’s important to actively request them. Waiting passively for reviews to come naturally is not enough; you must deliberately ask your guests for quality reviews. However, it’s important to avoid being too pushy or intrusive, as this can make your guests feel uncomfortable and result in losing their loyalty and positive recommendations.

To ensure that your guests feel respected and appreciated, here are some successful methods for requesting feedback:

• Get Tripadvisor Review Express
• Send request emails to request quality reviews
• Use SMS and Whatsapp messaging to request reviews
• Provide reminder cards all over your property
• Purchase Tripadvisor stickers
• Place Tripadvisor review widgets across your website
• Use your social media accounts

Aside from these, here are some of the few tips to incorporate into your review collection process:

• Personalize all your review requests
• Offer incentives to staff
• Follow up with guests who still haven’t reviewed your property

Need more help collecting guest reviews? Read How to get more Tripadvisor reviews?

How to reply to a Tripadvisor review?

Tripadvisor evaluations have a significant impact on your company. 86% of consumers read reviews. 83% of customers report feeling more secure with their travel choices after reading Tripadvisor reviews, while 96% of hospitality firms agree that internet reviews impact bookings. Recognizing these reviews is a potent instrument for creating long-lasting relationships with your visitors and educating them on making their subsequent trips even more delightful.

Fortunately, Tripadvisor has made it easier to reply to each listing review. Here’s how to do this:

1. Go to your Management Center
2. Click “Reviews,” then proceed to “Respond to Reviews.”
3. Choose the review you want to respond to. You can view Tripadvisor reviews by clicking the review in the left-hand sidebar.
4. Use the filters provided if you have trouble locating the reviews.
5. Write your response in the space provided and click submit.

For a more detailed guide on responding to Tripadvisor reviews, read How can I reply to a review on Tripadvisor?

How to write the best replies to Tripadvisor reviews?

Responding to internet reviews, in general, may be difficult, and handling multiple sites like Tripadvisor, Google, Booking, or Expedia can make it even more difficult. By using these pointers while replying to reviews, you’ll be able to interact with your present and new clients and perhaps develop a loyal client base that will trust you and use your services again.

Here are some tips in writing the best replies to Tripadvisor reviews:

• Directly address the content of the review.
• Acknowledge the reviewer and show gratitude.
• Always be apologetic towards negative reviews.
• Provide solutions to the issues raised.
• Never use a common template.
• Be empathetic and acknowledge their feedback.
• Maintain a professional tone.
• Provide your contact information to address sensitive issues.

To learn more about how you can connect better with customers using review responses, read How to write the best management responses for Tripadvisor reviews?

Most of the time, hotels or restaurants don’t respond to any reviews because it appears hard for them to respond effectively to every single review. For this reason, we created a tool that uses artificial intelligence to enable restaurant and hotel management to respond to Tripadvisor reviews with personalized remarks that sound human. With MARA, you can simply paste the customer review in the box below and click “Generate Reply” to instantly generate a review reply.

Watch our demo video or read more about MARA’s AI Review Reply Assistant here to learn more about how you can make responding to Tripadvisor reviews simple.

How to respond to a positive review?

When responding to positive reviews, make sure you take time to thank them for writing the review. This will make them feel appreciated and valued, attracting other guests to post positive feedback. Aside from this, it’s essential to highlight key metrics mentioned in the review. This includes their feedback on your location, facilities, amenities, and customer service.

Most importantly, include a strong call to action to action and invite them to revisit your business. You can phrase this by saying you would love to serve them with an excellent guest experience again. Furthermore, you can maximize the benefits of the positive review by sharing it on your social media accounts. It will serve as excellent social proof to entice potential guests.

If a positive review mentions a particular staff, it’s also highly recommended to commend and even give incentives to this staff. This will encourage your team members to provide excellent guest experience and actively collect customer reviews.

For response examples, read Examples of how to respond to positive Tripadvisor reviews.

How to respond to a negative review on Tripadvisor, and why is it important?

While we’ve covered the broad strategies for responding to Tripadvisor reviews, it can be challenging to address complaints. Your response should not only address the immediate problem but also repair the reputation of the brand and your relationship with the customer. 89% of visitors to Tripadvisor’s site felt that a thoughtful response to a bad review enhanced their opinion of the company. This demonstrates that other factors, such as your responses, also affect how potential visitors decide whether or not to stay at your establishment.

Here are some tips on how to respond to negative reviews:

• Be thankful.
• Maintain a positive tone.
• Address the complaints on the review.
• Avoid promoting your services.
• Prioritize customer privacy when addressing sensitive issues.

Responding to negative Tripadvisor reviews can be tricky, but it’s definitely achievable. To learn more about this, read How to respond to a bad review on Tripadvisor?

Responding to negative reviews allows your brand to win back unsatisfied customers. Aside from this, their reviews can help you create a better customer experience for future guests. One of the most common reasons guests post bad reviews is that they feel ignored and disregarded. Once you respond to online reviews, you can redeem your online brand reputation. Most importantly, it helps foster trust among potential customers.

To learn more about the importance of responding to bad feedback, read Why respond to negative reviews on Tripadvisor?

Why does Tripadvisor delete reviews?

Tripadvisor ensures that customer reviews provide accurate and pertinent information about the business listing. The following are some of the factors why Tripadvisor deletes user reviews:

Fake reviews

Tripadvisor divides bogus or fraudulent reviews into three categories: incentivized, biased, and review boosting. The Tripadvisor staff will look into alleged malicious reviews and may remove them if they are false.

Biased positive or negative reviews

Biased favorable evaluations are frequently made by a person with connections to the business, such as an employee, the owner, or even a relative of a staff member. Review boosting sometimes happens when a company gives customers illegal incentives in exchange for good reviews.

On the other hand, negative reviews produced to undermine a company’s reputation or devalue it on search engine results pages are referred to as biased reviews. For potential consumers to make informed judgments based on correct information, businesses must be aware of these kinds of phony reviews and take action to identify and report them.

Paid reviews

When a business tries to raise its Tripadvisor ranking by writing favorable reviews, the practice is known as review optimization, commonly referred to as purchased reviews.

Want to learn more about Tripadvisor’s review guidelines? Read Why are reviews removed by TripAdvisor?

How do I report a Tripadvisor review?

While it may take some time for Tripadvisor to decide, removing a review on their platform is straightforward. By accessing your Management Center page, you can efficiently report any reviews, particularly those that are malicious, associated with your listing to Tripadvisor.

Here’s how you can flag a review on your Tripadvisor listing:

1. Proceed to the “Reviews” tab in the top menu and choose “Report a Review.”
2. To report the particular review, visit the “Reviews” option in the top menu and choose “Report a Review.”
3. Select “Report Fraud” under the “Please tell us what the issue is” heading.
4. Choose the appropriate issue type from the dropdown option under “What do you want to do?”. The choices include Review Vandalism, Review Boosting, Review Optimization, and Blackmail Threat.
5. You must respond to two inquiries from Tripadvisor: Did you previously post the review, and Is this your first time reporting the incident?
6. Request essential details such as the reviewer’s name, email address, and booking date.
7. Fill out the text box thoroughly explaining the incident in question. Provide as much detail as possible about the review under consideration.

It’s essential to note that Tripadvisor doesn’t allow customers to edit their reviews. If they feel they need to amend their post, they can only delete the review and create a new one. Since Tripadvisor only enables one review per user for every listing, the user will have to delete or update their previous post before writing a new one.

To learn more about reporting Tripadvisor reviews that may hurt the ranking of your listing, read our complete article: Is it Possible to Delete a Tripadvisor Review?

What is Tripadvisor Award and why is it important?

Tripadvisor awards, such as the Traveler's Choice Awards and Certificate of Excellence, are prestigious accolades presented to businesses in the hospitality industry based on reviews and opinions from travelers worldwide. These awards hold immense importance for several reasons.

Tripadvisor Awards serve as powerful endorsements from a vast and diverse pool of travelers, showcasing the property's excellence in terms of service, quality, and customer satisfaction. These awards are more than digital badges; they signify a commitment to providing outstanding experiences.

Furthermore, these awards significantly boost a property's visibility on the platform. They help businesses stand out in a competitive marketplace, increasing the likelihood of attracting more guests and bookings. Travelers often use these awards as a trust indicator when making their accommodation choices.

To earn these awards, businesses must meet specific criteria, including maintaining high ratings, receiving a substantial number of reviews, and adhering to Tripadvisor's content guidelines. By actively engaging with reviews, leveraging special programs like GreenLeaders, displaying Tripadvisor badges on their websites, and staying informed about industry trends, businesses can improve their chances of earning these prestigious awards.

To learn more about the Tripadvisor Awards, read How to Earn a Tripadvisor Award: A Guide to Stand Out

Boost your TripAdvisor ranking with MARA

Responding to TripAdvisor reviews can be a daunting task. However, it’s an essential task to boost your visibility on the platform.

MARA AI Review Assistant is an intuitive tool designed to ease your Online Reputation Management process, making it more efficient, personalized, and time-saving. It offers the best and most personalized AI for responding to and analyzing your guest reviews.

Optimized Review Inbox for TripAdvisor

One of the key features of this tool is the Review Inbox, which is optimized for TripAdvisor reviews. Your review inbox makes responding to reviews as simple as hitting "Generate reply" and clicking "Send". The Review Inbox connects to multiple review sources, including Google, Booking.com, and TripAdvisor, giving you a panoramic view of all your reviews. And you can even configure review response automation: Why not allow MARA to automatically respond to simple reviews, like 5-star TripAdvisor reviews with no text, ensuring you never miss a review? Daily notifications about new reviews keep you updated and in control.

Advanced Review Analytics

To help you understand and analyze the multitude of reviews from TripAdvisor, the Review Assistant also incorporates Review Analytics. This provides actionable, easy-to-understand insights that are tailored exclusively to your business. With MARA, you can quickly get the gist of all your reviews without needing to read each one. The analysis is so detailed that you can find out about specific issues like "water in the pool is too cold" or "lack of a vegan breakfast option”. These insights help optimize the guest experience without requiring you to be a data expert.
‍

The most personal response AI

Ranking on TripAdvisor isn't just about efficiency; it's about personalization too. MARA’s Brand Voice feature allows the AI to adapt to your tone, making sure your responses sound authentically you. Plus, with Smart Snippets, you can "teach" the AI how to respond to recurring praises or complaints. Your AI then incorporates this information into its responses, but always with different words, providing more personalized, relevant replies.

This review response assistant has quickly become a game-changer for over 2000 customers. Its promising capacity to elevate your overall rating, amplify response rates, glean insights from customer feedback, and economize both time and money, is the reason behind its growing popularity.

Final Thoughts

Tripadvisor is undoubtedly one of the most credible online review websites for the hospitality industry. To remain on top of your game, it’s best to create a fully optimized business listing with a steady flow of reviews. With the appropriate software, not only can you streamline the process, but you can also personalize your responses, and derive valuable insights from the reviews. So, why hesitate to give our AI Review Assistant, MARA, a try? It's completely free for testing, doesn't require a credit card, and can be fully operational in less than five minutes.