Truth is Online Gold Dust -President & CEO, Stephen Kaufer

Stephen Kaufer, CEO of Tripadvisor provided an engaging presentation about truth online and the effect that Tripadvisor has had of the travel industry. He discussed how products like TripAdvisor are promoting long tail products by allowing users to rate and comment on all types of accommodations and activities, not just those that are popular or well established. He noted that a tree top adventure in Colorado is now the most popular product on TripAdvisor.

Mr. Kaufer went on to discuss that…

Honest Brokers = Truth
Social Networks = Trust

…and that by combining honest brokers with social networks you can create a truthful and trustworthy resource for information and recommendations.

Part of the reason for TripAdvisor’s monumental success, and part of the reason why they were bought by Expedia is because they discovered early on that customers respond to truth and transparency. The guests are considered honest brokers because the reviews are unsolicited and are non-commercial. There are over 640K members who have posted reviews on TripAdvisor. The social network component can now bring in the ability to listen to honest brokers who are also friends. This is definitely inline with the survey in October that showed that 70% of online travel shoppers referred to friends and family for recommendations.

So how can TripAdvisor help Long Tail travel companies? Some entrepreneurs and operators can rise to the top using trusted networks like TripAdvisor. The top 300 destinations represented only 1/2 of the users on TripAdvisor. There are over 1800 destinations represented by users, so TripAdvisor is definitely working with the long tail. If operators can follow Jeremy Gutsche’s advice and relentlessly obsess about their story and make their offerings unique, then they can combine that uniqueness by recommending to guests that they rate their experience on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor is not just about hotel reviews anymore, they now provide information and ratings for thousands or destinations and activities. Embrace rather than fear the rating system, and you take the first step towards owning your brand on TripAdvisor.

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