Skift Take

TripAdvisor's Facebook reminders, placed in a usually friendly feed, urge users to book a hotel -- now. We find it more intrusive than helpful, but interpretation likely changes by the user.

TripAdvisor has recently been pushing its hotel booking features, particularly direct in-app bookings, and it’s happy to remind users of their potential plans whenever a search falls short of an actual transaction.

For example, a day after performing multiple hotel searches on TripAdvisor.com, users receive a Facebook notification notifying them of how many other people are currently shopping for the same hotel.

The message, which shows up because of TripAdvisor’s Facebook integration, is meant to prod the user to book now for fear that rooms will run out.

“Hurry! 47 people are shopping for this hotel in Albuquerque right now,” the notification reads in between the usual Facebook notifications about comments and event invites.

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A TripAdvisor spokesperson says the company actually launched the feature several years ago, and describes it as just one of “various methods to reengage our users and remind them of the hotels they have browsed.”

Other methods include retargeting ads and emails.

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Tags: facebook, marketing, tripadvisor

Photo credit: TripAdvisor's iOS app as seen on the iPhone. PlaceIt by Breezi

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