TripAdvisor CEO Bullish on Giving Hotels New Ad Path to Top of Listings
Skift Take
Hotels — 10,000 of them — have voted with their feet, or advertising budgets, that is, and are trying out TripAdvisor's new sponsored listings program. The bottom line is the success or failure of the program will depend on how it impacts advertisers' bottom lines.
For years, the only way to ensure a hotel ascended to the top of a TripAdvisor page was to have great user reviews, and available rooms at competitive rates.
That's changing as TripAdvisor on Tuesday officially launched Sponsored Placements for any hotel with available rooms that is willing to set an advertising budget, and is a member of the TripAdvisor's subscription Business Advantage program.
With the rollout, which is global, a hotel such as La Quinta Inn & Suites, which is ranked 12th out of 14 hotels in Stamford, Connecticut, could buy a sponsored advertisement atop TripAdvisor's page for that city. TripAdvisor labels these advertisements as "Sponsored."
La Quinta's Stamford property had a sponsored advertisement on top of TripAdvisor's Stamford hotels page Monday morning. The property's general manager declined to comment on the campaign, saying that the hotel is corporate-owned and placements like these are usually handled by the chain.
TripAdvisor introduced a similar program for its restaurant listings last year, and envisions expanding Sponsored Placement beyond hotels, as well. The sponsored restaurant listings have done well, but are starting from a much smaller base than what's expected for hotels, a spokesperson said.
TripAdvisor said more than 10,000 property owners in 5,500 markets h
