Tripadvisor Plus Offers Plenty of Chain Hotels Even If It Is Short on Brand Agreements

Online Travel This Week It is early days for Tripadvisor's new subscription offering, Tripadvisor Plus. The  company announced three chain-wide participation agreements last month with Barceló Hotels, Millennium Hotels and Pestana Hotel Group, but all of the larger brands, ranging from InterContinental to Marriott, Hilton, and Accor were missing. Still, if you peruse Tripadvisor, you'll find plenty of Hyatt, Hilton and InterContinental properties offering rooms through the Tripadvisor discount program. Why? Assuming Tripadvisor doesn't have deals with chains that it hasn't revealed yet, properties such as Crowne Plaza Orlando — Lake Buena Vista, Doubletree by Hilton Rome Monti, and Hyatt House Mexico City/Santa Fe, for example, are offering stays directly to Tripadvisor Plus or through a global distribution system, channel manager, or another aggregator. The idea behind Tripadvisor Plus is to provide consumers, who subscribe for $99 per year, substantial discounts on hotels and activities, as well as a variety of perks such as room upgrades or free parkin