How to Claim Your Hotel on TripAdvisor

If you’re new to online reputation management and you haven’t started interacting with your guests on TripAdvisor yet, it’s never too late to start! Here’s how to claim your hotel on TripAdvisor, and get on the road to success.

1. Claim Your Hotel on TripAdvisor

Even if you’ve never used TripAdvisor before, chances are, your property already has reviews. To start managing your reputation on TripAdvisor, you need to claim the business. (CLICK HERE to get started). Be sure to update the profile with relevant information like your property’s phone number, address, website, and contact email.

2. Build out your page

Once you’ve claimed your business, you can start customizing the page. Add professional photos and videos that show off the best your property has to offer. Start dedicating time each day to respond to reviews.

3. Drive traffic

Encourage guests to write reviews on TripAdvisor, as we discussed in the previous chapter. The more you can increase your volume of positive reviews, the higher you will rise on the TripAdvisor Popularity Index.

4. Promote it

Since 93% of travelers look at online reviews before they book a hotel, make it easy for your customers by adding TripAdvisor widgets to your website. There are a variety of widgets available including widgets that display your latest reviews or your Popularity Index ranking. How does this pay off? Recently, L2 reported that brands who displayed consumer reviews directly on their websites sent 39% less traffic to unprofitable OTAs by enabling travelers to make purchase decisions on brand sites.

5. Keep it up

Don’t neglect your page! The more often you can respond to reviews and keep your page updated with fresh photos, the better.

Of course, TripAdvisor takes integrity very seriously. When responding to reviews, you’ll want to be careful to adhere to all management response guidelines. You’ll also want to be aware of what constitutes fraud, so as to avoid being penalized. Here are some of the big no-nos:

Don’t:

• Ask guests to review while they’re on property. TripAdvisor checks the IP addresses of reviewers. A review written on property may appear to be written by staff
• Offer incentives for positive reviews, like discounts or upgrades
• Submit reviews on behalf of guests
• Ask any reviewer to remove his or her review

Learn about what’s trending, review response metrics, and a look forward at hospitality reputation in our 2018 Reputation Benchmark Report. Available free for download.