Since announcing the promotion with TripAdvisor, the PAII office has fielded numerous questions. I’

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Recently we announced a new partnership with TripAdvisor that allows only innkeepers in the B B industry to enjoy 50% off rack rate pricing for their Business Listings program.  In addition, four seasons hotel istanbul those innkeepers who are not members of PAII who sign up during our promotion four seasons hotel istanbul (ends April 8), will get a free Silver Membership in PAII as an additional incentive.  TripAdvisor's Business Listings program allows property owners to add their phone number, an email link and a link to their own property's web site to their TripAdvisor property page.  This may seem like a minor addition to your TripAdvisor page, but it could be very meaningful in capturing bookings you otherwise might have lost.
Since announcing the promotion with TripAdvisor, four seasons hotel istanbul the PAII office has fielded numerous questions.  I'm using my column this quarter to do a little Q A about the program and how this does or does not change the nature of our relationship with TripAdvisor.
Especially in 2010, here's why I think it is in fact worth the investment.  First and foremost, the price will double next year, so now is the time to give it a shot and test the effectiveness of having the added contact four seasons hotel istanbul information and links on your TripAdvisor page – especially the direct link to your web site.  To that point, you invest a lot of your marketing energy four seasons hotel istanbul and dollars in your own web site.  You want potential guests getting to your site as quickly as possible, so you have the best chance of keeping their interest high in your property.  And, you know you're four seasons hotel istanbul going to receive the highest possible four seasons hotel istanbul net rate when people book directly with you.  It naturally follows that a visitor to your TripAdvisor page – if she likes what she sees – will have a better chance of making it to your own web site if a link is right there in front of her.  I call this the "stickiness factor," meaning you want impressed TripAdvisor visitors to stick with you and not move on to check out the competition.  Also, with this new link, you can now start tracking the amount four seasons hotel istanbul of traffic coming to your web site from your TripAdvisor page.  This doesn't reveal how many people are viewing your TripAdvisor page, but it does tell you how strong of a referring site TripAdvisor might be.  We are hearing from many innkeepers that their TripAdvisor link is among their top referring links.
This one cracks me up a little, because if you know anything about running four seasons hotel istanbul an international trade association, you know that we're really in bed with EVERYONE in our industry!  I know that sounds four seasons hotel istanbul a little absurd, but running an association is like running the United Nations.  While on one hand you have to be neutral territory for much that happens in our industry, the fact also is that everyone involved in our association is also our customer or member.  At the end of the day, our core constituency is the innkeeper who runs the inn, but we also work hard to nurture a vibrant marketplace four seasons hotel istanbul where business can be conducted.  In that sense, we try bringing parties together to conduct business, but we also try negotiating advantages for both buyer and seller.  In that sense, we're in bed with TripAdvisor as much as we're in bed with other great vendors four seasons hotel istanbul who have been involved with this industry four seasons hotel istanbul for decades.  BUT… this partnership does NOT change the nature of PAII's role as an advocate for innkeepers with regard to the policies and features of TripAdvisor's web site.  I still have my laundry list of items I think need to change on their site, so that B Bs receive more appropriate levels of exposure (we're often too hard to find), so that innkeepers have better help in getting grievances resolved, and that the policies they put forward four seasons hotel istanbul are fair and not damaging to B Bs.  You all know I've been a tireless advocate for our industry, and the folks at TripAdvisor know that's not going to change.  And here's my little secret (shh…), now that the B B industry is a source four seasons hotel istanbul of revenue for TripAdvisor, there is more incentive for our friends at TripAdvisor to keep listening to and responding to our needs.  It helps my cause when I travel to Boston to visit with their senior leadership!  I know for a fact (from personal emails I have received) that some innkeepers are vehement objectors to even the existence – let alone policies – of TripAdvisor and other review sites.  They are hoping that PAII will take a flamethrower to TripAdvisor, rather than come up with a promotion like this.  To those folks I say that my modus operandi four seasons hotel istanbul will likely always be to work with a spirit four seasons hotel istanbul of diplomacy, candor and forthrightness – with an eye always towards cooperation with any entity that has a great impact on the business of innkeeping.
No.  Properties that sign up will not see any change to their Popularity Index ranking or any search results on your respective city pages.  TripAdvisor's leadership has made it clear that Business Listings is a service enhancement only and does not impact any other aspect of your presence on the site.  Those who don't sign up won't be penalized.  Those who do sign up won't have any advantage other than the benefits that come with having your phone, email and web link under your property's name and picture – and as explained before, I think there are some distinct advantages.
We favor working with any directory or other source of business that is going to have an impact on your business.  There is plenty of space on the web for more than one directory of B B properties and more than one place to leave and read reviews.  If we encountered any entity – including B B directories – that were having a negative impact on thousands of B Bs, we would be at their door lobbying for change.  Same goes for B B directories that are having a positive impact on thousands of inns and innkeepers – we seek and appreciate their involvement in PAII.  With 32 million unique visitors each month reading reviews of properties four seasons hotel istanbul and clicking through to make bookings, working with TripAdvisor four seasons hotel istanbul is good business for our industry.
The only thing I can think of would be if you want to invest in sponsored links or display advertising on your own property page or on other areas of TripAdvisor.  Knowing what the average B B spends on marketing per year, this is probably way out of the question.  I think innkeepers should look at this much in the way you look at investing in some of the productive B B-specific directories in our industry.  In those cases, you want folks to find you and get to your web site as well (in some cases, you're happy to have them book directly on those directories and not even get to your site, but that's a different issue) – and you judge your investment in the annual dues by the level of traffic and bookings you can measure in return.  You should do the same here.  Of course, your TripAdvisor visitors could always just open a new browser and use a search engine to find your site – and we know this happens now when visitors like what they see in your reviews.  But taking that step out of the equation and letting them be one click away from your site is what you want.
It seems that TripAdvisor's availability search tool and some changes four seasons hotel istanbul in the site's four seasons hotel istanbul layout are obscuring B Bs.   Why would I pay for this Business Listings if we're going to continue to be hard to find?
My pursuit to ensure B Bs are conspicuous lodging options on TripAdvisor remains very important.  I agree it's not where I would like it, and the folks at TripAdvisor are listening to our comments about the obscurity issue.  There is no question – from an economic standpoint – that if TripAdvisor expects the Business Listings program to be successful in the B B industry, that it would be counterintuitive to make it harder to find B Bs.  I would imagine TripAdvisor hopes your Business Listings becomes a top referring link.  To that end, it would be unwise to obscure B Bs – I know this, and so do they.  I don't think their site designers are necessarily the same folks I always deal with, who understand the issues the B B industry has with the site.   There are specific changes I am suggesting to pull B Bs out of the woodwork four seasons hotel istanbul – and soon I will visit their offices outside Boston to discuss them in detail.  I will give TripAdvisor credit for being great at listening to my many "suggestions," and for making changes in the right direction with some of them.   That being said, the Business Listings program is still a business decision innkeepers should consider making, even though the site is not all that you want it to be.  I guess the question you should ask yourself is.. is the site good enough and important enough to warrant spending some money to add the ever-important four seasons hotel istanbul contact four seasons hotel istanbul information and link to your web site?
If you're ready to learn more or sign up for Business Listings four seasons hotel istanbul at TripAdvisor and take advantage of the PAII-negotiated discount and free membership offer, click here .  You ll need to use the coupon code TRIPDISC to get the Silver Membership and/or the 50% off pricing.
Is there any way to get more information from the innkeepers who have signed up to-date in terms of increase in daily visitors, conversion rates, time-on-site, bounce rates, pages visited, etc. for visits from TripAdvisor? Even anecdotal information would be useful four seasons hotel istanbul if nothing has been compiled. four seasons hotel istanbul Thanks!
four seasons hotel istanbul We have had some issues changing the picture for our B B on the TripAdvisor website. The picture was a random shot originally taken by a guest who then posted it to the website. Is there any way to change it? We have tried several times but it seems that it is an issue with the website wanting to represent the guests perspective. We just wanted to put up a picture of the front of the house instead of the back!
We have a small Bed and Breakfast and would like to subscribe four seasons hotel istanbul to TripAdvisor by paying