The site reached the milestone of one billion user reviews of hotels, restaurants, holiday homes and apartment rentals, and tourist attractions around the world.
Tripadvisor has introduced a change of tack in its business strategy by launching Wanderlab, an in-house creative and content studio which will allow the company to offer its services to external brands.
The content studio will benefit from Tripadvisor’s first-party data which the company has collected since being founded in 2000. In 2021, the site reached the milestone of one billion user reviews of hotels, restaurants, holiday homes and apartment rentals, and tourist attractions around the world. This provides Tripadvisor with a lot of valuable data insights and places the company in a strong position to continue to benefit from the growth in online transactions.
The boom in online transactions
In 2019, the total value of the online payment market was over $3,200 billion and by 2027 it is forecast to grow to $17,643 billion. The change in consumer behavior has been accompanied by a boom in review sites covering a multitude of industries.
The prevalence of review sites has also led to increased demand for customer opinions about companies in a wide range of sectors. The best example is Trustpilot, which allows customers to review companies in various sectors including energy suppliers, real estate agents, and electronics and technology.
Clearly, review sites are particularly important in highly competitive industries where there is a great deal of choice on offer to consumers. Alongside the travel industry, this also includes the iGaming sector. While sites such as Tripadvisor consider aspects such as price, quality of experience, and customer service, the best mobile casino review, for example, provides players with essential information regarding security, bonuses and loyalty rewards, and banking options, so that consumers can make an informed choice based on the information provided by expert reviewers. The sheer number of online casinos available to consumers makes this type of expert review sites invaluable to players.
Tripadvisor has actively acquired other companies in the restaurant and takeaway sector, including DoorDash, the online food ordering and delivery platform, which is now launching a credit card in cooperation with JPMorgan. Most recently Tripadvisor acquired SinglePlatform, a syndicated restaurant menu platform. Now, Wanderlab creates the opportunity for partnerships with brands in a variety of sectors.
How Wanderlab can support external brands
Through Wanderlab, the hotel and restaurant review site will be able to present brands in the travel sector with increased advertising options and it will even benefit those outside the travel industry. The work of the content studio includes a campaign for Visit Orlando with the objective of driving engagement with the brand and boosting tourism in the city. This was achieved through co-branded experiences on the Tripadvisor website, such as highlighting ‘5 must-visit Orlando neighborhoods you won’t want to miss’ and also incorporating Alexa voice activation. The campaign resulted in a total economic impact of $12 million for Orlando.
The potential of Wanderlab to help Tripadvisor gain traction with non-travel brands is exemplified by the brand partnership with beauty brand L’Oreal. Here, the brief involved highlighting a travel sector tie-in that promoted L’Oreal’s option to buy essential travel products in advance online, which could subsequently be obtained at airports. The campaign was aimed at travelers who had already booked holidays and featured adverts on the Tripadvisor website and its social media channels. A branded ad encouraged potential consumers to ‘browse and buy before you fly’ which took them to a dedicated ‘Beauty-to-Go’ page on the L’Oréal website. The campaign exceeded expectations, resulting in 6 million impressions and highlighting the potential to support other non-travel brands with editorial content.
Tripadvisor is hoping that this innovative approach will contribute to the establishment of the company amongst popular brands and result in increased growth. This is particularly important as the share price of Tripadvisor Inc has fallen 23.65% in the year to date and 38.21% over the past five years. In particular, the ability to create partnerships with non-travel brands opens up new and exciting markets for the company.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.