Tips for Tour Operators on Boosting TripAdvisor Rankings

Posted by Peter Hilliard on August 18th, 2016

Tips for Tour Operators on Boosting TripAdvisor Rankings

The use of third-party review sites like TripAdvisor is on the rise, with over half of all travellers relying on user-generated insights to inform their travel plans. TripAdvisor, the largest travel site in the world, helps travellers find the best places to go and things to do by giving them access to 385 million real reviews of 6.6 million attractions globally. Is your tour part of that network?

For tour operators, having good feedback on third-party sites like TripAdvisor can be make or break, but getting and controlling those reviews can also be the source of headaches. How do you get rankings up and keep them there?

Check out these four tips to help you boost and maintain your TripAdvisor rankings:

1.     Focus on Service

Do you want more travellers to share information about your tour or activity? Focus on making sure that they have an authentic, enjoyable, and hassle-free experience at every step from purchasing tickets to getting there on the day. Ultimately, what they do or don’t get to do, see, and enjoy while they’re with you has a major impact on their willingness to leave a review – good or bad.

You should also keep an eye on comments showing up on TripAdvisor. What compliments do people have about your tour? You can use them as examples of what you’re doing right, helping you focus on what you do well and perfect the experience for future travellers.

Do you want to learn more about how to integrate your tour with leading OTAs like Expedia and Viator? Click here to check out our earlier blog!

2.     Don’t Offer Incentives

Offering review-related incentives directly violates TripAdvisor’s rules, since this type of feedback will negatively impact accuracy and trustworthiness. TripAdvisor will take down any incented reviews. You could also be hurt by penalties and might not be eligible for rewards like TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice or Certificate of Excellence.

To get more reviews without incurring punishments, take advantage of free tools including TripAdvisor’s Review Express tool:

  • Create customized messages, sending them out automatically to travellers who were recently part of your tour.
  • Add confidential surveys to get feedback. Remember, the results will only be available to you!

These types of interactions will keep your tour fresh in travellers’ minds even after they get home.

3.     Respond to Negative Reviews

Some tour operators are more than eager to hide negative reviews under the rug, but the reality is that isn’t going to help. In fact, it’s more likely to hurt.

There are two main reasons why you should engage with negative reviews:

  1. Responding shows travellers and potential customers that you genuinely value their feedback and are eager to provide the best, most enjoyable experience. Keep in mind that for 85% of TripAdvisor users, a thoughtful response to a bad review improves their overall impression of your brand.
  2. Embracing reviews – good or bad – helps you make beneficial operational improvements. Was there an issue with timing? Do you need to make the ticket booking process more efficient? Remember, your best judges are your customers! Take their feedback with an open mind to improve your tour and attract more good attention down the road.

4.     Actively Engage with Reviewers

Engagement is the key to success. The Atmosphere Group recently released a study focused on improving TripAdvisor rankings, and it revealed some big numbers:

  • Highly engaged businesses (those with at least one active owner, over ten management photos, and roughly 25% of reviews seeing a response from management) saw a 387% average increase in page views every month.
  • Highly engaged businesses saw 30-40% more engagement with e-commerce links compared to their unengaged counterparts.
  • 65% of travellers are more likely to book with a brand that actively responds to reviews.

Engaging with customers – whether by acknowledging feedback from past travellers or participating in a Q&A with future attendees – encourages them to become ambassadors for your brand. An active online strategy helps you drive interest in your tour, encouraging future business and growing sales.

At DataTrax, our automated booking solutions are designed to streamline the ticket buying process and ensure a seamless experience for travellers from beginning to end. Contact us today to learn how DataTrax’s tour operator software will make it easier to run and grow your business!

Do you want to discover risk-free how DataTrax’s solutions will benefit your business? Click here to start your free demo! 

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Peter Hilliard

About Peter Hilliard

Peter Hilliard is the Founder, President, and CEO of DataTrax. He began his career as a tour bus operator with a single bus, until he realized that a better solution was needed for automating and tracking ticket sales. Led by Peter’s expertise in the tour industry and ticketing automation technologies, DataTrax has grown over the past 20+ years into an international leader in ticketing solutions.