I Was Shocked

[Aussie Innkeeper]

Got an e-mail the other day from T rip A dvis or saying that my listing would soon be up for 'automatic renewal'. I didn't like the sound of that, especially since on that e-mail there was no contact information. So today, I receive another e-mail, this one had not only a toll-free number to call for customer service 1-866-708-9937, but the renewal amount - get ready for this....$871.20!!!

Oh, and yes, they were nice enough to give me an option of monthly installments.
This is over twice what I paid last year. When I called the representative and explained that I did not want to renew, he said "are you sure? TA is now receiving more traffic than ever before". He also cited this as the reason for the increase in price. Who can afford that?! I get the listing itself for free, the business listing just allows me a few other perks such as the option to post specials, announcements and provides a direct link to my website.
I'm going to trust that my guests are smart enough to find me after reading the good reviews without having a direct link. I just couldn't believe the price increase!!

 

[happykeeper]

add $250 to get ours

 

[Arks]

I get the listing itself for free...

Just as FB sends unpaid posts only to a few "friends", I bet TA will eventually only list some free lodging in a town, but not all. You'll have to pay for a business listing to guarantee being listed. Just a prediction, but we all know how these guys think.

 

[OnTheShore]

I get the listing itself for free...

Just as FB sends unpaid posts only to a few "friends", I bet TA will eventually only list some free lodging in a town, but not all. You'll have to pay for a business listing to guarantee being listed. Just a prediction, but we all know how these guys think..

Remember that TripAdvisor is a site for travelers, not a site for businesses. TA lists us "for free" not for our benefit, but for the benefit of our guests who might like to review us (good or bad), and for their members who are "scrutinizing" (cross-thread linkage...) the possibilities for their travel....

 

[April]

add $250 to get ours.

Add $1000 to that for ours!!!!

 

[Arks]

I get the listing itself for free...

Just as FB sends unpaid posts only to a few "friends", I bet TA will eventually only list some free lodging in a town, but not all. You'll have to pay for a business listing to guarantee being listed. Just a prediction, but we all know how these guys think..

Remember that TripAdvisor is a site for travelers, not a site for businesses. TA lists us "for free" not for our benefit, but for the benefit of our guests who might like to review us (good or bad), and for their members who are "scrutinizing" (cross-thread linkage...) the possibilities for their travel....
.

Remember that TripAdvisor is a site for travelers, not a site for businesses.

TA is a site for profits for its owners, of course. They make money from the businesses, as well as the travelers (through Booking bookings). So they WILL, I predict, eventually stop listing 100% of non-paying lodging. Leaving a few non-payers off the list won't hurt them a bit with the travelers.
I'm not blaming them. It's what business people do. They try to squeeze out all the profits they can. And forcing businesses to pay them to be guaranteed a listing is a logical next step.

 

[Copperhead]

Just had an email from them about a webinar and touting "the Worlds Largest Travel Site"
They have created this right under our noses with all of us drinking the kool-aid while sending our guests to post their reviews.
Now they say are saying 'it's time to pay the piper' for all the publicity.
Of course you can't opt out from being listed (free listing) so the worlds largest will continue to grow.

 

[Arks]

Just had an email from them about a webinar and touting "the Worlds Largest Travel Site"
They have created this right under our noses with all of us drinking the kool-aid while sending our guests to post their reviews.
Now they say are saying 'it's time to pay the piper' for all the publicity.
Of course you can't opt out from being listed (free listing) so the worlds largest will continue to grow..

Of course you can't opt out from being listed (free listing) so the worlds largest will continue to grow.

And lately they're doing a lot of that growing by buying out the competition.
Reminds me of an old Mel Brooks movie. Making fun of Gulf+Western that was at the time buying up everything in sight, Mel had a company in his film called "Engulf and Devour". That name fits a lot of big companies these days. Theodore Roosevelt, the Trust Buster, would not approve!

 

[MtnKeeper]

Just had an email from them about a webinar and touting "the Worlds Largest Travel Site"
They have created this right under our noses with all of us drinking the kool-aid while sending our guests to post their reviews.
Now they say are saying 'it's time to pay the piper' for all the publicity.
Of course you can't opt out from being listed (free listing) so the worlds largest will continue to grow..

Last week I was driving to my families home outside of Boston. I passed this incredible new building going up and then saw the TA sign on top. The Town of Needham, MA is giving them more than $1.8M in tax breaks so they'd stay in town and build this new building which is scheduled to have an additional building added to the "campus". I didn't get a pic but here's the drawings. Yes folks, TA is here to stay and with TripConnect and their buying up of various complimentary companies such as adventure review/booking sites means that they are only going to continue to control the industry. Therefore, we can only expect the listing prices to go up and up each year. At some point it will not be worth having but what price that is I have no idea.

 

[Arks]

Cool. I'll bet Hooters has considered a lawsuit over the logo. That one down at ground level is a bit creepy!
I've always felt that FB could be gone overnight if something better comes along. Same with Google. But TA? I don't see anything replacing them for a loooong time. Good investment opportunity.

 

[happykeeper]

Cool. I'll bet Hooters has considered a lawsuit over the logo. That one down at ground level is a bit creepy!
I've always felt that FB could be gone overnight if something better comes along. Same with Google. But TA? I don't see anything replacing them for a loooong time. Good investment opportunity..

While this may be true- it has occurred to me during my moments of speculative meditation that the sharing economy (uber is a prime wild fire example) may swallow much of what we now know in ten years or less.

 

[Highlands John]

I get annoyed at companies that give you the old "we're getting more traffic than ever before" sales pitch, it's meaningless twaddle, our local tourism assoc is fond of boasting about this.
If a site doubles it's traffic but triples it's number of businesses then I'm getting a 1/3 less views not more (all other things being equal), so saying you've doubled your traffic in isolation is pointless.

 

[Aussie Innkeeper]

I get annoyed at companies that give you the old "we're getting more traffic than ever before" sales pitch, it's meaningless twaddle, our local tourism assoc is fond of boasting about this.
If a site doubles it's traffic but triples it's number of businesses then I'm getting a 1/3 less views not more (all other things being equal), so saying you've doubled your traffic in isolation is pointless..

I get annoyed at companies that give you the old "we're getting more traffic than ever before" sales pitch, it's meaningless twaddle, our local tourism assoc is fond of boasting about this.
If a site doubles it's traffic but triples it's number of businesses then I'm getting a 1/3 less views not more (all other things being equal), so saying you've doubled your traffic in isolation is pointless.

I never thought about it quite like this, but you are SO right!

 

[Flower]

What company doesn't give you that sale pitch. Did you do well before TA came into your life? Do you feel or know for sure that they bring you the best of people the cream of the crop? Do they bring you the guests you want? In enough numbers to pay more than pay the cost of ta?
I have found the people I get that use T A are general younger and lazy . Don't now how to make up their own minds. We don't have a booking from TA We don't have an enhance business listing. I live with out them very nicely. I think they are thorns you have to be very careful with their people. take a survey find out where your people came from. How do they reach you. You may be surprised where they find you most. I know we were .

 

[TheBeachHouse]

What company doesn't give you that sale pitch. Did you do well before TA came into your life? Do you feel or know for sure that they bring you the best of people the cream of the crop? Do they bring you the guests you want? In enough numbers to pay more than pay the cost of ta?
I have found the people I get that use T A are general younger and lazy . Don't now how to make up their own minds. We don't have a booking from TA We don't have an enhance business listing. I live with out them very nicely. I think they are thorns you have to be very careful with their people. take a survey find out where your people came from. How do they reach you. You may be surprised where they find you most. I know we were ..

most people we ask say they found us on t a.

 

[Silverspoon]

What company doesn't give you that sale pitch. Did you do well before TA came into your life? Do you feel or know for sure that they bring you the best of people the cream of the crop? Do they bring you the guests you want? In enough numbers to pay more than pay the cost of ta?
I have found the people I get that use T A are general younger and lazy . Don't now how to make up their own minds. We don't have a booking from TA We don't have an enhance business listing. I live with out them very nicely. I think they are thorns you have to be very careful with their people. take a survey find out where your people came from. How do they reach you. You may be surprised where they find you most. I know we were ..

most people we ask say they found us on t a.
.

A lot of our guests find us on TA and read our reviews. But that does not mean that we have to have a business listing. When we did go with a trial listing, we did not get more bookings and the quality of our guests went down.
If someone is researching, decides that we are in the location and have what they are looking for in accommodation and hospitality, they surely can Go ogle us and go to our web site from there. If they are too impatient to do that we don't want them anyway.
Now granted, we are winding down...not building a business. If we were just starting out and needed high exposure to build a loyal following we might reconsider. But first and foremost, it is important to have reviews and responses that prospective guests can read, with or without a business listing.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet.

 

[EmptyNest]

What company doesn't give you that sale pitch. Did you do well before TA came into your life? Do you feel or know for sure that they bring you the best of people the cream of the crop? Do they bring you the guests you want? In enough numbers to pay more than pay the cost of ta?
I have found the people I get that use T A are general younger and lazy . Don't now how to make up their own minds. We don't have a booking from TA We don't have an enhance business listing. I live with out them very nicely. I think they are thorns you have to be very careful with their people. take a survey find out where your people came from. How do they reach you. You may be surprised where they find you most. I know we were ..

most people we ask say they found us on t a.
.

A lot of our guests find us on TA and read our reviews. But that does not mean that we have to have a business listing. When we did go with a trial listing, we did not get more bookings and the quality of our guests went down.
If someone is researching, decides that we are in the location and have what they are looking for in accommodation and hospitality, they surely can Go ogle us and go to our web site from there. If they are too impatient to do that we don't want them anyway.
Now granted, we are winding down...not building a business. If we were just starting out and needed high exposure to build a loyal following we might reconsider. But first and foremost, it is important to have reviews and responses that prospective guests can read, with or without a business listing.
.

I agree, you don't have to buy a business listing. You will show up there anyway when people do reviews unless they come up with a way to make it so difficult to read NON members reviews and then it becomes useless. Just a money making tool for themselves.

 

[JBloggs]

What company doesn't give you that sale pitch. Did you do well before TA came into your life? Do you feel or know for sure that they bring you the best of people the cream of the crop? Do they bring you the guests you want? In enough numbers to pay more than pay the cost of ta?
I have found the people I get that use T A are general younger and lazy . Don't now how to make up their own minds. We don't have a booking from TA We don't have an enhance business listing. I live with out them very nicely. I think they are thorns you have to be very careful with their people. take a survey find out where your people came from. How do they reach you. You may be surprised where they find you most. I know we were ..

I have found the people I get that use T A are general younger and lazy . Don't now how to make up their own minds.

whoaaaaa nelly

 

[Flower]

What company doesn't give you that sale pitch. Did you do well before TA came into your life? Do you feel or know for sure that they bring you the best of people the cream of the crop? Do they bring you the guests you want? In enough numbers to pay more than pay the cost of ta?
I have found the people I get that use T A are general younger and lazy . Don't now how to make up their own minds. We don't have a booking from TA We don't have an enhance business listing. I live with out them very nicely. I think they are thorns you have to be very careful with their people. take a survey find out where your people came from. How do they reach you. You may be surprised where they find you most. I know we were ..

May be that word was not thee best to use . More like impatient.? But when you are young you are impatient.