TripAdvisor adds Vacation Rental Reviews and Flipkey
Trent Blizzard | 12 February 2009 | 10 Reviews »
Just noticed something over at Tripadvisor… they are listing vacation rentals by popularity according to reviews. The reviews are provided by Flipkey. This is a great development for Vacation Rental Managers who now have a means to manage and onward distribute their reviews to places like Tripadvisor. Many other portals will probably jump in now.
Check out a listing of vacation homes in Winter Park. Here is a screen shot with some highlighted areas of note.
Vacation Rentals is a category in the left column. The home data is provided by Flipkey and sorted by popularity as determined by reviews.
Looking for a good idea in a tough economy? Start using Flipkey. The data is very clear that consumers are heavily influenced by online reviews. Time to get on the bus, before it rolls over you.
Blizzard has vacation rental managers using Flipkey and it seems to be working very well. Here is an example of integrating the ratings into a property page.
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Here are some more Blizzard articles on reviews and reputation management:
Do you have a Reputation Management Plan?
Whitepaper: Online Reputation Management for the Hospitality Industry
Interview with TJ Mahoney from Flipkey
Blizzard Internet has a nice program for reputation management as part of our marketing plans. Check it out.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:47 am
We were really excited for this when we heard Tripadvisor was buying an interest position in Flipkey. TJ and the rest of his crew at Flipkey are great to work with and they “get it” when it comes to reputation management and the unique obstacles involved when trying to set up reviews for individual properties.
In 2006 at SES Travel the Tripadvisor representative indicated vacation rentals would have greater prominence within the next year – it took them a few extra years but I do think they did it the right way when they integrated Flipkey.
Great work Flipkey AND Tripadvisor.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:47 am
This is a huge step towards vacation rentals being accepted as a main stream travel option. We at Escapia are especially excited as our clients will have their properties now listed on TripAdvisor with real-time availability, pricing, and reviews collected automatically.
February 13th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
We learned of Flipkey several months ago from Trent Blizzard at a nearby Vacation Rental University seminar. As of this week, we are collecting guest reviews via Flipkey and we already see the immense value of it. For it to be integrated with Trip Advisor only makes it that much more of an incredible tool for us in our reputation management efforts.
February 17th, 2009 at 4:04 am
Creating brands worth evangelizing about is often misunderstood. The connection between the core values – the soul of the company and the soul of the customer – is why customers evangelize. They have found a temple of core value at which to worship. It’s mythic. It’s epic. The brand becomes icon because it connects to the subconscious yearnings of the customer, imprinting on the brain. The pictured emotional experience becomes a conduit through which the customer can again be touched by those core values.
Those pictures and emotions then become language in the brain of the customer. And it’s the language of evangelism.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:21 am
Def an interesting article and true. People like my parents believe a lot of things that they read from other people. My mom lives by reviews from sites like Trip Advisor.
May 7th, 2009 at 9:25 am
i agree, reviews and reputation are a big deal when i am making a decision. its hard to know online who is legitimate and who isnt.
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I run a couple of resorts located in Myrtle Beach, SC i’m interested to see what kind of affect this has on my business. Concerned though on how much liberty patrons can take with comments on Trip Advisor
July 10th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
That is awesome, I like both companies and I am glad to see them innovating. Flipkey / Tripadvisor are both very smart companies
July 14th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Cool, it is so much cheaper to find a vacation rental than it is to stay in a hotel. We stayed in a time share that we rented from someone who did not have time to use it for half the price of a hotel.
October 4th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Vacation rentals are definitely the way to go. Not only can they be cheaper than a hotel, but they can also have more amenities and a more comfortable “feel” to them.
Here in Branson, Missouri we have a huge vacation and tourism market. And there’s a growing trend for the vacation / nightly rentals by owner concept.
I love it!