
TripAdvisor Launches Redesign to Hook the Non-Bookers - joeyespo
https://skift.com/2018/11/12/tripadvisor-launches-redesign-to-hook-the-non-bookers/
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kbos87
Trip Advisor used to be an awesome resource with deep knowledge about things
to do and attractions in almost every city. Over the past couple of years they
made a hard pivot into driving bookings and its now a lot harder to find all
of the solid user generated content that used to be front and center. To me,
it’s long been indistinguishable from any other booking site, and there’s
little reason to visit. The hard left turn toward monetizing their audience
feels so short sighted, and this seems like just another optimization tactic
heaped on top.

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CaptainZapp
And given that they promoted a _non-existing_ London restaurant to the #1 of
London restaurants[1] I'm anyway not quite sure what to think of their
rankings.

Reviews used to be much better 10 years ago, but a cotton-industry burping out
phony reviews seems to pretty much soil the quality of the reviews.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shed_at_Dulwich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shed_at_Dulwich)

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gomox
Based on the astounding level of UX dark patterns on TripAdvisor's existing
design I can't say I have high hopes for whatever "revamped design" they come
up with.

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superasn
Yes what's with all these travel sites and shady marketing techniques. The
worst of the worst is booking.com.

Oh my god, booking a hotel on booking.com gives me anxiety. The constant
notifications like "10 people are going to book it", "sorry we sold our last
room", "you missed it by 1 min", "last room booked 2 mins ago" feel like they
want to just scare you to death with scarcity. Wtf, this site definitely
crosses the line between marketing and just plain shady.

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disiplus
edreams is just as shitty and even more deceiving, i just use it now to find
all avaliable flights and then go to the airline page and book there.

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namdnay
Careful, depending on the airline and their distribution model, it can often
be more expensive to book direct (airline.com) than indirect (through an
online travel agency such as edreams). I know this is often the case with
Emirates

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fyfy18
It's definitely worth comparing, if you just want the cheapest bare flight
I've found booking through the cheapest agency on comparison sites can be
cheaper. However you will usually end up with Ryanair level of service where
you can't change anything and are the lowest priority if you the flight is
full.

A couple of years ago a friend booked an intercontinental flight, they saved
€20 by booking through an agency, but later wanted to cancel the flight due to
illness. If they'd booked even the cheapest option direct, they could have
paid to do so, but as it was through an agency they couldn't.

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ankit219
I spoke to a former VP of tripadvisor when they had acquired Viator. The
business model they had was to get commissions on bookings(and ads), and
apparently did not get that the volume needed. He compared the experience of
browsing trip advisor for booking experiences as 'When you step out of the
airport and a 1000 taxi drivers screaming at you all at once to choose their
taxi for commute." (he then went on to join Musement I think)

Even now, for hotels they have made it like booking.com. The problem is that I
am on tripadvisor for reviews, and would never trust a review from a site when
the site is trying to sell me something. Like why would a site show me a
negative review if that would mean i would not book the property.

All things said, I think the social feed model could work for them. They are
about users browsing the experiences of other users (through reviews, ratings
and forums) and this facilitates that. Though other social networks already
have a lead in that space. Given their already high distribution, they could
have a decent userbase in no time. Eager to see how this one goes.

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ArrayList
> and would never trust a review from a site when the site is trying to sell
> me something.

I guess you don't use Amazon.com?

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ankit219
Two different answers here. If I am looking to buy something that I have
already researched elsewhere, I would look at the reviews, but wont lay much
weight to it. I have an idea of what the product is and what it is supposed to
do before buying. Plus there is trust in Amazon that if the product is faulty,
I can get a replacement or refund.

If I am looking to buy something in general(may or may not be from Amazon),
and looking for review, I will research on my own, but not look at Amazon for
even referencing. It is in their interest to only show good or mildly bad
reviews for the product. Especially the ones visible right on top or first
scroll.

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martokus
They say they are not changing the "things to do" pages as they for people
close to booking. I actually think they are for people that have already
booked - I have a trip to Geneva coming in 1 week, let's plan my days...

Also I feel that in the travel industry people have their favourite website
where they ultimately go to purchase and TripAdvisor is just not one of those.
Anyone I know of thinks of it as helpful travel advice, not a booking engine.
People find hotels on Booking.com, look them up on TripAdvisor, book on
Booking.com.

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checker659
I look up hotels on booking.com and TripAdvisor and then head to the hotel’s
own website to make the booking.

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te_chris
Same here. Also, often if you call the hotel they'll offer you a better deal
as they don't have to pay the big booking agencies.

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rosege
I've found this hit and miss. Which I'm surprises by since they save 30% if I
book direct

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Eridrus
People who call might be less likely to shop around, since calling is a pain.

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robben1234
The most annoying thing about TripAdvisor is that they annexed top search
results positions for 'sights in city_name'. Their list is automatically
generated, has no attractive photos or any description of the places.

Usually I used it to look for a tour agencies to book specific activity (day
tour to a desert or afternoon diving), but the more I travel the more annoying
it's become to see simple word 'TripAdvisor".

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gagabity
Whats with these websites no longer showing the total price if you are staying
more than one night! First Agoda now TripAdvisor.

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invalidusernam3
I would guess user behaviour discovered through AB testing. Not showing the
total price probably leads to a higher conversion rate. It's irritating when
usability is less important than money

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yholio
I used to be a major user of the site and i think the reviews on TripAdvisor
are a lot more honest and genuine. The problem for me was that TripAdvisor's
app did not allow me to book a hotel last time I have tried it, merely
provided links to other sites and vast amounts of extraneous features. I ended
up uninstalling it.

When you are traveling on an impulse and want to quickly find a room (the
whole point of using such an app), the last thing you want is to fiddle with a
myriad sites and accounts.

Compare this to booking.com's app, razor sharp focused on getting my card
details and book a room. In a few minutes i get a strong guarantee that there
is a place to crash to wherever I'm going, and I can go back to enjoying my
vacation.

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petercooper
I think I might be in the minority but I use sites like Tripadvisor and
Expedia a lot, but they haven't made a penny from me other than through banner
ads. If I find a place I like, I Google it and book direct.. solely because
I'm paranoid some intermediary might lose my booking or not even be officially
representing the hotel or whatever.

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stupidbird
TripAdvisor's design team basically just comes up with new dark patterns all
day long. A former student of mine worked there and quit after 3 months
because their entire team was a bunch of unsalvageable assholes.

They're still using the "free beer and ping pong" method of recruiting to get
design grads to work 80 hour weeks.

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Mindwipe
Oh how I hate card view UIs. So much wasted space. It looks vapid.

