Why Tours and Activities Companies Need to Start Leveraging TripAdvisor
If you are like me, when you are either planning a trip or are already at your destination and your looking for something to do you probably searched “Things to do in [enter your destination HERE]”
I would bet you a good portion of my paycheck, that TripAdvisor dominated the first page of search results.
TripAdvisor is the Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) of the Internet
As the Guardian described them, “TripAdvisor is to travel as Google is to search, as Amazon is to books, as Uber is to cabs…” TripAdvisor has been around longer than Facebook and have been a driving force in the Online Travel Agent (OTA) market.
When they first introduced reviews from the public, not just professional travel journalists, the industry thought they were going to die off immediately. They have clearly shown their critics wrong. If TripAdvisor isnt front and center for your tour company’s marketing & sales strategy, then you need to re-evaluate your plan.
Similar to Google or Facebook, TripAdvisor’s success comes from two key pillars, providing a service or content that people want (and because of that, massive adoption by the public) and a robust online advertising presence. In the above image, you see TripAdvisor’s Ad, show up second. If you scroll down, you’ll also notice the #2 organic (non-paid) search result is also TripAdvisor.
Since 2000, TripAdvisor has collected over 760 million reviews and receive an average of 470 million unique users per month. Travellers, trip planners and tour dreamers all pour over the website for honest reviews, travel tips and hidden gems that can take their trip to another level.
Tour Operators Need TripAdvisor
As a tour operator you need to make sure that when their eyeballs are looking at things to do in your market that your company is there and has a complete profile with reviews. It all comes down to the idea of no matter how great your guides are, how unique your tour is and how well executed your marketing plan is, if you aren’t there when your guests are looking for info, it doesn’t matter.
Because TripAdvisor understands how their relationship is tied to extensive online research tied to Google they have become experts at SEO. For any travel terms on Google you would be hard pressed to find a combination of words that don’t end up with some links to TripAdvisor on the first page of search results. From direct links to specific tour options to “listicals” there is nothing wrong with riding their SEO success with your business. Use their success in SEO to give yourself the bump.
With their ubiquitous stance in the industry and as the main leader in the OTA market, tour operators need to leverage their user base and their SEO work.
How to start Leveraging TripAdvisor
The best way to piggy back off all the work and money TripAdvisor has poured in to become an online tourism leader is to sell your products on their platform with an integration through your reservation system.
Make your guest experience start off exceptional by making it easy for them to book your tour (and read about how great it is from PEOPLE THAT AREN’T YOU).
Make sure your Reservation System can connect automatically (ie: in real-time) to TripAdvisor to manage your products, inventory and automate the bookings so they flow into your centralized booking system. If you have a direct connection and channel manager like we have on Zaui, you will never overbook or manually have to transfer over the details from a booking from TripAdvisor!
The guest experience starts from the time a guest starts researching so be there with a good profile and an easy way to accept their booking. It is the easiest way to start making sure you are maximizing their experience. Your potential guests are already researching on TripAdvisor, so you need to be there too!
How to Expand your TripAdvisor Strategy (Next Steps)
We are just getting warmed up here with strategies and tools to use for TripAdvisor. In the in-depth on-demand webinar, guest speaker Chris Torres, the godfather of tourism marketing, provides tools and strategies to help you dominate your TripAdvisor listings and take your business to the next level. Watch the recording below.
[On Demand Webinar] Ranking on TripAdvisor – Chris Torres discusses strategies for ranking higher on Trip Advisor
About Chris Torres
Chris Torres is a Brand and Digital Tourism Expert with over 26 years’ industry knowledge. He speaks at many tourism events worldwide, offering advice and guidance on how travel, tourism and destination businesses can gain brand recognition and increase bookings.
Check out his new book Lookers into Bookers here with over 400 pages of practical digital marketing advice with downloadable worksheets and video guides.
About Zaui Software
Zaui is a technology leading reservation and management software for maximizing online bookings and reducing costs in the tour, activity and transportation industry. Automate bookings, connect to Online Travel Agents (Viator, Expedia, etc), live cross-selling of products, real-time inventory, POS and mobile applications, powerful analytics. Based in Canada’s outdoor adventure capital of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Related Posts
Zaui’s New Booking Policy Toolkit: Flexible Cancellations, Smarter Revenue Protection
Should you add a booking fee? Discover how this strategy can impact your revenue and customer satisfaction in our expert analysis.
Passing Booking Fees: A Smart Revenue Strategy or Customer Turn-Off?
Should you add a booking fee? Discover how this strategy can impact your revenue and customer satisfaction in our expert analysis.
How to Start a Tour Business in 2025: Practical Guide
Starting a tourism business is an exciting journey into a landscape full of potential. Travellers are always looking for new adventures, and there is no shortage of niches to explore in the tourism industry. The question is: how do you carve out your place in this vibrant sector?
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Zaui’s pricing is fully pay-as-you-go. You aren’t locked into any long-term contract. In fact, leading platforms emphasize this flexibility. Similarly, Zaui lets you start and stop anytime. You can change or cancel your plan freely, so you only pay for what you use.
Absolutely not. Zaui’s pricing is 100% transparent. We disclose all fees up front with no surprise add-ons or “sneak-in” charges. In fact, Zaui’s plans include all core features “without additional fees”. Industry experts note that hidden fees undermine trust so we avoid them entirely. All costs are clearly outlined in our pricing, and there are no extra setup charges or undisclosed surcharges at checkout.
Zaui integrates with major payment gateways (e.g. Stripe) so you only pay standard credit-card processing rates (roughly 1.9%+$0.30/transaction) and we don’t mark them up. Only the published platform commission is added on bookings. You also have full control over who pays the commission, we let you decide whether to absorb booking fees or pass them on to customers. In short, you’ll only pay the transparent booking commission and normal gateway fees, nothing extra.
Your onboarding and support are included in the price. We provide white-glove setup help and ongoing 24/7 support at no additional cost. Our dedicated customer-success team will guide you through every step, ensuring a smooth launch. You won’t pay extra for training or service other than the onboarding fee; it's all built into your plan.
You can schedule a free demo with our team. Our Zaui ninjas will walk you through pe how Zaui can work for your business and highlight opportunities to grow with our advanced features all without any upfront payment. This way, you can feel confident it’s the right fit before making a commitment.
Of course. Zaui’s plans are fully flexible. You can upgrade or downgrade at any time to match your needs, without penalties. You can move to a higher tier or back down easily, and your billing adjusts automatically.
No. Zaui does not charge its commission on offline/manual bookings. “No fees on offline bookings” You only pay the commission when a booking is processed online through our system. Manual reservations (or bookings from partner channels we set up for you) incur no extra platform fee. (30% or less)
All of Zaui’s core features are included in your plan at no extra charge. We believe in value and transparency: Zaui provides over 15 advanced features (Google Things to do, reporting tools, marketing tools, reports, etc.) at no additional cost. Many competitors charge extra or require higher plans for the same features, but with Zaui you get the full suite of tools in one package. Any optional add-ons (if any) will always be clearly listed and optional there are no surprise paid upgrades for standard features.
Each Zaui plan is designed for clarity and fairness, following industry best practices. You can trust that our pricing is transparent and flexible, with the support you need built in.
Extra accounts- unlimited agents, resellers, user
