TripAdvisor leapfrogs OTAs as top source of hotel bookings

In a dramatic surge TripAdvisor now rates as the top source for hotel bookings, overtaking recommendations from friends and family and referrals from OTAs.

Read the whole article on Tnooz.

Lessons to take away from these findings:

1. Your TripAdvisor listing, both in terms of ranking and lack of negative posts, is now more important than ever before
2. Allocate the kind of resources (human and financial) that recognise how important your image on TripAdvisor is to your property
3. By all means dedicate some time and resource to Facebook and Twitter, but not at the expense of doing all you can to maintain and improve your TripAdvisor listing
4. Reply to guest reviews - it is a great way of enhancing your image in the eyes of TripAdvisor visitors (your potential guests)
5. Reward repeat guests - upgrades/name-checks and everything you can do to make them feel special
6. Seriously consider introducing some kind of 'friends and family' reward, so you make the most of your guests' goodwill