Tripadvisor business listings. Have you canceled or do you plan to cancel? Info needed please

Hi there.. long time listener, first time caller ...
BnB owners that have cancelled their Tripadvisor business listing in the last year or do not plan to renew. Add your name below and if you can, let me know what you paid last time and what they are trying to force on you this year (or just what the increase cost will be). I'm having an interesting email and phone conversation with their Mgr of Retentions (of business listings). I need more ammo to make the point that they are losing a stackload of businesses like ours. I will not name you or your business in the communications with her. Right now i'm after no's. I'm posting this in a few places. No need for you to post your reply twice, i'll see it.
Oh and i'm Mark, i own the Brewster Inn in Maine (find me on Gplus and Facebook and anywhere else i hang out. I'm from England and i'm sure theres a few here that know me already. I get about a bit and i'll brb....
https://plus.google.com/+MarkStephens/posts
https://plus.google.com/b/107215767210672960941/+TheBrewsterInnDexter/posts
https://www.facebook.com/brewsterinnfans
and if this post is in the wrong place, could someone put it where ever it goes .. ta very much

Mark - you can edit the location of this post yourself. Select from the 'forums' list and put this under 'b&b directories and agencies'.
Altho we do all laugh, vent and cry about ta, it makes more sense to put this under that section.
Edit. Then select from the list. Save.
Good luck with your ta adventure. The more they charge, the more small businesses they will lose. They're too big to care about that, tho.

I never signed up in the first place. If they charge me, they lose their credibility because I want something for my money - like control of reviews (no nasty ones). I would never give TA my money.
In my not very humble opinion, the Public should get told early and often that T A is charging establishments for "boost". Wonder what would happen then. Guess they are not satisfied with the money the ads bring in.

moved it. Thanks for letting me know..

We pay because we can get direct access to our website. Otherwise, readers only have the option to book through book ing dot com.

We have never signed up for a business listing with TA. We did investigate and were quoted a pretty high price, to which we said we just don't see the value there for our particular property. They said they have done studies that show that (on average) businesses gain additional revenue of $3.38 for each $1.00 invested in a TA business listing. That works out to be the equivalent of a 30% commission rate! (and this presumably does not include your PPC charges for TripConnect, if you go that route).
I think TA is focused on larger hotels in major markets. The approach (and pricing) developed for those properties just doesn't work for smaller businesses (e.g. B&B's, and "specialty lodging"), particularly those that are very strongly seasonal.

Harborfields said:

We have never signed up for a business listing with TA. We did investigate and were quoted a pretty high price, to which we said we just don't see the value there for our particular property. They said they have done studies that show that (on average) businesses gain additional revenue of $3.38 for each $1.00 invested in a TA business listing. That works out to be the equivalent of a 30% commission rate! (and this presumably does not include your PPC charges for TripConnect, if you go that route).
I think TA is focused on larger hotels in major markets. The approach (and pricing) developed for those properties just doesn't work for smaller businesses (e.g. B&B's, and "specialty lodging"), particularly those that are very strongly seasonal..

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Agreed. That's why when my renewal comes up in a month or so I'm not paying.

HMMMM.. this is a bit of challenge.......having put a lot in the T a basket, it's hard to decide how to handle the long term. Our market is one of those places where we have a concentration point geographically that is broader than many. So much is driven through them right now, that it is far less expensive than paying commissions to B com and exp
We are going to add Tcon soon on a trial basis to increase exposure outside of the ranking screen, which they have been obfuscating in the beta testing. Obviously, there may come a point where we do not get the return and guest recognition that it currently provides and we will reevaluate, but we paid a large increase this year for the listing. They are constantly coming up with ways to make you put some skin in the game.
A few things have changed that have improved the overall. We have a person to talk to. There are more marketing tools. I will be working with them soon and if I have more info that is timely, I'll share it.

We did not take out a listing. Their price was to high for our B&B. Also I find the people that go to t place are people that are looking for the cheapest price vise a great experience at a good price. Those people very seldom become a regular customer. Social media gives people the right to say what every they want with no attribution. Same goes for b .com or any other OTA. They take our customers they are not ours it is their customer's. You just become a provider of beds, any one who uses an OTA is more likely to use an OTA every time they decide to a book a room. There is no loyalty to the last B&B they used. I feel this more as we are small and not an Inn. My profit drops It seem like we are working for them and not for ourselves. It is time to make a stand on them . That we stay on top .!!!!

Cancelled TA and boo kings dot com and yelp dot com and business is fantastic, didn't hurt reservations a bit when we canceled and bottom line is much better each month.

Flower said:

We did not take out a listing. Their price was to high for our B&B. Also I find the people that go to t place are people that are looking for the cheapest price vise a great experience at a good price. Those people very seldom become a regular customer. Social media gives people the right to say what every they want with no attribution. Same goes for b .com or any other OTA. They take our customers they are not ours it is their customer's. You just become a provider of beds, any one who uses an OTA is more likely to use an OTA every time they decide to a book a room. There is no loyalty to the last B&B they used. I feel this more as we are small and not an Inn. My profit drops It seem like we are working for them and not for ourselves. It is time to make a stand on them . That we stay on top .!!!!.

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Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.

TheBeachHouse said:

Flower said:

We did not take out a listing. Their price was to high for our B&B. Also I find the people that go to t place are people that are looking for the cheapest price vise a great experience at a good price. Those people very seldom become a regular customer. Social media gives people the right to say what every they want with no attribution. Same goes for b .com or any other OTA. They take our customers they are not ours it is their customer's. You just become a provider of beds, any one who uses an OTA is more likely to use an OTA every time they decide to a book a room. There is no loyalty to the last B&B they used. I feel this more as we are small and not an Inn. My profit drops It seem like we are working for them and not for ourselves. It is time to make a stand on them . That we stay on top .!!!!.

Click to expand...

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.
.

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.

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I hear that too, but I pay TA nothing. They find me, they read the reviews on TA and then book or not. IF they book I pay nothing. If they do not book, we were not a fit in the first place. And I will be darned if I am going to pay them more because I am getting more traffic (what I hear from others) - that is what is supposed to happen when one pays for something. And I am doubly not paying them more if I have generated many of those extra hits by my own hard work getting publicity. BUT I do not have as many rooms as you do so the situations are different. Each of us does what is best for our own situation.

gillumhouse said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Flower said:

We did not take out a listing. Their price was to high for our B&B. Also I find the people that go to t place are people that are looking for the cheapest price vise a great experience at a good price. Those people very seldom become a regular customer. Social media gives people the right to say what every they want with no attribution. Same goes for b .com or any other OTA. They take our customers they are not ours it is their customer's. You just become a provider of beds, any one who uses an OTA is more likely to use an OTA every time they decide to a book a room. There is no loyalty to the last B&B they used. I feel this more as we are small and not an Inn. My profit drops It seem like we are working for them and not for ourselves. It is time to make a stand on them . That we stay on top .!!!!.

Click to expand...

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.
.

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.

Click to expand...

I hear that too, but I pay TA nothing. They find me, they read the reviews on TA and then book or not. IF they book I pay nothing. If they do not book, we were not a fit in the first place. And I will be darned if I am going to pay them more because I am getting more traffic (what I hear from others) - that is what is supposed to happen when one pays for something. And I am doubly not paying them more if I have generated many of those extra hits by my own hard work getting publicity. BUT I do not have as many rooms as you do so the situations are different. Each of us does what is best for our own situation.
.

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absolutely! their fee was way less than our monthly commission to b king dot com. we figured the fee is worth it if people bo ok direct with us rather than the path given them by t a and b king.

TheBeachHouse said:

Flower said:

We did not take out a listing. Their price was to high for our B&B. Also I find the people that go to t place are people that are looking for the cheapest price vise a great experience at a good price. Those people very seldom become a regular customer. Social media gives people the right to say what every they want with no attribution. Same goes for b .com or any other OTA. They take our customers they are not ours it is their customer's. You just become a provider of beds, any one who uses an OTA is more likely to use an OTA every time they decide to a book a room. There is no loyalty to the last B&B they used. I feel this more as we are small and not an Inn. My profit drops It seem like we are working for them and not for ourselves. It is time to make a stand on them . That we stay on top .!!!!.

Click to expand...

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.
.

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.

Click to expand...

Other inns here saw a big jump when they listed. We regularly hear that 'TA shows you don't have any rooms' because they put their dates in and, right, we don't have any rooms on TA! It's a PITA. SOME guests call and ask, how many don't?
What they charge depends on your area. Some are over $100/month.

I had a business listing for the past year as a trial. I also did TC. I decided not to re-list. It did not increase my bookings. TA wanted a few hundred more this year and when I made it clear that I was not interested they offered me the same as what I paid last year.

I have a two parts to this. One
There is a fee for having a business listing, but does ts a also charge a booking commission? If so what is their percentage? As the b king is 15%.
The second is.
Yes I understand Beachie that costumers find you through ts but the question is,
Do they turn around and book with you often or at least 2 or more times?
As you know if you don't pay there is no hyper link to you.

Paid listing or free, there are still other "suggested " property listings right on the page! Our listing went from around $400 to over $800!
No way, José.

Flower said:

I have a two parts to this. One
There is a fee for having a business listing, but does ts a also charge a booking commission? If so what is their percentage? As the b king is 15%.
The second is.
Yes I understand Beachie that costumers find you through ts but the question is,
Do they turn around and book with you often or at least 2 or more times?
As you know if you don't pay there is no hyper link to you..

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T a doesn't work that way for us. Perhaps BH would say differently.
IT isn't about whether they book again with us. Our location doesn't lend itself to natural repeat guests. We have them, but the cycle can be very long. My question for trying TC will be, Did my direct bookings through TA increase and did those guests review us more often than none TA guests. We have built our business around word of mouth practices, and as much I disliked the game when it first got going, reviews on TA and where you rank are HUGE. It may end like BD, where we do not see an increase. We will be trying it out at some point soon.

Madeleine said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Flower said:

We did not take out a listing. Their price was to high for our B&B. Also I find the people that go to t place are people that are looking for the cheapest price vise a great experience at a good price. Those people very seldom become a regular customer. Social media gives people the right to say what every they want with no attribution. Same goes for b .com or any other OTA. They take our customers they are not ours it is their customer's. You just become a provider of beds, any one who uses an OTA is more likely to use an OTA every time they decide to a book a room. There is no loyalty to the last B&B they used. I feel this more as we are small and not an Inn. My profit drops It seem like we are working for them and not for ourselves. It is time to make a stand on them . That we stay on top .!!!!.

Click to expand...

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.
.

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.

Click to expand...

Other inns here saw a big jump when they listed. We regularly hear that 'TA shows you don't have any rooms' because they put their dates in and, right, we don't have any rooms on TA! It's a PITA. SOME guests call and ask, how many don't?
What they charge depends on your area. Some are over $100/month.
.

Click to expand...

Wish it was just $100 per month. We pay $165/month

April said:

Madeleine said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Flower said:

We did not take out a listing. Their price was to high for our B&B. Also I find the people that go to t place are people that are looking for the cheapest price vise a great experience at a good price. Those people very seldom become a regular customer. Social media gives people the right to say what every they want with no attribution. Same goes for b .com or any other OTA. They take our customers they are not ours it is their customer's. You just become a provider of beds, any one who uses an OTA is more likely to use an OTA every time they decide to a book a room. There is no loyalty to the last B&B they used. I feel this more as we are small and not an Inn. My profit drops It seem like we are working for them and not for ourselves. It is time to make a stand on them . That we stay on top .!!!!.

Click to expand...

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.
.

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

Most of the people who have stayed with us this Fall mentioned that they chose us based on t a reviews.
That's worth quite a bit to us.

Click to expand...

Other inns here saw a big jump when they listed. We regularly hear that 'TA shows you don't have any rooms' because they put their dates in and, right, we don't have any rooms on TA! It's a PITA. SOME guests call and ask, how many don't?
What they charge depends on your area. Some are over $100/month.
.

Click to expand...

Wish it was just $100 per month. We pay $165/month
.

Click to expand...

Oh my gosh!