Aggressive TA moves

[Breakfast Diva]

Last week I got a call from TA too. Of course pushing a business listing. For me it would cost $699yr.
They said my little town hotel pg got 14,000 individual view. (if you view it mult times, it only counts once)
If he mentioned an estimated revenue I tuned it out. B&B.com does that and I don't come close to reaching it either.
BUT he did get me to thinking about things as I do us OTA's and he pointed out several ways to get people to book direct instead of using them.

• If you have a business listing use the SPECIAL OFFER feature to give a small discount if they go to your site to book direct... - saving yourself some commission
• He mentioned a banner ad for your listing - don't know the cost, have not researched this option
• TRIPCONNECT - **** no longer connected to a business listing ******
  • If you use a booking system that is compatible with their site (ResKey IS) you can offer booking directly to your site.
  • This is a PPC option so it is not free but you set the amount of money you are willing to spend which in my case I am sure I would spend far less than the $58+mthly bus. listing fee

.

You don't have to have a business listing to use trip connect?
.

You do have to have a business listing to use Trip Connect.
CH, since you do use OTAs I really think you should consider the business listing so you can use TC. It could take some booking away from the OTAs.
I tried it for a year and it wasn't effective for us because of our location. We just didn't get the traffic. I think you would fare better.
.

You do have to have a business listing to use Trip Connect.

This has apparently just changed from a business listing benefit to a cost-per-click situation.
Got this from the TA website "my business" page:
Check out our newest product:
TripConnect™ Cost-Per-Click Campaigns Share your direct rates and availability with travelers who are ready to book – and send them straight to your online booking engine!
.

You do have to have a business listing to use Trip Connect.

This has apparently just changed from a business listing benefit to a cost-per-click situation.
Got this from the TA website "my business" page:
Check out our newest product:
TripConnect™ Cost-Per-Click Campaigns Share your direct rates and availability with travelers who are ready to book – and send thm straight to your online booking engine!

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I don't have a TA business listing. Right now TA offers a reservation for my place directly from my TA page, through both Booking and PriceLine. I don't have any affiliation with PriceLine but it's all coming from my affiliation with Booking.
If I could sign up for TripConnect without a business listing, and send people directly to my website for less than the commission I'd pay Booking, that would be great. But I'll bet they've done the math and it will cost the same either way.
I'll look into it though.
EDIT TO ADD: I'm setting it up but have NO idea what amount to put for my daily click budget. And it says you must set it at a minimum of $10/day. But I have no idea if it would really use the whole daily budget. As usual, TA is thinking it's dealing with a 100 room hotel here!
EDIT TWO: Signup completed.
Your bids will appear live on TripAdvisor within the next 24 hours. While you wait, visit your TripConnect cost-per-click Campaign Management page to discover how you can track the performance of your campaig
$10 daily maximum at 47 cents per click. I don't anticipate many clicks in my little town. It says you can cancel at any time, so if it gets expensive I'll cancel. But it does look like it will be using my ResKey page to take the reservation, which means it will take into account all my restrictions (extra charge for over 2 people, extra charge for a single night, etc.). Booking.com could handle the number of people calculation but I was having to lose the upcharge on single night bookings. So this has the potential to be good for me!
Thanks, Copperhead!!.

great to know! I'll have to go in and start it again

 

[Momma Smurf]

Last week I got a call from TA too. Of course pushing a business listing. For me it would cost $699yr.
They said my little town hotel pg got 14,000 individual view. (if you view it mult times, it only counts once)
If he mentioned an estimated revenue I tuned it out. B&B.com does that and I don't come close to reaching it either.
BUT he did get me to thinking about things as I do us OTA's and he pointed out several ways to get people to book direct instead of using them.

• If you have a business listing use the SPECIAL OFFER feature to give a small discount if they go to your site to book direct... - saving yourself some commission
• He mentioned a banner ad for your listing - don't know the cost, have not researched this option
• TRIPCONNECT - **** no longer connected to a business listing ******
  • If you use a booking system that is compatible with their site (ResKey IS) you can offer booking directly to your site.
  • This is a PPC option so it is not free but you set the amount of money you are willing to spend which in my case I am sure I would spend far less than the $58+mthly bus. listing fee

.

You don't have to have a business listing to use trip connect?
.

You do have to have a business listing to use Trip Connect.
CH, since you do use OTAs I really think you should consider the business listing so you can use TC. It could take some booking away from the OTAs.
I tried it for a year and it wasn't effective for us because of our location. We just didn't get the traffic. I think you would fare better.
.

You do have to have a business listing to use Trip Connect.

This has apparently just changed from a business listing benefit to a cost-per-click situation.
Got this from the TA website "my business" page:
Check out our newest product:
TripConnect™ Cost-Per-Click Campaigns Share your direct rates and availability with travelers who are ready to book – and send them straight to your online booking engine!
.

You do have to have a business listing to use Trip Connect.

This has apparently just changed from a business listing benefit to a cost-per-click situation.
Got this from the TA website "my business" page:
Check out our newest product:
TripConnect™ Cost-Per-Click Campaigns Share your direct rates and availability with travelers who are ready to book – and send thm straight to your online booking engine!

.

Has always been cost per click.

 

[Arks]

Late getting back to you, but yes it is something TA just recently changed. No Business listing needed!
Glad you figured it out Arks.

Mama Smurf, trying to grasp the benefit of having a separate page for TA. Please explain to this simple mind.

Mama, the rep did not tell me that TC had the 1 up over the OTA's, he said I would have to compete with my bid. I did not speak with him long on this subject as I had a check in.
Arks, did the prices shown reflect the same rates as on your website? (In the sign up process when confirming your rates.) Mine were a little off when I keyed in more than 1 night. So I didn't finish the process and was going to wait to speak with my rep again after the holidays..

Arks, did the prices shown reflect the same rates as on your website?

Yes they had it exactly correct. I'm sure it's drawn from the same place they already had booking.com getting it. So if your's was not right, it's probably not right on booking either.

 

[Copperhead]

Late getting back to you, but yes it is something TA just recently changed. No Business listing needed!
Glad you figured it out Arks.

Mama Smurf, trying to grasp the benefit of having a separate page for TA. Please explain to this simple mind.

Mama, the rep did not tell me that TC had the 1 up over the OTA's, he said I would have to compete with my bid. I did not speak with him long on this subject as I had a check in.
Arks, did the prices shown reflect the same rates as on your website? (In the sign up process when confirming your rates.) Mine were a little off when I keyed in more than 1 night. So I didn't finish the process and was going to wait to speak with my rep again after the holidays..

Arks, did the prices shown reflect the same rates as on your website?

Yes they had it exactly correct. I'm sure it's drawn from the same place they already had booking.com getting it. So if your's was not right, it's probably not right on booking either.
.

Arks, did the prices shown reflect the same rates as on your website?

Yes they had it exactly correct. I'm sure it's drawn from the same place they already had booking.com getting it. So if your's was not right, it's probably not right on booking either.

I complete booking.com info directly in the system, so it is correct there.
I will try TA again before contacting the rep. It was off under $5. Strange.

So did you have to 'bid'?

 

[Arks]

Yes. I took the minimum $10/day budget and the default pay per click amount. I think it was 45 cents. But I should bid less. The bid amount seems to be used to get you on the first page, but our town only has 4 places to stay so there's only one page anyway!

 

[JimBoone]

We have a business listing, got their email yesterday telling me how much additional we should have made as a result of the listing, did we, well hard to say, but I do feel that it is good for me. If we had mostly bad reviews I don't think it would help, however as we have reasonably good reviews it does make it easier for a potential guest to jump to our website and hopefully give us a call. I can tell from our website that a great many are referred from their site, so for me, I think it is helpful. We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies.

 

[Morticia]

We have a business listing, got their email yesterday telling me how much additional we should have made as a result of the listing, did we, well hard to say, but I do feel that it is good for me. If we had mostly bad reviews I don't think it would help, however as we have reasonably good reviews it does make it easier for a potential guest to jump to our website and hopefully give us a call. I can tell from our website that a great many are referred from their site, so for me, I think it is helpful. We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies..

We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies.

It's really something to consider in the new year. You might see a big jump in reservations if every guest doesn't have to call or email.

 

[Morticia]

We have a business listing, got their email yesterday telling me how much additional we should have made as a result of the listing, did we, well hard to say, but I do feel that it is good for me. If we had mostly bad reviews I don't think it would help, however as we have reasonably good reviews it does make it easier for a potential guest to jump to our website and hopefully give us a call. I can tell from our website that a great many are referred from their site, so for me, I think it is helpful. We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies..

We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies.

It's really something to consider in the new year. You might see a big jump in reservations if every guest doesn't have to call or email.

 

[Arks]

JimBoone wrote:

We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies.
In the modern world, places without online/real time booking are losing business daily. People on trips, or planning trips, want to be able to find a place and know on the spot that it's booked and confirmed. If your place doesn't offer that, many will immediately look elsewhere.
We would be happy to help you get set up with online booking, with advice on what booking engines we use and are happy with. You could get started with it for a little as $25/month. Many of us use this one.

 

[Morticia]

We have a business listing, got their email yesterday telling me how much additional we should have made as a result of the listing, did we, well hard to say, but I do feel that it is good for me. If we had mostly bad reviews I don't think it would help, however as we have reasonably good reviews it does make it easier for a potential guest to jump to our website and hopefully give us a call. I can tell from our website that a great many are referred from their site, so for me, I think it is helpful. We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies..

You hit one of our pet peeves - no online booking.
Don't take it personally, but do take it seriously.

 

[EmptyNest]

We have a business listing, got their email yesterday telling me how much additional we should have made as a result of the listing, did we, well hard to say, but I do feel that it is good for me. If we had mostly bad reviews I don't think it would help, however as we have reasonably good reviews it does make it easier for a potential guest to jump to our website and hopefully give us a call. I can tell from our website that a great many are referred from their site, so for me, I think it is helpful. We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies..

Sorry..I have to chime in. No online booking in this day is not good. You SERIOUSLY need to do this.

 

[happykeeper]

We have a business listing, got their email yesterday telling me how much additional we should have made as a result of the listing, did we, well hard to say, but I do feel that it is good for me. If we had mostly bad reviews I don't think it would help, however as we have reasonably good reviews it does make it easier for a potential guest to jump to our website and hopefully give us a call. I can tell from our website that a great many are referred from their site, so for me, I think it is helpful. We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies..

Just to be clear, since you will be swimming upsteam in the Innspiring River of Business, there are options that can make all this work without slicing off 15% of your revenue. As mentioned above, online real time rezies on your website are critical. That option can be customized to address most concerns you may have about it.
To get around the latest aggressive effort to obfuscate your ranking on TA, you can sign up for Trip Connect, to improve where you will appear on the JSUT FOR YOU screen that is now the central part of Trip Advisor's attempt to pull revenue from the properties guests review. We are in the experimenting phase of that right now. Of course, you need a compatible online rez system for this.

 

[2cat_lady]

We have a business listing, got their email yesterday telling me how much additional we should have made as a result of the listing, did we, well hard to say, but I do feel that it is good for me. If we had mostly bad reviews I don't think it would help, however as we have reasonably good reviews it does make it easier for a potential guest to jump to our website and hopefully give us a call. I can tell from our website that a great many are referred from their site, so for me, I think it is helpful. We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies..

We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies.

It's really something to consider in the new year. You might see a big jump in reservations if every guest doesn't have to call or email.
.

Please listen to these people JimBoone. As a result of their advice, I went to online booking and in the first week, got enough bookings to take care of the cost of this service for a year, and we're not even into next year's season yet! I'm also with Booking.com, but they take 15% commission so anytime I can get some to reserve directly with me, I can pocket that money. Plus, listening to Arks and a few others, I've just hooked onto TripConnect instead of putting out the money for a business listing. At least this way, I can keep a closer eye on how my money is put to use. You'll still get people calling you the old fashioned way, but you'd be surprised how many people in this day and age would rather not talk to you until they're actually checking in. Reservation Key is great and very helpful. So glad I joined this forum. The info has been invaluable. Now, gotta get started on that blog!!

 

[Morticia]

We have a business listing, got their email yesterday telling me how much additional we should have made as a result of the listing, did we, well hard to say, but I do feel that it is good for me. If we had mostly bad reviews I don't think it would help, however as we have reasonably good reviews it does make it easier for a potential guest to jump to our website and hopefully give us a call. I can tell from our website that a great many are referred from their site, so for me, I think it is helpful. We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies..

We don't do online booking so we are not listed with any of the booking companies.

It's really something to consider in the new year. You might see a big jump in reservations if every guest doesn't have to call or email.
.

Please listen to these people JimBoone. As a result of their advice, I went to online booking and in the first week, got enough bookings to take care of the cost of this service for a year, and we're not even into next year's season yet! I'm also with Booking.com, but they take 15% commission so anytime I can get some to reserve directly with me, I can pocket that money. Plus, listening to Arks and a few others, I've just hooked onto TripConnect instead of putting out the money for a business listing. At least this way, I can keep a closer eye on how my money is put to use. You'll still get people calling you the old fashioned way, but you'd be surprised how many people in this day and age would rather not talk to you until they're actually checking in. Reservation Key is great and very helpful. So glad I joined this forum. The info has been invaluable. Now, gotta get started on that blog!!
.

Helping each other save money, save time, do better work and enjoy life more is what we all strive to do here.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

JimBoone, have you ever watched "Hotel Impossible"? If not, start now. You can stream older episodes on netflix.
Online booking can change your life and your business. You are losing more reservations than you can imagine. The reason I mentioned the tv show is that the host Anthony goes to lodging properties that are struggling. Nearly all of those properties don't have online reservations. He changes that immediately. Really, it's a no brainer.
Just do it. You have a lot of support here. We want you to succeed even more than you are now.

 

[JimBoone]

JimBoone, have you ever watched "Hotel Impossible"? If not, start now. You can stream older episodes on netflix.
Online booking can change your life and your business. You are losing more reservations than you can imagine. The reason I mentioned the tv show is that the host Anthony goes to lodging properties that are struggling. Nearly all of those properties don't have online reservations. He changes that immediately. Really, it's a no brainer.
Just do it. You have a lot of support here. We want you to succeed even more than you are now..

Hi Breakfast Diva, nope never watched "Hotel Impossible", it sounds interesting, of course the person who holds the remote often has different interests than I, but at least she keeps me around.
I've actually been sitting here this afternoon thinking of comments and questions after reading Arks comments about booking online, never had the gift of being able to say anything in a few words, perhaps I should start a new thread on online bookings.
And I do appreciate the comments and the friends I feel I have made here during my short time on the forum.

 

[Arks]

JimBoone, have you ever watched "Hotel Impossible"? If not, start now. You can stream older episodes on netflix.
Online booking can change your life and your business. You are losing more reservations than you can imagine. The reason I mentioned the tv show is that the host Anthony goes to lodging properties that are struggling. Nearly all of those properties don't have online reservations. He changes that immediately. Really, it's a no brainer.
Just do it. You have a lot of support here. We want you to succeed even more than you are now..

Hi Breakfast Diva, nope never watched "Hotel Impossible", it sounds interesting, of course the person who holds the remote often has different interests than I, but at least she keeps me around.
I've actually been sitting here this afternoon thinking of comments and questions after reading Arks comments about booking online, never had the gift of being able to say anything in a few words, perhaps I should start a new thread on online bookings.
And I do appreciate the comments and the friends I feel I have made here during my short time on the forum.
.

...perhaps I should start a new thread on online bookings...

Yes you can start a new thread just for that, but also use the forum search function in the upper right corner of most screens to search for old threads on the topic. One good search topic would be threads that mention "reskey".
reskey is how we usually type it since the full name is longer and we are busy ;-)