Sorry. But we’ve fixed it.

“I sure do miss those pop-ups,” said no one ever.

As you might have noticed, TripAdvisor has gotten rid of those annoying pop-up windows when travelers compare hotel prices.

Our new Hotel Price Comparison Search, or meta search as some call it, means that real-time pricing and availability from your booking partners show up in one convenient display on your property page.

Our 200 million unique monthly visitors have been pretty vocal with us for years about our prolific pop-ups. And getting rid of them makes it easier for travelers to use TripAdvisor – and visit your property page.

Basically, the streamlined pricing and availability search means a better user experience and easier bookings at your property. There are other benefits for hoteliers, too. Like more opportunities to feature Special Offers on high-traffic pages to grab attention.

To learn more, check out New Pricing and Availability Search on TripAdvisor: What It Means for Your Property and Your Business Listing.

So, yes. We’re sorry about the annoying pop-ups. And we’ll keep improving the site, like with the new Hotel Price Comparison Search, so TripAdvisor gets better and better for you and for travelers.

Top mobile marketing questions for hoteliers

Want to learn more about mobile marketing? Our experts at TripAdvisor for Business are here to help.

The new Mobile Marketing FAQs for Hoteliers is full of answers to 8 common questions about this relatively new marketing channel, including:

• Why is mobile marketing important?
• What’s the first thing I should do to increase mobile bookings?
• What should I know about mobile websites?
• What should I know about responsive web design?
• What features should my brand’s mobile app include?

Download the free pdf now for helpful tips on driving mobile bookings, expanding your mobile marketing channels and more.

Jaipur hotel on what brings guests through the door: “TripAdvisor, TripAdvisor, TripAdvisor”

When Pradip and Angelique Singh opened the Royal Heritage Haveli, they had no idea how important TripAdvisor would be.  Three years later, their hotel is ranked #2 in Jaipur and has won a prestigious Travelers’ Choice Hotel award. Most importantly, TripAdvisor brings the majority of their guests through the door – Angelique says they don’t market their property in any way, relying instead on the stellar TripAdvisor reviews and word of mouth to do it for them.  Hear from the Singhs how they have built their business through TripAdvisor:

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Are you following mobile website best practices? (part 2)

Last week we looked at mobile homepage best practices. This week we’re focusing on reservation forms. Why? For you, forms are vital for direct bookings. And for travelers, filling out forms takes a significant amount of effort.

Reduce “form fatigue” and you’ll likely see higher conversion rates for mobile bookings. Here are 3 things to focus on to make your reservation form as high-performing as it can be.

Mobile version of Thompson Hotels’ booking form

1. Easy form fields
Especially on mobile devices, travelers just want to enter information as quickly as possible. That’s why Thompson Hotels smartly opts for dropdowns instead of a textbox or another more manual form field when it comes to selecting check in and check out dates.

2. Big buttons & links
Clearly label your buttons. In this case, that means “Check Availability” or something similar (on a reservation page, clarity always beats creativity). And make your links big enough to read and click on easily even when walking and using a smartphone.

Desktop version of Thompson Hotels’ booking form

3. Slimmed down forms
Start by simplifying the overall form before you simplify individual form fields. After all, what’s even easier than a dropdown menu? No dropdown at all. Thompson Hotels removes the IATA field completely on mobile because it’s not vital. Selecting check in and check out dates is still necessary. But on mobile, Thompson simplifies input with dropdowns instead of a bulky calendar interface.

Exception: If you have a separate mobile site for tablets only, consider keeping the calendar interface since you have more screen room to work with.

And those are some keys to a leaner, more efficient reservation form on your mobile site. Whether you’re building a new mobile site or updating an existing one, adhere to best practices and chances are you’ll see an uptick in bookings as a result.

For more on mobile websites, check out Mobile Marketing: How to Get Your Share of $8 Billion in Mobile Bookings and 12 Tips for Boosting Bookings on Mobile. 

Celebrate World Environment Day by reducing your foodprint

World Environment Day 2013 is on June 5, and TripAdvisor is partnering with the United Nations Environment Programme to encourage hotels and B&Bs to “Think.Eat.Save.” and reduce their food footprint. Take action today. Why? It will preserve natural resources, demonstrate your commitment to green practices, attract eco-conscious travelers and help you save money.

Food production has a significant environmental and economical impact. Agriculture accounts for nearly 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Every year about 1.3 billion tons of food, one-third of everything we grow, is wasted. Plus, 90% of the food waste thrown away by hotels and restaurants is potentially recyclable, reusable or compostable*.

Many TripAdvisor GreenLeader hotels already have green practices in place to reduce their food footprint. For instance, The Fairmont San Francisco , a gold level TripAdvisor GreenLeader, locally sources much of their food.

Executive Chef Chad Blunston, The Fairmont San Francisco

Chad Blunston, Executive Chef, says, “The Fairmont San Francisco is situated in one of the world’s best regions for a chef to build incredible working relationships with ranchers, artisans, fishermen, farmers and purveyors to present ingredient-driven menus that not only respect our ecological obligations, but offer unique options for our discerning guests. We are able to choose from an abundance of options in this area, which readily supply the greatest culinary gifts an environmentally-conscious chef could ask for.”

Sourcing local produce is just one simple way to make “Think.Eat.Save” part of every business day. Here are just a few others:

Donate excess food to your community. Call a food rescue organization or food bank to see if it’s possible in your city or region.

Offer a variety of meal size options, so guests can order only what they actually want to eat.

Compost leftovers. “Composting is so easy to do, even on our small city lot,” says Ruth Sproull, owner of the Little Gnesta B&B in Vermont, a gold level TripAdvisor GreenLeader.

Ruth Sproull, Little Gnesta B&B, Vermont

“We compost yard waste and kitchen scraps like banana peels and coffee grounds. Once a year we turn it over, and within three, we have rich dark compost to spread over our garden. We tell our guests about our composting on our website and also on the information sheet in each guest room.”

Sort food waste that can’t be composted away from paper, plastic and other materials to be collected properly. Talk to your waste collection company in your county to help you set up a waste collection bin.

Be inspired and inspire others. Visit the United Nations World Environment Day website to register your food-saving activity today, and don’t forget to fill out the food section of your GreenLeaders survey.

*United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization, Zero Waste SA “Fresh Facts for Restaurant, Catering and Hospitality Staff” video/OzHarvest

Tracking Your Business Listings Activity

If you have a Business Listing, you’ve made it much easier for travelers to get in touch with you directly and book. But which points of contact perform best for your property?  Tracking your Business Listing activity is a critical part of making the most of your subscription. Knowing which channels generate the most contacts or what Special Offers resonate best with guests allows you to make small adjustments that make a big difference.

The first way to track your Business Listings activity, as well as your property’s overall TripAdvisor performance, is with the Property Dashboard in the Management Center. This dashboard is available exclusively to Business Listings subscribers and shows market trends, competitor metrics and more. You can use this information to develop and execute more effective strategies for your property. Check out this tip sheet for the 5 things you should monitor each week in the dashboard.

To further evaluate your Business Listings Activity, track each piece of contact information that’s included:

• Link Activity: Use Google Analytics to track all incoming traffic to your website, including referrals from TripAdvisor. You can also track conversions and measure the sales revenue that’s attributed to your Business Listings.
• Telephone Activity: Work with a third party company to track calls to the number included on your listing (for a fee). You can also track phone activity for free by systematically asking all callers where they found your number and recording the results.
• Email Activity: Set up a unique email address for use on TripAdvisor to track how many people are contacting you via that channel.
• Special Offer Activity: Try driving clicks to a unique page on your website. You can then use Google Analytics to track how many people visited that page. Alternatively, you can associate a unique voucher code with the offer on TripAdvisor and require it at the time of booking. Then, you can count how many times the code was used.

Need more help? Check out our guide for more details and instructions.

2013 Certificate of Excellence winners share the news

The 2013 Certificate of Excellence Award winners have been announced. And properties across the world, of all sizes, are celebrating the thrill of victory!

From intimate B&B’s…

To upscale resorts…

From high above the earth…

Back at sea level…

…and below the surface.

From casual eateries…

To luxurious restaurants…

Businesses everywhere are sharing their news.

Congratulations to the 2013 Certificate of Excellence Award Winners. Go ahead and celebrate – you’ve earned it!

Winners can download a Certificate of Excellence Award widget for their websites at www.tripadvisor.com/widgets