What is the certificate of excellence and is your property eligible?

 Everybody is familiar with the annual TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice awards which honor the top 25 properties in specific categories.  At the end of last year we expanded our awards family with the creation of the Certificate of Excellence to recognize thousands of accommodations out there working hard to give travelers the best possible experience and getting great reviews.

The first phase of the program launched at the end of last year for accommodation businesses, this year we are expanding it to include restaurants and attractions.

To qualify for the award the business needs to maintain an average traveler rating of at least four out of five. Other factors will also be taken into account such as the volume of reviews and how recent they are.

So how do you get your Certificate of Excellence?
If your business has qualified for the award you will see the Certificate of Excellence badge appear on the ‘Promote your business’ tab of your Owners’ Center. In order to access your Owners’ Center and the badge, you will need to register as the representative of your Property.

The badge can be embedded on your website and Facebook page to let visitors know what a good job you and your staff are doing.

You can also request a paper copy of the certificate to frame and display in your property. You will find the request link in your Owners’ Center, just fill in your property details and we will post one out to you.

Press Release Template

If you have been awarded a Certificate of Excellence and would like to issue a press release to share the good news with your local media, we have put together a template you may like to use.

CONTACT:

BUSINESS                                                                                                        TRIPADVISOR PR TEAM
NAME                                                                                                          mediarelations@tripadvisor.com
PHONE NUMBER
EMAIL

                     [NAME OF BUSINESS] EARNS TRIPADVISOR CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE

                    Honoured as a Highly Rated [Business Type] as Reviewed by Travellers on the
                    World’s Largest Travel Site

CITY – Date Month, Year – [BUSINESS NAME AND DESCRIPTION] today announced that it has received a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence, which honours top-rated accommodation businesses, restaurants and attractions, as reviewed by travellers on the world’s largest travel site*.

To qualify, these businesses must maintain an average rating of four or higher out of a possible five, as reviewed by travellers on TripAdvisor. Additional criteria include volume of reviews and how recently they have been submitted by TripAdvisor travellers. The accolade is extended to qualifying businesses worldwide.

SUGGESTED QUOTE: “[NAME OF BUSINESS] is pleased to receive a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence,” said [NAME OF OWNER/GM], [TITLE] at [NAME OF BUSINESS]. “We strive to offer our customers a memorable experience, and this accolade is evidence that our hard work is translating into positive traveller reviews on TripAdvisor.”

“The TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence program gives exceptional businesses in a variety of different industries around the world the recognition they deserve,” said Christine Petersen, president of TripAdvisor for Business. “From top-rated restaurants in Boston to top-rated attractions in Barcelona, we want to applaud these businesses for offering TripAdvisor travellers a great customer experience.”

About [BUSINESS NAME]


[BOILERPLATE – Brief description of property or business]

About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor® is the world’s largest travel site, enabling travellers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travellers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features (including Flights search, TripAdvisor Mobile and TripAdvisor Trip Friends) with seamless links to booking tools.

TripAdvisor® Media Group, operated by TripAdvisor LLC, attracts more than 50 million unique monthly visitors* across 18 popular travel brands**. TripAdvisor-branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 40 million unique monthly visitors***, 20 million members, and over 45 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 29 countries worldwide****, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also operates TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to TripAdvisor’s millions of monthly visitors. The division includes Business Listings, which allows hoteliers to connect directly to millions of researching travellers, and Vacation Rentals, which helps property managers and individual home owners list their properties and showcase hotel alternatives.

TripAdvisor Media Group websites have been recognized as top travel resources in 2010 by Condé Nast Traveller, Good Housekeeping, TIME magazine and Travel + Leisure.

TripAdvisor Media Group generated $486 million in revenue in 2010. TripAdvisor and the sites comprising the TripAdvisor Media Group are operating companies of Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE).
TripAdvisor and the TripAdvisor logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of TripAdvisor LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other logos or product and company names mentioned herein may be the property of their respective owners.
©2011 TripAdvisor LLC. All rights reserved.
*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Media Group Sites, Worldwide, August 2010
** In addition to TripAdvisor, The TripAdvisor Media Group of websites includes: www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.onetime.com, www.seatguru.com, www.sniqueaway.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.travel-library.com, www.travelpod.com, www.virtualtourist.com and www.kuxun.cn.
***Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, Worldwide, August 2010
**** TripAdvisor sites operate in 29 countries worldwide: www.tripadvisor.com, www.tripadvisor.co.uk, www.tripadvisor.ca, www.tripadvisor.it, www.tripadvisor.es, www.tripadvisor.de, www.tripadvisor.fr, www.tripadvisor.jp, www.daodao.com, www.tripadvisor.in, www.tripadvisor.se, www.tripadvisor.nl, www.tripadvisor.com.br, www.tripadvisor.com.tr, www.tripadvisor.dk, www.tripadvisor.com.mx, www.tripadvisor.ie, www.tripadvisor.com.au, www.tripadvisor.com.sg, www.tripadvisor.co.kr, no.tripadvisor.com, pl.tripadvisor.com, th.tripadvisor.com, www.tripadvisor.ru, www.tripadvisor.com.gr, www.tripadvisor.co.id, www.tripadvisor.com.ar, www.tripadvisor.tw and www.tripadvisor.com.my.

Adding a TripAdvisor badge or widget to your property’s Facebook page

In the past, many property owners have asked us if it’s possible to add a TripAdvisor widget or badge to their Facebook page, so that they can share their TripAdvisor achievements and traveler ratings with fans.  Unfortunately, we have always had to say no….until now!  We’re excited to say that Facebook has recently made some changes which now make it possible to display your TripAdvisor badges and widgets on your Facebook page.  We have broken down the process for adding a widget or badge in order to help owners get started. 

To begin, you need to create a new tab on your property’s page in which to embed the widget or badge. This is called a static iFrame. Here’s how to do it:

1) Go to your TripAdvisor Owners Center and pick the widget you would like to embed. Cut and paste the code into a word document and have it open on your computer. You can embed several widgets and badges if you like; see our guide for an overview of the different types.

2) Go to your property’s Facebook page. Make sure you are logged in as an administrator so you can see the ‘edit page’ link in the top right hand corner of the wall.

3) Type ‘static HTML iFrame’ into the search box at the top of the screen.

4) Select the app with the star logo from the dropdown, as above. (Make sure that you select the right app as others may create problems with your widget.)

5) This will bring you to the app page. Click on ‘add to my page’ in the left hand menu.

6) You’ll see a pop up window asking to which page you want to add the app (you may have multiple pages if you have different Facebook pages for different properties; select the correct page and close the window.)

A new tab will now have been added to your property’s Facebook page. Go back to your page and you should see it in the left hand menu, under the profile picture. Click on it and it will open to show two fields for code – non fans and fans. Cut and paste the TripAdvisor widget code into the top field and save. This will allow everyone, both fans and non fans, to see the widget.

If you want to rename the tab, click on ‘Edit page’ in the top right hand corner of your property page, then click on apps in the left hand menu. This will bring you to the list of apps added to your page. Select the one with the star and click on ‘edit settings’. This will let you rename the tab.  You may want to call it Read Reviews, What’s Nearby, TripAdvisor Ranking, or whatever best suits your purpose.

If you want to make the new tab your default landing page you can do this through the ‘Manage Permissions’ link on the ‘Edit Page’ dashboard.

You can see an example of a TripAdvisor widget embedded on Facebook here.  Give it a try, and leave a comment here to let us know how it goes!

Getting your TripAdvisor rating and latest reviews on your website

Business owners are proud of their great traveler ratings and reviews on TripAdvisor, and rightly so – they’ve worked hard to get them!  We’ve created a variety of badges and widgets which you can display on your company website to let prospective customers see how well you’ve been reviewed by other travelers.

Widgets are pieces of code that you can embed in your webpages which will pull in content directly from TripAdvisor. This means you can show your latest reviews and every time a new one is posted on TripAdvisor, the widget on your site will update.

Some of these widgets can be customised, allowing you to choose which information you want to show. Others will display maps and information about nearby businesses (in different categories to your own), which provide useful content on your destination.

To find out more about our free badges and widgets and how to display them on your website, read our new “How To” Guide: Displaying your TripAdvisor rating and latest reviews on your site.