Raise Your Glasses to India’s 2013 Travelers’ Choice Award Winners

Earlier this month, TripAdvisor for Business traveled to New Delhi to present at SATTE 2013, the 20^th edition of one of South Asia’s leading B2B travel and tourism trade exhibitions.  While in India, we also had the pleasure of congratulating 70 of the country’s 104 Travelers’ Choice Hotel Award winners at a TripAdvisor awards evening held at The Leela Palace.  A good time was had by all, from the award winners who traveled from nearby to join us, including the General Manager of The Leela, Tamir Kobrin, to those who made the journey from over 1,000 miles away in Kerala.  A toast to this year’s award winners!

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Travelers’ Choice Hotel Award Winner: Casa Portagioia, Tuscany

2013 marks Casa Portagioia’s fourth consecutive year of being selected as a Travelers’ Choice Hotel. This year, the property’s been selected as the Top B&B in the World, in Europe and in Italy. Over 99% of its guests’ ratings are “Excellent” with travelers sharing things like “An atmosphere in which guests feel part of a special family.” Based on what guests are saying, Casa Portagioia’s commitment to world-class service is a strong factor in pleasing travelers and earning top ratings.

Casa Portagioia follows several TripAdvisor best practices to market their exceptional property and rave reviews, including:

• Adding videos to the listing: TripAdvisor surveys show that properties with at least one video on their listing have over 30% more engagement than properties that don’t. Casa Portagioia has uploaded multiple videos, allowing guests to see more of the B&B and local area. Ready to try out your skills as a director? Check out this helpful guide to get started.
• Promoting awards with TripAdvisor widgets: Casa Portagioia uses TripAdvisor widgets to promote its numerous Travelers’ Choice Hotel awards. Widgets can help you show off your TripAdvisor accolades, display and collect reviews and much more. Find out how widgets can work for you at www.tripadvisor.com/widgets.
• Using the slideshow feature:  As a Business Listings subscriber, Casa Portagioia’s owner photos are automatically transferred into a stunning Photo Slideshow that captures travelers’ attention and helps make a strong first impression. If you’re a Business Listings subscriber, you can check out this guide for more information on how to use the Photo Slideshow feature.

 Congratulations to Casa Portagioia for its fourth annual selection as a Travelers’ Choice Hotel! To check out the rest of the winners, visit www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice.

Travelers’ Choice Hotel widgets on Casa Portagioia’s home page

New slideshow feature brings photos to life

On TripAdvisor, rave reviews, thoughtful management responses, and a lovely business description will get you far. But a stunning photo is worth a thousand words.

Site research has shown that travelers are 150% more engaged with listings that have 20+ photos than with those that have only a few. This means that the more visual proof of your inviting amenities you give to travelers, the more interested in your business they become. And quality matters!

Creating a TripWow slideshow for your listing

TripAdvisor data shows that travelers love photos and the more a listing has, the more engaged they are with that property. A great way of adding more photos to your listing and differentiating them from candid traveler shots is to create a slideshow and upload it to your TripAdvisor listing as a video.

TripWow is a free tool that allows you to create professional looking slideshows with captions, maps, etc and set them to music. Though originally developed as a way for travelers to display and share their vacation photos, TripWow is also a great alternative to an expensive video for property owners. You can showcase your property using handpicked photos to give potential customers a taste of what to expect when they book with you.

There are a selection of different themes to choose from which allow you to reflect the type of property you manage. If you are a beach resort property there is a seaside theme suitable for you; there are also themes that compliment countryside locations, cruises, boutique properties and even backpacker hostels. There are also several themes where you can customize the color to match your branding.

Take some time to explore the different themes and decide which one is right for your property. Then choose high quality photos that you think best represent your business and save them into a folder on your computer. Don’t use scans or low resolution photos – they won’t display well in your slideshow.

Once you have uploaded your photos you can add your property name, choose the order of photos, add captions and select music, and then preview your slideshow until you are happy. You can choose to post the slideshow on Facebook, share it with your friends or embed it on your site or blog. Once 10 people have viewed your slideshow you will also be able to download the file to your computer.

To add the video to your TripAdvisor listing go to the ‘Manage your Listing’ tab on the Owners’ Center and click on ‘Post a Video’. Fill in all the details, being sure to add some tags so your video can easily be found, upload the file and it’s ready to be viewed!