Contrary to popular opinion, not all content on TripAdvisor is user-generated, and business owners actually have considerable scope to craft their listing page to show off what’s best about their hotel, holiday park or restaurant. Despite this, many owners do not take full advantage of these opportunities, and consequently many profiles have elements that are blank, incomplete or out of date.
This week’s blog post talks you through the process of filing out your listing page and giving the best possible account of your business to potential customers who visit the page.
Claiming Your Listing
The first step to managing your TripAdvisor listing effectively is to actually claim ownership of the listing. If you haven’t yet done so, now is the time to do it. It is a very straightforward process – just follow the instructions below:
1. Go to the TripAdvisor Owners page (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Owners) and select the type of business you have.
2. Enter the name of your business and its location, and select your business from the results.
3. Click the ‘register my business’ button, then either enter an email address or connect with your Facebook account.
4. Once signed up, you will be taken to the Management Centre. From here, you can access the dashboard of features to help you manage your listing.
Property Description
One of the best opportunities to put across your own side of the story is in the official description on your listing. Here you have room to write five or six lines explaining why people should choose your business over your competitors.
There isn’t space to cram in each and every positive feature of your business, so select a few key points and weave them into a clear and coherent message. TripAdvisor has an informal, conversational tone, so try to avoid being overly salesy or using marketing clichés.
Don’t forget to make your copy keyword rich, although don’t just try to force keywords in, because the readability of the piece will suffer. Finally, make sure you check your grammar before you post, to avoid silly mistakes being posted that may reflect badly on your business.
Amenities
If you own a hotel or holiday park, you get another chance to add details of what your business has to offer in the amenities section. For example, if you offer free parking, a swimming pool, free Wi-Fi, or pet-friendly accommodation, here is your chance to tell everyone about it.
Videos and Images
TripAdvisor may not allow you to add your own reviews, but what you can do is upload as many photos and videos as you wish (provided they are formatted correctly according to TripAdvisor’s guidelines). Photos are a quick and easy way for a potential guest or diner to get a sense of a place, so make full use of them to show off your business. Your page is likely to make much more impact if there is a dozen or more photos rather than just one or two.
Your main profile photo is obviously the most important to get right – you get the opportunity to choose the image that goes there, so make sure you pick one of your best. If you don’t upload one yourself, TripAdvisor will usually pull a photo in from elsewhere on the web, which may not be the best quality.

Advice on the type of photography to use is much the same as it would be for any web presence: make sure all images are good quality, genuine, and serve a purpose. People want to see the accommodation, the facilities, the views, the dining area, the front entrance, the lobby and the surrounding area outside – so make sure you include photos of all of these.
Remember that TripAdvisor users can vote on images, so be aware if your photos are not genuinely representative of your business they are likely to get short shrift from reviewers!
Adding descriptions and photos to your listing as described above is something that businesses often forget to do or don’t consider worth the effort, but in fact this is hugely important to do if you want your TripAdvisor listing to have a positive impact on your business. According to TripAdvisor’s head of industry relations, Brian Payea, in a recent survey 92% of travellers said they were more likely to book accommodation that has a detailed property description and photos on its listing.