The Problem with Tripadvisor.

Sad Tripadvisor

Tripadvisor is a great tool for individuals to check out a hotel, restaurant or attraction: unfortunately it is not always right. The problem with Tripadvisor is not all the information about an organisation is right and I don’t mean the comments made by their customers. A wrong location can leave an organisation commercially exposed. You might argue that this can be alleviated by contacting Tripadvisor, sadly this is not the case and I would now like to share with you an example of this problem.

I have recently been working with a small company called Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens. They are an attraction six miles south of York (in the United Kingdom) which has an 18th century farmhouse surrounded by a series of contrasting gardens with a specialist plant nursery. The gardens are packed with texture and foliage, densely planted for ease of maintenance based on cottage garden principles.

They were introduced to Tripadvisor by one of their visitors who also gave them a glowing review. Unfortunately, the location was set up as Stillingfleet when it should have been York. It is worth pointing out that Stillingfleet has fewer than 200 houses with between 300 to 400 inhabitants. From a marketing perspective Stillingfleet is not their catchment area. They spend a great deal of time and money working with Visit York to attract new customers, so you can imagine their disappointment when Tripadvisor  said they would not  change the location.

It should be noted that there is a section in the Tripadvisor Help Centre called: My business is listed in a small town. Can it be moved to the listings of a nearby, more well known city? It  states that:

“We understand that sometimes you want to balance your small town charm with your big city allure.
That’s why we make an effort to list properties in all relevant search results. If your property is in a small town or village but is officially recognized as part of a larger or better-known location, it should show up in searches for both destinations.
If not, please contact us through your Management Center and provide one of the following items as acceptable proof:

    • A business license displaying both your small town and larger city locations
    • A copy of your tax bill with both locations displayed in the address
    • A link to a page on your local tourist board’s website that recognizes your smaller location as part of your largest location.

Our editors will review any proof of location you provide, and make a determination on a case-by-case basis”.

As it stands Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens does not appear when you search for the term “Gardens in York”.

The most fustratinging aspect of this problem is when you look at the other attractions listed in York (see figure 1) you will see many clearly outside of York City but classified as a York attraction. This means that Tripadvisor have actively discriminated against Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens by providing an advantage to many of their competitors.

ATTRACTIONS AROUND YORK

Figure 1: Examples of Attractions around York

You will see in figure 1 the red arrows pointing to some of the York attractions (as classified by Tripadvisor):

1. Ampleforth Abbey which is 20 miles from York: based in Ampleforth, York.
2. Nunnington Hall which is 23 miles from York: based in Nunnington, York.
3. Eden Camp which is 19 miles from York: based in Malton, York.
4. Castle Howard which is 16 miles from York: based in Coneysthrope, York.
5. Benningbrough Hall and Gardens which is 8 miles from York: based in Benningbrough, York.

The blue arrow points to Stillingfleet Lodge Gardens which is 6 miles from York: based Stillingfleet, York but classified as Stillingfleet.

This way of working does not help the end user because anyone looking for a garden to visit in York will not be presented with all the options. There can be no doubt that this is not an isolated example but a major problem that Tripadvisor needs to fix. My parting advice has to be, when adding your new business address to Tripadvisor miss out the town or village and just leave in the city part of your address, this should ensure that you will gain a much wider reach.

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Dr Alan Shaw is a Senior Lecturer and Marketing consultant focusing on a range of sectors. His main interests are in strategy development, social marketing, digital marketing, advertising, consumer behaviour and marketing application.
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