TripAdvisor: reviewed

Reviews and advice on hotels, resorts, flights, vacation rentals, travel packages, and lots more! tripadvisor.com

A behemoth of a travel site that’s running clear of the competition by quite a distance. Why? Content? Just that good? Or something else …

Content

It comes at you like an all in one holiday planning site. Hotels, flights, food, things to do and lots of nice inspiring photos. One really can’t fault TripAdvisor for their all in one package website.

Indeed looking at Lonely Planet’s review here I begin to wonder if TripAdvisor can actually run up against it in terms of a travel advisory website? There’s even a forum there which is easy to find and search through. My guess is yes.

I dove a little deeper for some research on Morocco while comparing it Lonely Planet. I’m used to LP, but TripAdvisor just seemed to have all the information closer to hand. Though not quite as in-depth it must be said. But they are getting there.

TripAdvisor has a huge emphasis on user submissions in terms of not just reviews but all in guides. Yes many question the end-user reviews and they can be problematic but they can also be hugely helpful.

Site Design 

They are in it to make money. Hotels and flights take priority. But dig a little deeper and uncover a lot more. Guides, things to do, places to see are all available and growing fast.

The site is fast and relatively well laid out. Their mobile app is free and also quite good.

The main fault I have with TripAdvisor are with pop up’s. Every page I clicked seemed to contain some form of pop up. This I found to be the main reason I didn’t like to hang out there.

Images

Images take a little back seat on TripAdvisor. They do exists and are appropriate but they are all small. Which is to say they don’t focus on huge glossy photos like many other sites. Instead the images are used to lightly pull you into the content. Which in turn is used to make you think about booking with them.

Style of writing

Gentle sales and bookings. There’s nothing outstanding here. It’s all facts from TripAdvisor. The difference starts to happen the deeper you dig and you start to uncover user submitted reviews, articles and guides. They are edited and proofread. I’m not sure if it’s a plus or a minus to have no constant flow here. I would suggest a country editor who can do intros and summaries before unleashing the masses.

Helpful

Yes, and no. Primarily yes. There’s no doubt you can plan your entire vacation, or rather trip, with TripAdvisor. From flights, to accommodation to eating out and things to do you can practically book it all here.

Researching destinations with TripAdvisor is also a bonus. With a few tweaks and some added content it could easily take the lead. Held back only due to multiple pop ups and condensed versions of everything.

Summary of TripAdvisor

I came into this review thinking I would not like TripAdvisor. In truth the last time I visited the site was quite a few years ago. I was bombarded by pop ups and sales then too. But the site has expanded and there is some genuinely good and helpful content on here. So much so I’m going to use it on my next trip.

Having read some of TripAdvisors online issues with Google, text links and suspect reviews I can say that’s just the way of the internet these days. Is it nice, no. Does TripAdvisor offer a good service to the end-user? Most definitely.