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Please Re-Name TripAdvisor’s Hall of Fame

Dennis Pitcock
Written by Dennis Pitcock

triphalloffame

‘Tis is the season. If you have many connections in the hospitality industry, you have probably noticed a few of them posting their TripAdvisor excellence awards that have been recently released. It is a big deal, and congratulations to everyone who got that. What isn’t a new deal, and should be re-branded is their new “Hall of Fame” award. Here is why.

TripAdvisor’s awards of excellence is a great campaign to get the users to review their favorite travel related businesses and attractions, and have the owners of those businesses actually pay attention to them. It promotes the interactions, that get both the users and business owners to return to their site, which increases the odds of click-throughs, conversions, and service enrollments that are crucial to their business model.

The businesses that win these awards do all the hard work, and very well deserve them. However, just because TripAdvisor has been running these awards for 5 years doesn’t mean they should call it that hall of fame. The Hall of Fame should be for businesses that have closed, just like the baseball hall of fame notes those who are retired.

Ok many musicians in the Rock N Roll ‘Hall of fame still perform, like Hall & Oats, but those inducted to means that they are past their prime (sorry Green Day). Businesses who win the hall of fame should be closed or well past their prime too, but that is not the case. The businesses will continue to do well, for many year after.

What do we suggest? Perhaps validate an owner/manager of an establish, and induct them to the hall of fame when they retire. This could give TripAdvisor the personal touch many businesses want. That can be complex to confirm, especially for those who don’t pay for TripAdvisor’s services.  Another option is not to call it the “Hall of Fame.” Why not other awards along the lines of:

  • “Turkey of Excellence” Award, just like a Turkey in Bowling, getting an excellence award three years in a row.
  • “Quintis” Award for five years, using Latin that sounds fancy.
  • “Most Improved” looking at businesses year over year to determine who really made a change for the better

If they strive to keep the Hall of Fame, there will be some questions. Does the recount start at zero? Is there a period of ineligibility award placements? Will there be an award for 6, 8, 10 years too? And most importantly, how else will they squeeze more marketing gold out of these awards?

For more about the award, click here. If you have an award you’d like TripAdvisor to give, please put it in the comments.

About the author

Dennis Pitcock

Dennis Pitcock

Dennis jumped into the hostel industry after a summer backpacking Europe in 2008. He went from being a guest to a manager within weeks, and currently does consulting for large and small hostels alike in 3 continents. Prior, he worked in eCommerce, so he has passion for the tech side of the industry and is now deeply entrenched in the hostel and activities industry.

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