[SimpleToes]

My wife and I have been running a small boutique beach resort for almost two years now and so it's been fascinating to sit on the other side of the fence and see how the OTA's (Online Travel Agents, i.e. Expedia, Orbitz, Hotwire) operate from a business point of view and how this effects the user experience.

The same goes for TripAdvisor. (We don't use Yelp as we're located in Mexico but there is tons of controversy surfacing these days about review manipulation in exchange for cash, i.e. premium listings.)

As a user most of us are simply hunting for "the best deal" and often times we get so caught up in the dollars and cents that we don't always choose the best overall choice to fit our needs.

I totally get that OTAs and TripAdvisor are out to earn a profit for themselves and that they neither have the user nor the listing properties' best interest at heart when it comes to their business model...I am not naïve enough to not see that there is no such thing as a "free" service...but, I thought that I'd share some of the things I've learned about online bookings and reviews so that travelers who have never had a need to dive into the inner workings of these systems can have a clearer understanding of how this all works.

1. Unless you're only interested in bargains, many of the best properties aren't going to be listed on OTAs.

Sites like Expedia charge between 15-30% commission and require that properties block off a guaranteed section of rooms just for them. They also mandate that Expedia is given the best price anywhere online. Most bookings through Expedia are break-even bookings for the property just to get exposure.

What this means is that many properties choose to not list...so, if the place you are after is on Expedia, by all means book with them, but never use an OTA for property search because you are missing out on all of the special, boutique properties.

We don't list our place on any of the major booking sites and I know from boutique hotel/B&B owner forums that most small hotels do their best to do the same.

2. Properties not listed on an OTA know that they are saving money.

If you find a place you love but that only offers direct bookings with no deals, you really should fire them off an email to ask for a discount. The owners/managers understand that they are saving money by not having to pay a commission on direct bookings and so all you have to do is say, "Hey, can you give me a price break for booking direct?" and there's a good chance that they will.

3. TripAdvisor favors properties that are listed with a partner site (aka OTA)

TripAdvisor's default listing method used to be by ranking...putting the #1 property at the top and then going down the line...but now the default listing is by "availability", meaning that if the best properties do not list with an OTA they go all the way to the bottom unless you change the listing method.

In our category, for example, 6 of the top 10 listings have been pulled from the top page since TripAdvisor won't get a commission from these properties.

When you go to a category on TripAdvisor you now need to change the listing method to "ranking" to see the best properties.

4. TripAdvisor charges big bucks to list a phone number and website

Just because the property you like doesn't have a link doesn't mean there isn't a website...it is just that TripAdvisor charges an arm and a leg (literally, it is crazy expensive) to list contact details...our property has just 4 rooms and they want over $1,000/year to list our website and phone number.

Google the property name and you can get in touch with them direct.

There's a lot more going on behind the scenes than most travelers realize! If you have any questions I am more than willing to answer them.

EDIT: One more thing I forgot to add...if you're looking at a listing that does not use an OTA TripAdvisor advises that you check availability for other properties that do with the following message:

We can't find prices for this accommodation. Our online travel partners don't provide prices for this accommodation, but we can search other options in Puerto Escondido

Again, this has nothing to do with whether or not the property has availability or not and everything to do with TripAdvisor trying to fool you into booking elsewhere so that they get paid.

There has been some confusion here so I want to clarify something: By no means am I suggesting you don't use OTAs and/or TripAdvisor.

Particularly in cases where you are traveling from hotel to hotel and are just looking for the best deal, OTAs are great. It is more so when you are booking a "vacation" that I am talking about. When you are flying in to one place, staying a week, and then flying home.

In these situations it may not be in your best interest to only search on Expedia, for example, as your results will not list all of the boutique options in that destination.

This is the case with our resort...we get the occasional reservation from someone spending a few days in Oaxaca City and a few days on the coast but the vast majority of our guests fly in, stay with us for a week, and fly home.

For TripAdvisor all I am suggesting is that you check the listing settings to be sure that you're being shown the highest ranked properties for your given category and that you bear in mind that TA is looking for ways to encourage you to view hotels that use OTAs.

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› See More: Changes to TripAdvisor that you might not be aware of...

[bounceback]

Yes, these changes are indeed very important to TripAdvisor and make the service much easier to use.
By the way, those who actively use TripAdvisor for some reason still do not know that now you can buy reviews at https://accfarm.com/buy-positive-rev...dvisor-reviews
This will help you get a lot of TripAdvisor reviews for a fraction of the cost.