TripAdvisor

Infobox Company
name = TripAdvisor

type = Public
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foundation = February 2000
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location_city = Newton, Massachusetts
location_country = USA
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industry = Travel services
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homepage = [http://www.tripadvisor.com/ TripAdvisor.com]
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TripAdvisor.com is a free travel guide and research website that hosts reviews from users and other information designed to help plan a vacation. TripAdvisor is an example of consumer generated media. The website services are free to users who provide content, and the website makes its money from advertising, mostly from travel-related industries. cite web|url=http://www.tripadvisor.com/PressCenter-c4-Fact_Sheet.html |title=Fact sheet |publisher=TripAdvisor LLC |work=About TripAdvisor Media Network |accessdate=2008-10-08]

Description

TripAdvisor reviews cover more than 212,000 hotels and 74,000 attractions in over 30,000 destinations worldwide. With more than 15 million reviews and opinions [cite web|url=http://www.tripadvisor.com |publisher=TripAdvisor LLC |title=TripAdvisor home page |accessdate=2008-10-08] and nearly 30 million unique visitors a month, TripAdvisor claims to be the largest travel community on the web.cite web|url=http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/about_us.html |title=About TripAdvisor |work=About TripAdvisor Media Network |publisher=TripAdvisor LLC |accessdate=2008-10-08]

History

TripAdvisor was founded in February 2000 and was purchased by InterActive Corporation in 2004. Original financing was obtained from Flagship Ventures, the Bollard Group and private investors. IAC spun off its travel group of businesses under the Expedia, Inc. name in August 2005. [cite web|url=http://press.expediainc.com/index.php?s=press_releases&item=22 |title=IAC Completes Spin-Off of Expedia, Inc. |work=Press release |publisher=Expedia, Inc. |date=2005-08-09 |accessdate=2008-10-08] In July 2008, TripAdvisor bought Virtualtourist, a travel website with over 1 million registered members. [cite web|url=http://www.tripadvisor.com/PressCenter-i191-c1-Press_Releases.html |title=TripAdvisor Acquires VirtualTourist and OneTime |publisher=TripAdvisor LLC |work=Press release |date=2008-07-01 |accessdate=2008-08-03]

TripAdvisor operates nine other travel-related websites, including Virtualtourist, Cruise Critic, Seatguru and TravelPod.

Tripadvisor has been criticized for allowing reviews to be posted by anyone about any hotel, without needing supporting evidence. [cite news|author=Dodson, Sean |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2007/jul/21/saturday.travelwebsites |title=Best of the net: Tripadvisor - the great divide |publisher=The Guardian |date=2007-07-21 |accessdate=2008-09-22] In response, they claim that all reviews are moderated by their staff, [cite news|url=http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/business/media/22reviews.html |title=Online Reviews of Hotels and Restaurants Flourish |publisher=New York Times |date=2008-01-22 |author=Sharkey, Joe |accessdate=2008-10-08] and they have algorithms to detect abuse. [cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article1831095.ece |title='We're clean' pledges Tripadvisor |publisher=The Times |author=McGrath, Ginny |coauthors=Keenan, Steve |date=2007-05-23 |accessdate=2008-10-08]

Website features

*Reviews: Hotel, restaurant and attraction rankings found on the site are based largely on user-generated reviews.
*Travel wiki: A wiki (based on a clusterized version of XWiki) in which users can add information on destinations as a way to aid potential visitors. Topics include transportation, activities and dining guides.
*goLists: Lists of places and activities compiled by users and usually on travel "themes", such as must-see attractions, stops on a walking tour or ideas for a rainy day.
*Maps: A hotel map mashup combining TripAdvisor's hotel popularity index with Google Maps.
*Forums: Message boards where travelers ask and answer destination and interest based travel-related questions.

References

External links

* [http://www.tripadvisor.com TripAdvisor.com]