TripAdvisor Levels the Playing Field for Hotels in its Apps
Photo Credit: Guests enjoying the rooftop of the Refinery Hotel in New York City. Refinery Hotel
Skift Take
TripAdvisor is injecting a healty dose of competition into hotel metasearch, and is finding a way to give hotels more power in a way that competitors aren't doing. Funny how things change: TripAdvisor, hotels' best friend.
Hotel metasearch sites such as TripAdvisor, Kayak, and Trivago are dominated by online travel agency participants, but now TripAdvisor is enabling hotel properties to undercut the booking sites -- and even TripAdvisor itself.
For example, in TripAdvisor's iOS app September 12, users looking for a stay in New York City can view "special offers" from the Library Hotel, Hotel Elysee, the Refinery Hotel, the Surrey, the Distrikt Hotel, the citizenM New York Times Square, the Iroquois, Andaz 5th Avenue, the Quin, the Ritz-Carlton New York Central Par
