Increase the Quality of Reviews You Get on TripAdvisor

How to earn more quality TripAdvisor reviews

Click to read Part II or Part III.

TripAdvisor doesn’t explicitly provide details as to what a quality reviews actually means, so we have to make the logical conclusion that it should consist of factors that are going to help their users make the most informed decision. Their users want to simplify their buying decision and find the best tour for themselves and their family.

Therefore, we look into the factors guests value the most in reviews to help them make the best decision. We have scoured peer reviewed research to discover there are two primary factors in a quality review: 1) content and 2) reputation.

Content: an authentic outdoor adventure guest experience

The content of a review is an important factor in determining the quality of a review because it helps convey trust and helpfulness for the user who wants to make a buying decision. It decreases the risk and makes a future guest comfortable in their decision.

• As tours and activities are experience goods, first hand knowledge of the tour is extremely helpful for a consumer in making a decision (What Motivates Consumers to Write Online Travel Reviews?, Information Technology & Tourism, 2008).


• Users view qualitative aspects of the review, like **photos, emotions and general thoughts, as the most influential factor **in making a review useful (What Makes a Useful Online Review, Tourism Management, 2014).


• The content of the review needs to focus on the interpersonal service of the business, as a consumer gains a higher level of trust in the review. (The impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and perception of trust, Tourism Management, 2010).


• This study also stated, that the ease to which a review can be quickly read and understood, helps with the usefulness of a review. This is because consumers rely on easy-to-process information when they are deciding between businesses (The impact of online reviews on hotel booking intentions and perception of trust, Tourism Management, 2010).


• With experience goods, a consumer needs to try it for themselves. As such, a long detailed review is not ideal as it cannot be substituted for actually participating in the tour (What Makes a Helpful Review?, MIS Quarterly, 2010).

The best way to quickly convey information and to experience an activity, without actually being there, would arguably be through photos or video. In a presentation by TripAdvisor, they state photos posted by users to reviews are an important, everyday metric for a travel operators to monitor. This is no coincidence, in our opinion.

As a result, extremely helpful reviews received a higher score than those considered less helpful (Evaluating content quality and helpfulness of online product reviews, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 2012).

PicThrive, not only helps you get reviews on TripAdvisor, but many of its users take photos from their PicThrive gallery and place them in an online review. Coupled with their personal experience of the tour, **photos help to boost the quality of the review **by improving the usefulness and reliability. This helps a TripAdvisor user make a more informed decision.

Reputation: Building honesty and credibility for your adventure tourism business

When a consumer reads a review online, they are looking at the score, the content but also important information about the credibility and reputation of the person making the review (Do online reviews affect product sales?, Information Techonology & Management, 2008). Research has shown that a reviewer’s credibility influences the helpfulness of reviews (Helpfulness of Online Consumer Reviews: Readers’ Objectives and Review Cues, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 2012).

TripAdvisor clearly positions a reviewers reputation beside each review, in order to make it well known. You will see badges such as ‘Level 4 Contributor’ or ‘6 Helpful Votes’. It could be argued that because reputation is valued amongst users, that if you get a review by a high ranking TripAdvisor user, the quality of your review increases.

• How can you spot a helpful reviewer on TripAdvisor? They are those who travel more, actively post reviews, belong to any age and gender groups and also give lower hotel ratings (Helpful Reviewers in TripAdvisor, an Online Travel Community, Jornal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 2011)


• However, to a user reading reviews, a reviewer’s expertise only has a minor, positive, influence on the review (Tried and tested: The impact of online hotel reviews on consumer consideration, Tourism Management, 2009). Furthermore, while the reputation does matter and positively impacts the usefulness of the review, the qualitative aspects, or the content, are more influential to users (What Makes a Useful Online Review, Tourism Management, 2014).