LONDON, UK, 14 December, 2016 – TripAdvisor®, the travel planning and booking site*, today announced the winners of the Ollie awards, formally called the TripAdvisor Community Awards, which recognise the individual TripAdvisor members who made the most contributions to the site in the past year. The company named individual winners across eight different award categories, with awards given to travellers at a World, Continent and Country level.
Globally, Bernardo Famorca from New York is named as the world’s Review Contributor of the Year, having submitted over 2,000 reviews in the past year.
Two TripAdvisor contributors from the UK win awards in the European categories, including Sarah Dargie from Glasgow, who scoops the New Contributor of the Year award in Europe, having contributed over 600 reviews to TripAdvisor in the last year.
In addition, the Ollies also honour member achievements in the UK travel community specifically, across eight different award categories. This year, the UK winners include:
- Review Contributor of the Year = Stephen Kelly, Kirby
- New Contributor of the Year = Sarah Dargie, Glasgow
- Hotel Expert of the Year = Helen Akitt-Heatley, Bournemouth
- Restaurant Expert of the Year = Stephen Kelly, Kirkby
- Attractions Expert of the Year = Ray Restel, Middlesex
- Forum Poster of the Year = Ken Holmes, County Durham
- UK Explorer of the Year (given to individuals who were among the first reviewers of the most establishments in the past year) = Janet Wass, Nottingham
- Traveller of the Year (given to individuals who reviewed experiences from the most number of global destinations in the past year) = Graham Moore, Southport
“With over 120 million TripAdvisor members eligible for an award, the competition this year was tougher than ever,” said Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor, “Every single winner of an Ollie award has dedicated an incredible amount of time and energy to their reviews. It is their efforts, and those of millions of reviewers like them, that help improve the travel experience for the wider community. They fully deserve their moment in the spotlight.”
The Ollie awards get their nickname from the TripAdvisor mascot Ollie the Owl.
-ENDS-
Note to Editors:
Data based on traveller contributions submitted to TripAdvisor from 11 November 2015 – 11 October 2016.
About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site**, enabling travellers to unleash the potential of every trip. TripAdvisor offers advice from millions of travellers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools that check hundreds of websites to find the best hotel prices. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching 390 million average monthly unique visitors*, and reached 435 million reviews and opinions covering 6.8 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 49 markets worldwide. TripAdvisor: Know better. Book better. Go better.
TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRIP), through its subsidiaries, manages and operates websites under 24 other travel media brands:
www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.citymaps.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.thefork.com (including www.lafourchette.com, www.eltenedor.com, www.iens.nl, www.besttables.com and www.dimmi.com.au), www.gateguru.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.housetrip.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com, www.onetime.com, www.oyster.com, www.seatguru.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travelpod.com, www.tripbod.com, www.vacationhomerentals.com, www.viator.com, and www.virtualtourist.com.
*Source: TripAdvisor log files, average monthly unique visitors, Q3 2016
**Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, July 2016
