NEWTON, Mass., May 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor®, the world's largest travel site*, today announced the expansion of its suite of review collection services with Review Express, a powerful, free solution available exclusively on TripAdvisor. The new service makes encouraging fresh reviews easier than ever by giving registered businesses the option to send customizable, bulk emails to their guests asking them to write a review about their customer experience. Review Express has been developed with property owners in mind and has been enhanced based on user feedback following extensive Beta testing.

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According to the TripBarometer by TripAdvisor, 87 percent of travelers globally say they use travel review sites to help them plan a trip and 95 percent say that other people's reviews on travel review sites influenced their plans. Review Express was built to help accommodations, restaurants and attractions build their reputation online and enhance their TripAdvisor presence while giving prospective guests the traveler feedback they need to plan the perfect trip.

Review Express enables owners to send free messages to past guests and customers on behalf of their property, which automatically include a link to the property's "Write a Review" page on TripAdvisor.

Key features of Review Express include:

    --  Customizable emails, including ability to add a logo, image and
        personalized message
    --  Bulk upload of up to 1000 email addresses, allowing businesses to target
        recent guests or customers with one easy send
    --  Processing of send requests within 24 hours and automatic notification
        of successful and unsuccessful sends
    --  Ability to send messages in the 21 languages that TripAdvisor supports

Reviews collected through the service will be published on TripAdvisor, and are subject to the site's policies. Additionally, reviews posted as a consequence of Review Express emails will be attributed as such on TripAdvisor - the review will include a short message to say that it was 'collected in partnership' with the hotel, restaurant or attraction. TripAdvisor will not store email addresses submitted through the service.

A groundbreaking study from The Cornell Center for Hospitality Research*** demonstrates that there is a financial reward for having a great online reputation -- and how reviews can influence a hotel's ability to increase prices, drive occupancy and maximize revenue.

"With Review Express, TripAdvisor aims to extend the relationship between businesses and their guests to encourage them to write reviews. This is a time-saver for owners, providing them with a powerful system to manage multiple emails and requests at no cost to the business," said Severine Philardeau, vice president of global partnerships, TripAdvisor. "Review Express has been developed and enhanced based on extensive user testing and is an invaluable service for hospitality business owners looking to build their online reputation. When used in conjunction with our free display offerings for owners, Review Express provides a great online marketing package for small and independent hospitality business owners to capture the value of user reviews for their property."

Sean Ames, General Manager at the Gem Hotel in New York City, said: "We're utilizing TripAdvisor's Review Express and what we noticed immediately is that the hit ratio is greater than any of the other mechanisms we had put in place to garner feedback from our guests."

To use Review Express, business owners should visit www.tripadvisor.com/reviewexpress or log in to the Management Centre, and click on "Get more reviews" from either the quick links or the main management centre menu to access the service.

An instructional video can also be found at the TripAdvisor for Business blog.

About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, with more than 200 million unique monthly visitors**, and over 100 million reviews and opinions. The sites operate in 30 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites under 20 other travel media brands: www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.onetime.com, www.seatguru.com, www.sniqueaway.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travel-library.com, www.travelpod.com, www.virtualtourist.com, www.whereivebeen.com, and www.kuxun.cn.

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, January 2013

**Source: Google Analytics, worldwide data, March 2013

***Source: Cornell Hospitality Report, The Impact of Social Media on Lodging Performance, by Chris Anderson, 2012.

©2013 TripAdvisor, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE TripAdvisor

SOURCE: TripAdvisor