TripAdvisor revenue up 30% in first quarter – After spinning off from Expedia and debuting on the NASDAQ in December, trip reviews site TripAdvisor posted fourth quarter 2011 revenues of $137.8 million, a 30% increase over fourth quarter 2010. Full year 2011 revenues were $637.1 million, a 31% increase over full year 2010.

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TripAdvisor’s new Management Dashboard provides hotels with data and information on how they are engaging with customers and guests online, target areas for improvement and make informed, up-to-the-minute decisions. Hotels also get a list of competitors most viewed by the same people who view the business’ page.

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Yesterday Google formally announced some changes in the presentation of local results on Google.com SERPs. The right rail has been turned into a rich display of Places information, including links to interior business photography in some cases. In the coming weeks, you’ll start seeing the improved local search experience in more than 40 language

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Social media can provide valuable customer feedback about their products by allowing them to eavesdrop on these conversations. The desire to listen in on customers’ online conversations about products is so pervasive across companies that it has spawned a cottage industry of listening companies that regularly scan online conversations to gauge customer sentiment.

But how accurately do these conversations represent the true underlying sentiment of a product’s customers?

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TripAdvisor says it is now the first stand-alone travel brand to reach the milestone of 50 million unique monthly visitors. The company experienced a 22 percent increase in traffic year-over-year from July 2010 to July 2011, according to comScore’s traffic data.

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In a major challenge to the travel industry’s leading websites, search engine giant Google Inc. launched today a new service allowing users to shop for plane tickets as easily as typing a Google search.

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Google’s acquisition of Zagat last week and Yelp’s excellent snarky response has brought customer reviews to the forefront of the news again, so it’s a good time to start thinking about how garnering more online reviews fits into your business.

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TripAdvisor, the leading online travel reviews site in the world, is now under investigation by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over concerns reviews from travelers may be illegitimate.

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As more and more travellers perform diligent research prior to booking a room, it is important that GMs and hotel owners know exactly what information consumers can find online about their hotel. Also from an SEO point of view search engines place high ranking factors on social media and guest review channels.

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