202: TripAdvisor Flip-Flopping On the Flip-Flop

Welcome to episode 202 of the Digital Tourism Show. You may be wondering what has happened to episode 200 and 201? These are being published over the next 2 weeks but I had to jump a couple of episode off the back of some recent news.You may know that Dermot Halpin of TripAdvisor Experience previously announced at the Arival event in Las Vegas last year that they were offering preferential treatment to those who use their recently acquired Bókun booking platform.Two Months later, TripAdvisor president Stephen Kaufer announced at the Phocuswrite Conference that that decision was reversed. Great news… or so we thought.Just yesterday, some TripAdvisor customers received an email saying that, and I quote, “We’re excited to announce TripAdvisor Sponsored Placements on our Things To Do Pages. To Help highlight products, drive traffic and receive more bookings, we’re testing this feature and providing it to Bókun users free of charge.