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How TripAdvisor changed the vacation-planning universe
Kosta’s Pizza and Seafood has received high marks from TripAdvisor reviewers. The diners rave about the baked haddock, pita bread and pizza. But none of the commenters acknowledge the historic significance of the Boston-area restaurant. In 2000, a software engineer and some pals created an axis-shifting travel website above the Needham, Mass., business. Appropriately, TripAdvisor.com came to life in a room smelling of Italy.
A lot has changed since the hatchling days above the pizzeria. Back then, co-founder Steve Kaufer and his wife searched in vain for independent reviews of resorts in Mexico, the vacation that inspired the site. The couple relied on glossy brochures supplied by a commission-driven travel agent. Today, the Kaufers, plus millions of other travellers, can sift through 250 million unvarnished reviews and opinions, including 160 new submissions a minute.
Recently TripAdvisor moved into splashy headquarters less than five kilometres from its birthplace. Nearly 900 employees work in the $120-million building, which will eventually accommodate hundreds of new hires. The company also owns or manages more than two-dozen travel media businesses, such as Cruise Critic, SeatGuru, Jetsetter and FlipKey.
Without question, TripAdvisor has become a monster, a helpful beast that accompanies countless travellers on their vacations.
“Travellers are much better off today than they ever have been,” said Adam Medros, the company’s senior vice-president of global product. “The traveller is empowered to make their trips amazing and not ‘Oh-it-was- OK.’”
This summer, the annual study Portrait of American Travelers, by travel marketing company MMGY, highlighted the barrelling trend of user-generated content. Forty-one per cent of about 2,800 respondents said they visited a travel review site for destination information, up seven per cent from last year. Only 37 per cent said they relied on friends and family for trip ideas. In addition, more than half of the participants said they trust review sites over ratings by such established opinionators as AAA and Forbes.
“TripAdvisor has freed me from dependence on any individual or company that wants to profit from my choices,” said Ginny Cunningham, who has used the site for more than a decade. “Frommer’s, Fodor’s and travel agents are great, but they’re exceedingly limited in the real-life feedback they offer.”
HEADQUARTERS
TripAdvisor HQ sits in an office park off Route 128. The brick building with a soaring glass wall doesn’t scream New Media Lives Here, but telltale signs abound. A drone hovered overhead. A row of parking spots were reserved for job applicants. Two guys in floppy shorts played Frisbee near a Roman-style amphitheatre that hosts bands.
The lobby, a playful space with vintage luggage used as shelving includes a tower of Rubik’s cubes and a world map made of travel photos. In the background, a TV touted the company’s benefits: happy hours, free lunches, summer-casual Fridays.
“We wanted it to feel like a hotel reception,” said Matthew Gabree, director of global office experience, who appeared surprisingly formal in pants and a button-down.
Staying on- theme, Gabree showed me TripAdvisor’s version of the hotel gym, a bright workout facility, and introduced me to a virtual trainer named Wellbeats — for when you only have 20 minutes to squeeze in your kick-boxing training.
In the building’s atrium, stadium-style seating rose like Machu Picchu. At the peak, “embalmed” vegetation mimicked green walls, an eco-update of plastic vines. In the game room, Gabree pointed out the fraternity house diversions, including Atari, ping-pong, craft brew taps and a wall-size mural of superheroes.