TripAdvisor winning over Australian hoteliers

The number of Australian hotels that are engaging their customers through indepent review site TripAdvisor has risen significantly in the last year, according to global vice president sales Julio Bruno.

In an interview with Travel Today in April 2012, Bruno revealed that Australian properties were reluctant to leverage the full potential of the site which launched in the local market in 2010, for fear of negative publicity.

But that appears to have changed.

Now 63% of Australian hotels listed on the site have at least one registered owner managing the property via the TripAdvisor Management Centre while 11% have responded to a traveller review in the past 30 days.

“The Australian hospitality industry has grown to like TripAdvisor and work more with it because they see us as a partner,” Bruno told Travel Today.

Features such as its master classes and its property dashboard which can provide hoteliers with analytic information are becoming increasingly valued, especially by…