How This Luxury Dubai Resort Maximizes Their Online Presence with Tripadvisor

Atlantis, The Palm is the kind of resort that makes it easy to take advantage of Dubai’s endless sunshine and the calm waters of the Arabian Sea. With views of Dubai’s iconic city skyline, travelers can lounge, swim, eat, or play at their choice of 3 outdoor pools, 32 restaurants and bars, a private beach, luxury spa, and the world’s largest waterpark.

Helping guests find such a spectacular, award-winning property wasn’t a challenge for Marketing Manager Maria Garcia. What she noticed instead was a dropoff in direct bookings, with guests frequently choosing other platforms instead.

“We didn’t have an online presence with Tripadvisor, and we wanted to get closer to our guests and the actual customer journey they take,” she says. “We were losing bookings to [other platforms] and paying high commission costs.”

Maria Garcia, Marketing Manager, Atlantis, The Palm

Garcia subscribed to Tripadvisor’s Business Advantage, aiming to build a stronger online presence for the brand by connecting with travelers and encouraging direct bookings. In just 9 months, Atlantis, The Palm drove 10,923 clicks to their direct contact links — and increased Tripadvisor-generated traffic by 34% compared to the previous year.

Here’s how the hotel leverages Tripadvisor to build their online presence:

Bringing the hotel property to life

Using Tripadvisor Business Advantage, Garcia and Assistant Marketing Manager Veronica Abalos were able to match the resort’s digital profile with the brand experience that it offers.

With Business Advantage, Atlantis, The Palm was brought to life with features like:

• Storyboard: Upload videos and curate a slideshow showcasing the best features at the hotel, like the view of Dubai’s iconic skyline.
• Favorite Review: Automatically select a top review and pin it in a highly visible spot for travelers to find.

“We saw the opportunity to maximize our online presence with Tripadvisor,” says Garcia. “Enhancing our property page by selecting a Favorite Review and uploading videos and photos makes sure our guests see the best the hotel has to offer right away.”

Influencing travelers’ booking decisions

Highlighting exceptional photos and videos and telling your property’s story through media features is just one benefit of Business Advantage. For Atlantis, The Palm’s marketing team, it was also important to understand the customer journey — and find ways to make it easier for potential guests to book with them.

“When we first made the decision to purchase Business Advantage, the marketing team presented the project to the revenue and sales team, explaining the impact of Tripadvisor on the customer journey,” says Garcia. “We all agreed that it was an important partnership to have.”

Taking the trip of a lifetime to a resort like this one requires careful planning and decision-making. It’s not likely your average traveler will choose a resort like this on a whim. That’s what makes reducing friction throughout the entire customer journey important for Garcia and her team — so that travelers can book with confidence.

Business Advantage offers two key features to help do just that:

• Direct Links: Add hotel website, and contact information, directly onto hotel detail pages to make it easy for guests to get in touch and book directly.
• Special Offers: Run up to three deals simultaneously to entice potential guests with great hotel-direct room rates.

Once Atlantis, The Palm activated Direct Links and Special Offers on their Tripadvisor page, they started to see a major uptick in traffic to the hotel’s website.

Garcia says, “In 9 months, we got more than 10,923 clicks in our Business Advantage direct contact details, where 5,516 clicks went to the Special Offer. Our average redemption rate was 35%!”

Watching success in real-time

Managing Atlantis, The Palm’s online presence by enhancing their listing and implementing Direct Links with Business Advantage has paid off.

Over the past 9 months, Atlantis, the Palm has acquired:

Business Advantage also offers an easy-to-use analytics dashboard, so the marketing team can better understand the success metrics that Atlantis, The Palm is driving and how to improve. It covers all facets of their digital presence on Tripadvisor, from how much traffic they receive to their page to the average length of stay, their ranking, and bubble score from previous guests.

Learn more about how Tripadvisor’s Business Advantage can help your property tell a better story and drive more direct traffic to your property’s website.