Millions of travelers around the world already know and love TripAdvisor for its millions of traveler reviews. The platform is a fabulous resource for insights into attractions, restaurants, hotels, and making better decisions when planning a trip.
And a lot of the time, I’ve found that the information on TripAdvisor is often more up to date than a company’s own website. It’s truly become the Google of the travel world. Our ultimate go-to.
It’s no secret that most travelers will eventually end up on TripAdvisor when planning their vacation, but they’ve recently rolled out some pretty incredible features meaning you can book your whole trip too. That’s right – TripAdvisor is now much more than just traveler reviews!
How to Maximize Your Trip With TripAdvisor
New Features of TripAdvisor
If you’ve been on TripAdvisor recently, you’ll have noticed that their website has had a major face lift. And when we realized you can now research and book unique things to do, we decided to take their booking feature for a spin to plan our next trip.
On top of reading reviews and opinions from other travelers, you can now use TripAdvisor to find hotels at the best prices (there’s a hotel comparison search engine which scours the web and shows you the best deal), and discover great things to do.
Their “Things to do” tab means you can find tours, activities, and attractions, and book right on TripAdvisor. Since we’re dedicating time to discovering our local area at the moment, I focused on their option to book things to do.
The Benefits of Booking on TripAdvisor
Maximizing Your Time
The biggest benefit of this roll out is being able to maximize your time. I was able to find out which attractions and tours were available in my area, filter them by my budget and interests, and book without having to consult multiple websites.
Once you search for things to do, the results display under a variety of categories, which means you can find what you’re interested in, and not waste time looking through the rest. There’s also a tab for recently viewed, so you can track back if you lose what you’ve been looking at.
You can choose whether you want to browse their top things to do, budget friendly experiences, premium experiences, or attractions based on your interests, like historic sites, cultural tours, museums, cruises, nature & wildlife etc.
Screenshots
Filter Results to Save Time ⬇
Book Right There on TripAdvisor ⬇
When you click into a landmark like Mt Wellington, it shows you all of the tours and experiences available so you can easily compare. For museums or tourist attractions which charge admission, you can pre-book on Tripadvisor, skipping the lines when you get there.
And then obviously there’s the TripAdvisor app, which lets you find things to do and book your attractions while actually on your trip. Because when I’m in the middle of a trip, time is my most important asset.
Maximizing Your Money
The next big benefit of being able to book via TripAdvisor is maximizing your money.
You can find your ideal hotel at the lowest price more easily. Their hotel search engine compares prices from over 200+ booking sites, and you can see ‘best value’ hotels instantly by using their “best value” index which combines traveler ratings, best prices, location, and more.
But in terms of tours and activities, they have a low price guarantee. If you find a lower price within 72 hours of booking, or if you arrive in your destination and find your activity offered at a lower price by the operator, they’ll refund the price difference.
I haven’t personally put their refund policy to the test, as the activity I booked was indeed the lowest price I could find.
The Booking Experience
Using TripAdvisor to research things to do in my new home State, I found out about the iVenture Card Tasmania. It’s a Flexi attraction pass which gives you admission to your choice of 3 must see Tasmania attractions from a list of 11.
You choose what you want to do and when you want to do it, and present your pass on arrival for cash-free entry. Depending on which 3 attractions you visit / book, the card can save you 30%.
Obviously with these type of cards, it’s only beneficial to purchase them if you’re actually interested in the attractions they partner with, so it was great that there was in-depth information on the TripAdvisor page to make an informed decision about whether or not we wanted to book.
The booking process was smooth, but TripAdvisor has been running Viator for years now, so I didn’t expect there to be any issues. I got an email confirmation with my voucher for the card within 5 minutes. As per the instructions on the voucher, I presented my voucher to the visitors center at Devonport, and picked up my cards without hassle.
Tahune Airwalk Experience
Tahune Airwalk is an experience I’ve been wanting to organize for a while now, and while I could book ahead on TripAdvisor for this specific admission, I’m glad I found out about the iVenture card, because it means we can also visit Port Arthur in January, and take a jet boat tour of the Huon river next month (stay tuned!).
As promised, it was a cash free entry and they accepted my card as admission. The 600-metre walkway that takes you among the tree-tops of Tahune Forest offered wilderness views which were absolutely pristine.
More than Just Reviews
Most travelers end up on TripAdvisor at some point when planning their upcoming trip. But while the platform is a trusted site for traveler reviews, now you can use TripAdvisor to maximize your trip by comparing hotels, and booking your tours and activities too.
Disclosure: TripAdvisor asked me to use their site to research and book a unique thing to do, and covered the cost of my booking in exchange for an honest review. We count on TripAdvisor to make sure our trips are awesome, so can highly recommend their booking system for maximizing your next trip.
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46 Comments
I’ve been doing research for my next trip on Tripadvisor too and found some great tours and attractions there. Its usually my first resource when planning a trip :-)
Awesome to hear Sara – us too! I always used to research my travel and then head to Tripadvisor for the reviews, but it’s great now to be able to research right on Tripadvisor without having to keep open tonnes of tabs. Lol my computer slows right down everytime I have 20 tabs open!
They really do have an awesome selection in their tab for things to do :)
Happy travels!
Great stuff Meg. I have used Trip Advisor here and there to look things up. Trusted resource resource for travelers and travel bloggers alike. I dig the price savings and the fact that it brims with reviews…and that it ranks on page 1, result 1, on Google for so many keywords. Tough to do that these days unless you run a legit, well stocked, genuine site.
Ryan
Thanks Ryan – absolutely, it’s definitely the #1 traveler’s go to. And yes, they show up on page 1 of Google for almost any travel inquiry, so they definitely have an established and trusted reputation as the world’s largest travel site.
Can highly recommend checking out the site if you’re looking for inspiration on things to do, and the booking process was then super smooth :)
I’m game. I’ll try it out- share your post with a slew of my friends who also plan intricate travel itineraries.
Let us know how you go Roy :) And appreciate the shares! Happy travels to both you and your friends!
Tripadvisor is my go-to site for hotel reviews, I never book a hotel without checking about it there. These new features are great additions for the users. I’ll have to check out their offers next time.
Awesome Angie – now you can save a step and book directly on their site :)
Happy travels!
I have never been a user of Trip Advisor until recently and seriously feel like I have been missing out all these years. I mainly use it to read hotel reviews! However, I haven’t tried these other features like things to do in and booking anything! I need to give it a go!
Definitely time to jump on the bandwagon :D The hotel reviews have been so instrumental in choosing tours and accommodation over the course of our travels. But no so psyched that we can book everything too!
Let us know what you think after taking the website for a spin :)
I haven’t ever been one to rely heavily on Trip Advisor, but I’m not sure why. I will definitely go check it out, especially with all the new additions to the site! I love that booking and researching is all in one place, so that will save me a step next time. I feel like I’ve really been missing out on an awesome tool!
It’s been a fabulous resource for us over the years, I really love using it. And yes, it’s so nice now to be able to book and research everything within the one tab – I’ve gotten so used to my computer slowing down to a snails pace because of my 20 tabs open haha that this is a nice change!
Definitely a tool you should check out :)
Just to report back, we found this service to be great to deal with. Thanks for sharing !
Awesome Mycko! Whatever you have planned, have an amazing time!
I have always been a fan of trip advisor when it came to finding reviews on hotel and resorts. I’m so happy to see that they are expanding their services and love that you can now find attractions and tours available in your area and the various filter options.
Awesome Candy! Yes, I think it was only a matter of time before they started expanding their empire further – such a household name among travelers now. We use them for every trip!
Happy travels :)
As a big fan of TripAdvisor I thought the overhaul was such a great step too. My favourite feature is the fact you can go back to recently viewed. That means I no longer have to take notes/screenshots to remember. I haven’t used the low price guarantee either but what a way to instil confidence that you’re getting the best deals. Also the views and scenery around the Tahune Airwalk look incredible! What a great find!
I love the recently viewed too! We did our initial research for the iVenture Pass a couple of days before we actually booked it, and it was so easy to navigate back without having to filter through every search result again. They’ve really thought about the practical use from a travelers point of view, which I love :)
I think the low price guarantee is probably just as you’ve said – a way to instill confidence – because I definitely haven’t found a need to claim on it!
Tahune Airwalk is incredible – if you have the chance to visit Tasmania, it’s something I can highly recommend!
Would have to check out TripAdvisor again, didn’t have time to look into the new details. You got me curious with “what to do” feature on tours and activities in the area. Didn’t use that one so far and you are so right – it really is time consuming to find the info yourself online, compare prices etc. Here, everything seems like a click away!
Nice, thanks for pointing it out. :)
Great way to describe it, yes, everything is now just a click away! Have a poke around the new features and let us know what you think :)
I use TripAdvisor a lot when planning my trip and it’s so nice to see how much it progressed. I used it from the beginning, from when they first launched the website and I remember how basic but still very useful it was back then. It’s great that now you can book hotels and experiences directly though them.
I agree, it’s been nice to watch their evolution from a start up to house hold name! Glad to hear that they’ve been integral to your trips too!
TripAdvisor has become such an important step in travel planning research. It’s an amazing resource to find tips and ideas for activities. I’m still a bit careful when I read reviews on businesses themselves as I’ve heard instances of fake testimonials before – positive or negative (I don’t know if it still happens or if they’ve found a way to fix that).
I had never heard of the iVenture card but I’ll definitely have a look, it sounds super interesting (and they have a Black Friday sale…!). And I didn’t know TA had a low price guarantee. That’s very good to know. I’m not surprised they added booking functions to their platform. It’s a great business momodel and it’s helpful for the travelers –> win-win! :)
Absolutely Eloise, it’s such a valuable resource. I think there will always be vulnerabilities in terms of businesses attempting to leave fake reviews, but I think it’s very easy to gain a good insight overall from reading a sampling of the reviews available. Ultimately a business can leave a positive review, but if that’s only one vs 70 negative traveler reviews it’s a pretty glaring red flag.
I know that the display the status of the reviewer and how many reviews they’ve left / how often they use Tripadvisor too which definitely helps in determining the validity.
The iVenture card is a great idea if you’re hitting up Australian cities – ours for Tas has been great so far!
We don’t really use much of tripadvisor, although it does appear while we do our research on google as its info is reliable for many locations. Starting to use it more and more than the usual thought. Booking on it is nice sometimes we would say, as their cut is higher and you sometimes ending up paying more.
Definitely starting to take over the Google search results when you research things to do in x city etc – a sign that it’s one of the most trusted travel sites for sure – I think it’s difficult to avoid using Tripadvisor at this point honestly!
They do have the low price guarantee – I don’t know about their cut being more than another booking site, but if you find your tour at a lower price within 72 hours of booking, or if you arrive in your destination and find your activity offered at a lower price by the operator, they’ll refund the price difference. Win / win right!
I have mainly used Trip Advisor for hotel and attraction reviews. I think it’s great that you can go ahead and book most hotels and attractions directly on Trip Advisor. While some have not been available on Trip Advisor in the past, it’s welcoming to see they are always expanding the number of products they partner with. Your iVenture Tasmania Card sounds like a great deal. I look forward to reading about your Huon river jet boat tour next month.
Awesome Linda! TripAdvisor has definitely established themselves as a household name. Like you, I’m psyched that I can now go ahead and book directly on the website after I’ve made a decision based on their reviews.
Yes, I think that now they’ve become one of the most mainstream review / booking sites, most tour operators and products now list with them. Nice to have access to everything under one resource!
Looking to go on the Huon river jet boat late December – will post updates!
Hi Meg, Thanks for sharing your experiences with booking things to do through TripAdvisor. You are absolutely right, they are the Google of the travel world. I use the website all the time to check reviews. And from there it’s such a short and easy step to book the best accommodation for the budget that you have. I didn’t realise you could also book experiences, so that’s great to learn.
Thanks Silke! Glad we could introduce you to their new booking features – as you’ve said – so handy to go ahead and book directly on the website after you’ve decided what you want to do from their research and reviews :)
Trip Advisor seems to be building a one-stop destination for all things travel from activities to accommodation. This will save time looking on multiple sites for the same thing. The one thing about Trip Advisor I take with a grain of salt is the reviews. Everyone is different and culturally we all expect different things.
Absolutely – they’ve really corned the market in terms of being the most valuable resource for all your travel planning needs.
Yes I agree about the importance of understanding that reviews are in context with an individual’s experience. I think they’re still very useful as you can gauge a pretty accurate over-view of an experience nowadays using TripAdvisor’s reviews, reading a sampling of the excellent, the good, and the poor. And if there’s a general consensus over tens – a couple of hundred reviews, obviously it’s a great sign to book (or vice versa).
We use TripAdvisor regularly to plan activities. They do a solid job providing an overview and the first person ratings are often invaluable. It’s great to see that they have further streamlined the site to provide a full click-to-purchase experience.
Awesome Jenn and Ed! Yes, the information they provide for each tour is really comprehensive, I jumped over to the iVenture website after having booked, and couldn’t find anything they missed telling me in the TripAdvisor overview.
Really is so easy now that they’ve streamlined everything into the one website!
Oh, interesting. I usually just look into TripAdvisor for checking photos and reviews but haven’t actually tried booking anything under this platform. A friend told me that we should just write reviews here but never mentioned something like this. It’s seriously good to know! I’ll probably my next trip here! It seems like TripAdvisor has it all! x
Glad we could give you an overview of their new features – Tripadvisor is fabulous for reviews, but definitely so much more than that. Jenn and Ed summed it up pretty well above in describing it as a full click-to-purchase experience :)
I love TripAdvisor too! What I love best about it is that for example, I book a hotel room via Agoda… The photos there are usually submitted by the hotels so they look all good and nice but it ain’t the real deal most of the times, right? What I do is look to TripAdvisor and look at “Traveler’s Photos”. These are photos taken by actual guests. Not the best photos but at least they give you an idea of what you are actually getting. I think only TripAdvisor has this feature! If you know more, let me know please! And if you travel frequently, help fellow travelers by contributing actual photos! No edits please :D
I do love the traveler photos you can scroll through for hotels, and you’re right, they don’t seem to be available like this on any other booking website. Definitely gives you a more realistic view of what you’re booking even if they’re not always the best photos – because professional editing can make a huge difference sometimes to the reality of what you actually get.
Will make an effort to start uploading more of our photos to TripAdvisor when we leave reviews :)
I’m the odd man out. I rarely ever go to TripAdvisor. I usually don’t like user generated reviews and find myself scoffing at many of them because they usually don’t give me any useful information. I’d much rather read a review by a professional reviewer that can give me real information about what I’m going to get.
I find user generated reviews swing to one extreme or the other: it was either a gushing review or it’s a rant about something. People let their emotions influence the review, so when they’re mad about one thing that whole experience suddenly sucked. Or they don’t want to be critical about anything, so gush that everything was fabulous.
But a lot of people do like user generated reviews. So it’s good to know that you can finally book right on TripAdvisor. That makes the planning phase more convenient.
I think a lot of people have difficulty with a professional reviews because they may not know where to find them, or may wonder if there’s any bias involved in the review. But you’re right, the downside of user reviews is that they don’t offer comprehensive information, and usually only focus on what made an experience really great or really crap.
I think it’s a decent benchmark to figuring out if it’s worth a stay, for instance if there are hundreds of excellent reviews on Tripadvisor, it’s a pretty good guarentee that the property is of a high standard. And vice versa. Individual user reviews I tend to read with a grain of salt knowing there is always individual context, but I think they offer great insight when reading a sampling / reviewing the trend of ratings a place gets.
For those who do enjoy referencing use reviews, definitely convenient being able to book from the same site after you’ve made a decision :)
Such a helpful post. I’ve always used it for hotel reviews, but just recently I booked a restaurant on there and I was thrilled to see all the useful additions. Like you said I love the tabs that allow you to see what to do in an area. It’s definitely going to completely change how I research trips now!
Thanks Samantha, so glad you enjoyed it! Glad you had a great experience booking a restaurant – I’m yet to do that on their platform, but will definitely make my reservation the next time I eat out.
The internal tabs are amazing! So easy to navigate throughout the site and research everything quickly. Love it!
I use Tripadvisor all the time to plan my trips! I love the reviews, the itineraries…but I never thought to book a tour or something fun to do on there! Thank you for making me aware of this. I’ll have to go to the site to take a look!
Awesome Lauren! Glad we could introduce you to their new features – let us know how you go after you’ve taken their booking platform for a spin!
I agreed tripadvisor is a good guide to use to travel around the world. It has a lot of option where to travel. Its reputable sites and we can get a trust to our booking. We are planning to get our next trip. Great post i’ve found in your blog.
Absolutely Rizza, I can definitely recommend it as our favorite site for trip planning :) Happy travels!