It took a while, but the idea of using travel agents to write online reviews of hotels and destinations did finally catch on, and now seems like a bit of a no-brainer.
So while a plethora of review sites jostle for position in the increasingly busy B2C space, it has been left to a select few to try and harness the apparent collective experience and wisdom of the retail travel agency community.
In the UK, Travel Weekly subscription content brand gazetteers.com introduced agent reviews a few years ago, while Northstar Travel Media in the US has a similar review system of hotels with StarService Online.
Sabre has a system in the US called AgentStream, which is part of the Cubeless platform and is a social network where participants can share information – including reviews – around the network.
And, now, step forward Travelport and its quietly growing agent hotel review project, Travelport Opinions (or Galileo Opinions).
The product was launched in France in 2008 by Jerome Moisan and – similar to review platforms elsewhere on the web – allows agents to post reviews of hotels featured in the Travelport system.
Moisan is now the new UK and Ireland general manager and is bringing Travelport Opinions – “TripAdvisor for B2B”, as he calls it - to the UK.
Soft-launching in December 2009, Opinions (which is powered by Vinivi) will be rolled out fully in the first quarter of 2010 and backed by a marketing drive and incentive programme.
In France the project started modestly, with agents taking a few months to create 1,000 reviews. Moisan says the system then reached a kind of tipping point and the “second 1,000″ was reached within weeks.
Travelport is hoping agents on other GDS system will still use it. Between a quarter and a third of users in France are not Travelport subscribers, Moisan claims.
Kevin: I just had a look at Galileo Opinions. This is a step forward, as far as I can tell, because it combines agent reviews with travelers’ reviews. However, in looking at Galileo Opinions and when reading the reviews, it is difficult to differentiate which reviews are from travel agents and which ones are from consumers. It would be really worthwhile to know. Also, when you click on reviewers’ profiles, it doesn’t really say much about them. You can’t get a sense of who they are. Sites like these should be about community, and this one isn’t really about that.
On a side note, let’s see if there is any TripAdvisor-like outcry about whether some of these reviews are fakes. Again, there is no requirement here to certify whether a travel agent ever booked or even saw the hotel, or whether a traveler actually stayed there.
How have you found it? So far I think its really well designed and seems to be a nice little social ecosystem. I also want to win an ipod!
I could possibly have a bias though…
One other cool thing, once you sign up you automatically become a member of http://www.vinivi.co.uk . Little side benefit.
@Dennis : thanks for the feedback.
You are right : the community was the key to success in France, travel agents inviting each another on Opinions. In the UK and Ireland, this community is growing… at a faster pace. Meanwhile I agree with you : distinguishing type of reviews should be enhanced (soon).
Regarding user reviews, a service is proposed to OTAs and Travel Agents to gather their customer’s feedback through the Opinions Platform. Our belief is that combining identified professional feedback and certified user reviews is one of the interesting elements. Don’t you think ?
Gilles, from Vinivi
Gilles: Just saw your comment. Yes, I think certified user reviews and travel agent reviews, which are identified as such, would be a great combo. Let me know when you break them out and diffentiate them in the U.K. Is this coming to the U.S., as well?
Dennis
This is a UK roll out for now.
Jerome