TripAdvisor for Business, the business-to-business unit of the travel and hospitality Web site, stopped at the Hotel Palomar in Washington yesterday for the 20th installment of its worldwide Master Class education series, which launched last November in New York City. The company created the one-day education events to provide hoteliers with tips and support on maximizing their property’s exposure to attract customers.
“Brian Payea, our head of industry relations, has been with us for many years, attending industry events and hosting webinars for hoteliers,” said brand marketing specialist Meghan McMahon. “These [classes] are a response to what we were hearing at those events, which was that hoteliers and businesses want more direct contact with TripAdvisor, and we thought this was a great way to get them that face time.”
The classes have been executed in cities around the country, such as Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago, and Miami, as well as in Latin America and nine cities in Europe and Asia. “We try to target the top hospitality regions where there is a large amount of hospitality business and tourists are looking to go,” McMahon said.
Coordinated by the Michael Alan Group, the day included mirrored three-hour morning and afternoon sessions for about 125 people with presentations from hospitality experts Payea, hotel consultant and author Daniel Craig, TripAdvisor business development manager V.J. Kelley, and Michael Hayward, C.E.O. of web analytics consulting firm R.O.I. Labs. TripAdvisor hosted a special luncheon for speakers, event staffers, sponsor DestinationDC’s representatives, and media in attendance between the two sessions.
Coordinators also created a TripAdvisor Engagement Station for attendees to utilize during the 15-minute breaks between speakers during each session. The area included three activities: the Management Center, where they could check out the newest features of the site’s publishing and tracking tool; Help Desk to ask questions about their company’s TripAdvisor listing; and TripAdvisor Trivia to test their knowledge about the site.
