TripAdvisor just like the name suggests, has all the necessary information if you’re planning to travel to new places. From travel guides and trips, finding good restaurants and hotels to booking cheap flights TripAdvisor has it all.
For example, if you’re going to a popular tourist such as Rome, it suggests all of the things that you can do in Rome like places to see, events to attend, popular restaurants and hotels in Rome, etc.,
TripAdvisor Clone Site
TripAdvisor is a billion dollar company which employs thousands of engineers and developers to build and manage its website. It is impossible to clone TripAdvisor website’s script with limited resources. But we can build a clone website with some important features of TripAdvisor’s website. Let’s look at these features.
TripAdvisor Website Features
1. TripAdvisor Reviews
The main difference between TripAdvisor and other travel related websites is the TripAdvisor review system. It’s known for it’s reviews. You can review everything listed on their website like Hotels, Airlines, Trip Packages,
It also has Top 10 lists of things such as Hotels, Airlines, Restaurants, Attractions, Beaches, etc.,
Reviews are moderated and business owners can respond to the reviews. There is a good community standard for giving the reviews and responding to the reviews.
2.Listing
TripAdvisor could also be considered as a big travel directory with destinations, accommodations, events, tour packages, and many other travels based listings.
Local businesses such as restaurants, hotels, travel agencies, etc., in different cities all around the world can list their business on the TripAdvisor map so that tourists can see their business when planning for trips.
3. Smart Search and Filters
Another great thing about TripAdvisor is it’s advanced search feature. The searching algorithm includes all the listed businesses which are in proximity to the client, along with their ratings, and reviews. Users can also search by category or different combinations of filters, to filter out what amenities and other stuff they want.
4. Trip Planner
For a tourist who is using TripAdvisor, the Trip Planner is a very useful thing. You can create as many trips as a user needs, adding items by days, adding notes and comments. The entire trip with schedule planned with TripAdvisor.
5. Advertising
allows brands to display their banners and sponsored ads in the top-viewed placements on the website
How TripAdvisor Makes Money?
Isn’t that a billion dollar question?
TripAdvisor has made 1.6 billion dollars revenue in 2018. It has multiple streams of revenue, using many channels. It has four major revenue streams, they are,
1. Click based Advertising
Hotel Chain sites and booking sites like Booking.com, Yatra.com, etc., want to divert the traffic from TripAdvisor to their websites. They post advertisements of the services and deals they provide which are clicked by TripAdvisor users. They pay to TripAdvisor for every click that has been made in a time period.
2. Display Advertising
Business firms related to travel & tours ( transportation booking, accommodation booking, etc.,) and restaurants display their banner or any other shape ads of specific size that cover some space of webpage. They are charges for every time the banner is shown to the users.
3. Sponsored Listing
Some of the booking sites, hotels, restaurants and agencies paying TripAdvisor on regular basis for showing their information to get exposure to more customers and to find out more information of their services and direct contact details. They pay a regular subscription fees to TripAdvisor
4. Affiliate Model
TripAdvisor gets a commission for every successful stay / visit booked through their site. This also applys for the Air ticket booked from TripAdvisor.
Building a TripAdvisor Clone site to Make Money
You don’t need to replicate TripAdvisor exactly to make money from a review website like this. You need to figure out your channel for monetization from a travel review website and use the necessary tools.
Create a Travel Review Website with StarCat Reviews
If you want to create a review site where you want to write travel guides and allow your users to review these various attractions, restaurants, hotels and other stuff listed on your site.
Then you can create such a website with StarCat Reviews plugin which is an advanced review plugin for WordPress. It allows you to replicate the review system for TripAdvisor website.
Users can write reviews and upvote other reviews which they found helpful. In this way, you can create a user review community of travelers.
In this way, you can earn money from displaying sponsored listings and reviews, click-based advertising and affiliate commissions.
Create a Booking Site with Homey Theme
If you want to earn commission from booking of restaurants, hotels, events and other businesses, then you additionally need a booking WordPress theme along with StarCat Reviews.
Homey is a WordPress booking theme for creating a rental business platform. The best thing about this theme is that, it takes care of all your booking needs. So you don’t have to buying any other booking WordPress plugins; hence, it cost-effective.
If you want to include the bookings feature in your TripAdvisor clone site, Homey is the best option for you. It takes care of all the bookings automatically. it even counts your commissions and pays the business owners the amount reduced from your commissions.
Advanced Search and Filters
It also has an advanced search feature and along with good sorting and filtering options. These features will give your users a TripAdvisor like experience.
Prices and Fees
A very important feature required in a Booking site is Price management. This is where Homey theme excels and it allows you to fix variety of prices varying from day to day and even for every hour. For example you can set, Nightly Prices, Hourly Prices, Long-Term Prices, Weekend Prices, and many more.
Other Booking Sites Syncing
Homey Rental theme can be integrated with iCal to sync with Bookings.com, Airbnb and other booking websites. It is necessary if you want to sync your booking calendar so that the same room/home is not booked on multiple websites simultaneously.
What do you think of this post? Have you tried the WordPress themes and plugins mentioned here? How did you create your TripAdvisor clone website?
is there any I can create Trip planning feature in WordPress
Please let me know I want it desperately please let me