How the site works

1.What are the criteria to be listed on TripAdvisor?

In order to be listed on TripAdvisor, accommodations must meet all of the following criteria:

• Must be open to the general public
• Must have an official name
• Must have an official address at a single and permanent location
• Must be open for 12 consecutive weeks of the year at a single and permanent location
• Must have multiple rooms/units
• Must be able to accommodate more than one guest/group of guests at a time
• Must not require guests to stay more than 7 nights
• Must be currently open or taking reservations for a future opening date

To be listed in the hotel category, an accommodation must also meet all of the following criteria:

• A front desk is open and staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Check-in hours can have a start time, but should not have a designated end time
• Daily housekeeping is included in the room rate
• Private bathroom for each unit
• Must not require guests to stay more than 3 nights

In select countries, some specially-designated accommodations are displayed with Hotels. These accommodations are editorially selected and not available by request. Currently, these include Onsen Hotel, Onsen Ryokan, and Ryokan, all in Japan.

To be listed in the B&B and Inns category, an accommodation must also meet all of the following criteria:

• Daily housekeeping is included in the room rate
• Must not require guests to stay more than 3 nights

We may, on a case-by-case basis, allow B&Bs with only one room. To qualify, the accommodation must be locally licensed to operate as a B&B, and it must be listed with local tourism authorities.

To be listed in the Specialty Lodging category, an accommodation must meet our accommodation listing guidelines. Any accommodation that offers shared (dorm-style) rooms will be considered a hostel and will be listed in Specialty Lodging.

In order to be listed on TripAdvisor, restaurants must meet all of the following criteria:

• Must serve prepared food
• Must be open to the public
• Must be open on a regularly scheduled basis
• Must be open for at least 12 consecutive weeks of the year
• Must be stationary and have a permanent address (Food trucks may be listed as long as their schedule and locations are posted online. Requests must include a valid website for confirmation.)

In order to be listed on TripAdvisor, airlines must meet the following criteria:

• Operate a scheduled service under their own brand
• Publish fares or schedules to the public
• Operate a service that transports a passenger from one point to another
• Has been in commercial operation for a minimum of 60 days

In order to be listed on TripAdvisor, attractions must meet the following criteria.

Permanent attractions:

• Must be of interest to tourists
• Must be family-friendly
• Must abide by our animal policy
• Must have an official name and a permanent address
• Must be open and available to the general public on a regularly scheduled basis
• Must be open for at least 12 consecutive weeks of the year (Exception: Performances must operate at one venue for at least 24 consecutive weeks of the year)
• Must be currently open or taking reservations for a future opening date

Tours, cruises, and classes:

• Must be of interest to tourists
• Must be family-friendly
• Must abide by our animal policy
• Must have an official name and published phone number or email
• Must be a tour company, not an individual tour
• Must operate for at least 12 consecutive weeks of the year
• Must have an official website that offers a sample itinerary, which includes:
• duration of tour
• description of what is included in the tour
• name of the city where the tour departs
• If offering classes, must offer single-day classes

For vacation rentals properties to be listed on TripAdvisor, there are no specific listing criteria.

Hotels, restaurants and airlines are listed free of charge and once listed on the website, businesses are not delisted, except where noted below. Our policy regarding establishments closing or changing address can be found here. 

Landmarks, places of interest and tour operators are listed free of charge, irrespective of commercial relationships. Tours and activities will be bookable on TripAdvisor only if the suppliers of such tours and activities contract with one of TripAdvisor’s affiliate companies to have their products available for bookings or reservations through the TripAdvisor site, or otherwise if the listing is displayed as part of a commercial licensing arrangement with a third party business.

Vacation rental properties are listed only if the owner/manager contracts with one of TripAdvisor’s affiliate companies as an advertiser, or otherwise if the listing is displayed as a part of a commercial licensing arrangement with a third party business.

The results displayed are not necessarily exhaustive of all offers that may be available, whether on the Internet or otherwise.

2. What are our policy and criteria for ranking?

Hotels and restaurants are currently ranked in the following ways:

• “Traveler Ranking” or “Ranking”: ranks the top rated hotels or restaurants, as the case may be, based on user input on TripAdvisor. Results are ranked on the basis of the 'Popularity Index' , which is based on the quality, date and quantity of reviews an establishment receives from users.

When restaurants are filtered by sub-category (for instance : type of cuisine, dinner, local cuisine, etc), then within this sub-category they are ranked according to the Popularity Index. This is the same for the subcategory of bookable table and/or for which a special offer is applied.

• “ Best value ” ranks the establishments using exclusive TripAdvisor data, including traveller ratings, confirmed availability from our partners, prices, booking popularity, location and personal user preferences.
• “Lowest prices”: ranks the establishments according to the prices currently offered through our partners.
• “Distance”: ranks first the establishments closest to the applicable city center with confirmed availability for your dates from our partners.
• “Name”: ranks the establishments by alphabetical order
• “Featured”: ranks the establishments using exclusive TripAdvisor data, including traveler ratings, confirmed availability from our partners, prices, booking popularity, location and personal user preferences. It also takes into account the compensation paid to us by accommodations and booking sites.
• “Availability” ranks the establishments based on the confirmed availability from our partners and also on « Ranking " (See above).
•  “Friends first”: first ranks the establishments for which your Facebook friends have posted a notice or pinned as having been visited. Learn more.
• “Relevance”: classifies the establishments that best match users' preferences

Things to Do are currently ranked in the following ways:

• “Traveller Ranking”: ranks places of interest and/or tour operators on TripAdvisor, based on traveller reviews in accordance with the Popularity Index, using the same method as stated above.
• “Book Online”: ranks places of interest and/or tour operators on TripAdvisor, promoting those where there is at least one tour or activity available to book on TripAdvisor. 
• “Relevance”: ranks places of interest based on how well we think they suit the category selected.
• “Popularity” or “Default”: ranks tours, activities and experiences bookable on TripAdvisor, using exclusive TripAdvisor data including reviews, ratings, photos, popularity, user preferences, price, and bookings made through TripAdvisor.
• “Lowest Price”: ranks tours, activities and experiences bookable on TripAdvisor, ranked based on the prices offered by our partners.
• “Name”: ranks tours, activities and experiences bookable on TripAdvisor in alphabetical order.

Vacation rental properties are currently ranked in the following ways:

• "Default" ranks vacation rental property listings using various TripAdvisor data, including the popularity of the property based on traveller ranking; quantity of photos and reviews; price in relation to similar properties; advertiser’s responsiveness, and bookings made through TripAdvisor.

When vacation rental properties are searched in a sort order other than Default, then within each sort order, they are ranked according to the Default sort order.

• “Book Online”: ranks properties based on the Default ranking, promoting those properties that are bookable online on TripAdvisor.
• “Price (Low to high/ High to low)”: ranks properties based on price, in the order selected.
• “Traveller Rating”: ranks properties based on the overall traveller rating.
• “Bedrooms (Most to least/ Least to most)”: ranks properties based on the number of bedrooms, in the order selected.
• “# Booked”: ranks properties based on the number of bookings received through our platforms.
• “# of reviews”: ranks properties based on the number of reviews of the property.
• “# of photos”: ranks properties based on the number of photos on the listing.

Flights are currently ranked in the following ways:

• “Price”: ranks the results according to the prices currently offered by our partners.
• “Flyscore”: ranks results based on the quality of the aircraft, amenities, flight duration, and TripAdvisor reviews.
• “Duration”: ranks based on total estimated flight time from departure to arrival.
• “Best Value”: ranks the best combination of price, flight duration, and sometimes factors such as additional fees.
• “Time”: ranks the results either the arrival or departure time.

3. No ownership of any listed businesses

TripAdvisor does not own any of the businesses listed on its site.

See here the list of websites managed and operated by TripAdvisor and/or its affiliate companies.

4. Compensation

Except where described above, travel and hospitality businesses are listed on TripAdvisor for free.

Where price offers are provided for hotels, the ranking of price offers may depend in part on the price paid by affiliates who participate in our "cost-per-click" auction system.

Suppliers of tours, activities and experiences can be listed on TripAdvisor for free. If they wish to make a tour, activity or experience bookable through TripAdvisor or its affiliate companies, they must enter into an agreement with one of TripAdvisor’s affiliate companies, pursuant to which the suppliers are paid for bookings made through our platforms.

Some vacation rental property owners/managers advertise through TripAdvisor’s affiliate companies on a fixed cost subscription basis, and others pay for leads generated through their TripAdvisor listings. Some listings may appear on TripAdvisor as a result of licensing agreements with third party businesses who may charge us a fee for referring interested users to their websites to make bookings. The majority of advertisers, however, list their properties for free, and pay a commission when bookings are facilitated TripAdvisor’s and its affiliates’ online platforms.

Airlines are listed on TripAdvisor for free. TripAdvisor does not accept any compensation that could influence the rankings of flight for a given user search, as described above.

5. Commercial Relations

Partners can enter into a number of different kinds of direct commercial relationship with TripAdvisor if they wish, especially in order to be bookable online. Commercial relationships that partners may have with TripAdvisor may influence certain ranking methods as described above. However, they have no influence on TripAdvisor’s 'Popularity Index'.

Although Sponsored Placements may appear in and around a list of results, partners cannot buy their way to a particular place in any of the ranking methods described above. The advertising nature of these placements referenced for a fee is indicated by the label "Ad" or “Sponsored”.

6. Our Comparison and Booking Services

Hotels

TripAdvisor gives you the ability to search, compare and book hotels from professional third-party providers without leaving the TripAdvisor website.

The results displayed are not exhaustive of all the offers available on the Internet. TripAdvisor LLC displays results from data provided by its partners and is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of the information provided by these third-party providers and that it displays on its sites or applications, or content on other websites. The ranking of price offers for a particular property may depend in part on the price paid by our advertising partners participating in our "cost-per-click" auction system.

When you make a hotel reservation through the instant booking system – i.e. transactions completed entirely on the TripAdvisor website, as opposed to transactions taking place on third-party websites - we compile your payment information and send it to the vendor to complete the transaction, as described in our Privacy Policy. Please note that it is the provider, not TripAdvisor LLC, who processes your payment and accepts your reservation.

If you make a reservation with a third-party provider, you agree to read and comply with the terms and conditions of purchase and use of the provider's site (the "Terms and Conditions"), the Privacy Policy and any other rules or policies, including the policy relating to the site or the goods of the supplier. You are responsible for your interactions with third-party providers.

The price results that consumers see on TripAdvisor are provided by our business partners, such as online travel agencies, hotel chains and independent hoteliers. When a user enters his dates into our search function for that particular home (assuming that this business works with us or one of our business partners), our systems make an electronic "call" on the programming interface of application (API) provided by this trading partner. The partner then automatically gives us the relevant price information in real time, if there is availability.

For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Flights

For flights, the total prices include taxes and fees for one traveler as provided by our partners. For every travel flight listed, TripAdvisor does not guarantee any specific prices or rates. We recommend checking on the booking site for the exact amount requested as well as the currency. Consult our partners to find out more about the elements of the price included baggage fees, fare attributes and optional fees as well.

The price results that consumers see on TripAdvisor are provided by our business partners in real time for each search done by a user.

For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

Vacation Rentals and Things to Do

For vacation rentals and attractions booked on our site, the price payable is the total price, inclusive of taxes and fees. Prices are provided in real time for each search conducted by a user.

For vacation rentals, we offer a payment protection policy giving guests extra peace of mind when booking a rental through our website. It means that, subject to the terms of the policy, we will offer a refund for your stay if the guest is denied access to the property, or if the property is misrepresented (differing substantially to what was advertised), or as otherwise covered under the terms of the policy.

For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

7. Commercial guarantees and dispute resolution

None of the TripAdvisor companies offers any commercial guarantees. If you book a hotel, restaurant or flight, you should consult our partners to find out more about any commercial guarantees and dispute resolution methods they may offer. If you book a vacation rental property or a tour, activity or experience, the applicable TripAdvisor company that facilitated your booking will provide you with customer service in the event of a dispute, and will work with the owner of the property or supplier of the tour, activity or experience to help the parties reach a resolution.

For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.

8. Main features of review control

Before publication, each review goes through our automated tracking system, which collects for each a certain amount of information answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects an element in clear contradiction to our publication criteria, this notice is not published. The user is informed as well as the reason for the non-publication and is offered the opportunity to write another notice in accordance with our publication criteria.

When the system detects a problem with a review, it is marked for review and is then manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to maintain the quality of reviews on our site. Please note that in some cases, we will also send you an e-mail asking you to validate your opinion before it is published. You just have to click on the link provided in the e-mail. In certain circumstances (for example, if an owner/manager disputes a review), we might ask the reviewer of a vacation rental property to provide us with proof of their stay, to ensure that the review is attached to the correct property listing.

After publication, our team checks every notice reported to us by our community (establisments and users) as not meeting our publication criteria.

For more information on our anti-fraud policy please refer to our help center.

9. Our criteria for publishing traveler reviews

We want to ensure that TripAdvisor remains a reliable and secure source for our global community. For this purpose, and to ensure that your review is published as quickly as possible, make sure that it meets our publication criteria and that it is:

• for all,
• impartial
• relevant for travelers,
• the reflection of a first-hand experience,
• recent
• an original text,
• non-commercial,
• respectful of confidentiality,
• linked to the right property listed on TripAdvisor, and
• easy to read.

For reviews of vacation rental properties, there are additional publication criteria listed here. In summary, vacation rental reviews must also be:

• based on short-term stays,
• written after check-in,
• verifiable by the name on the rental contract, and
• written in relation to stays that can be evidenced by the reviewer.

Any review that does not meet these publication criteria will not be published.

If you did not respond to the verification emails we sent you, your review will not be posted.

If you have a question about a review that has not been published, you can contact us directly by clicking on the link here.

10. When will my review be published?

It usually takes 24 to 48 hours to see reviews on our site. The process can be longer if the review needs to be examined in more detail by our team of moderators. This may be the case if you add many photos to your review, or if you do not meet our criteria for posting reviews. It may also take longer if you review a vacation rental property that you booked through TripAdvisor or one of our affiliate company’s online platforms. See here for more info.

After sending, the title of your review appears in your profile, on the Review page, with the mention "Pending". You will receive an e-mail as soon as your review is published.

If we are unable to publish your review, you will be notified of the refusal and the reason for the non-publication. Please note that in some cases, we will also send you an e-mail asking you to validate your review before it is published. You just have to click on the link provided in the e-mail.

11. How long will my review be published?

Your review will be published indefinitely on our site. Your review will only be removed if you wish to delete it by contacting us or if our team of moderators has determined that this review did not meet our publication criteria.

When an establishment is removed from our site, all reviews are removed.

12. Can I be rewarded for a review?

No. Reviews written in exchange for personal benefits, such as gifts, services or money, will be removed.

Establishments are free to encourage their clients to post their reviews when they return home. However, no representative of the establishment can offer premium, discount, upgrade or special treatment for current or future stays in exchange for advice. If someone has offered you a reward for a review, please let us know.

In some cases, TripAdvisor may launch promotions to reward with badges and points contributors who have submitted eligible content over a particular time period, in a specific language or for a particular country, or who have used new TripAdvisor products or services. These programs are not intended to encourage the sending of reviews to a particular institution. All content sent as part of these promotions is accepted, whether positive, neutral or negative. They are subject to the same publication criteria, filters and procedures as all other reviews and content sent to TripAdvisor.

13. Is it possible to modify a review?

Once sent, your review can not be edited. If you would like to delete your review and make changes, please contact us, select "Delete My Review" or "Delete My Note" from the drop-down menu, and follow the instructions.

14. Will my review appear on other websites or publications?

After publication, all or part of the reviews written by our members may be used on some of our partner sites or in promotional materials generally.

For more information, read our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.

15. If I write a review about an establishment, can I be contacted about it?

Communicating a contributor's e-mail address to an owner, manager, or other person is against our privacy policy. Contributors remain anonymous unless they choose to publish their email address or contact information in a contribution, such as a review or message in a forum.

However, property owners or managers may contact you through TripAdvisor's private messaging system that allows TripAdvisor members to be in contact without providing an email address. Owners can use the messaging system to thank contributors, ask for other comments, legitimately attempt to resolve customer service issues, or (in the case of vacation rental property owners or managers) discuss a booking with a user, but they are not allowed to ask contributors to retract a review via the mailing system. messaging. It is also strictly forbidden to harass contributors.

For more information, see our rules for using private messaging.