TripAdvisor has launched an integration with Facebook that instantly personalises the site for each person who visits, surfacing trusted reviews from friends, most popular destinations among friends, and an interactive social map.

Published: 23 Dec 2010

TripAdvisor has launched an integration with Facebook that instantly personalises the site for each person who visits, surfacing trusted reviews from friends, most popular destinations among friends, and an interactive social map.

Facebook has shared that when a user visits TripAdvisor while logged into Facebook, the site will become the same user’s personalised travel planner, complete with friends’ reviews, a map showing places friends have visited, and a list of their most popular destinations.

Facebook partnered with TripAdvisor to help users tap their friends’ travel experiences as they plan their trip.

Citing an example on Facebook’s blog, Tiffany Chang Black, who works with Facebook's strategic partners, said, “When you’re researching a location, hotel or restaurant, you’ll see friends’ reviews first, so you can make better vacation decisions. And if you need some inspiration, the new personalised TripAdvisor home page will now show a world map with all the places friends have said they’ve been using TripAdvisor's Cities I've Visited app. Don’t just look through your friends’ vacation photos on Facebook; get tips from them and go on your own adventure.”

“TripAdvisor is a new instant personalisation partner and becomes customised for you by using your public information and list of friends from Facebook to show you friends' reviews and other content you might find interesting,” said Tiffany.

There are three levels of travel inspiration with this integration. First, travellers can see a map on the homepage revealing where their friends have been, to inspire them to visit a new destination. Travellers can also visit a destination’s tourism page on TripAdvisor to uncover all the valuable, insightful comments written by people they know. And if travellers are researching a particular hotel, restaurant, or attraction, they will first see reviews written by their friends about that place. Through Facebook, people will also have the power to control how and which information is shared.

Steve Kaufer, founder and CEO of TripAdvisor, said, “More than half of TripAdvisor users have a Facebook account, and we wanted to make it easier for them to find the most relevant and social content quickly and share the experience with their friends. Today’s launch is an evolution of TripAdvisor’s social integrations with Facebook, from the Cities I've Visited app to the Trip Friends feature, and we look forward to seeing even more trips planned with friends on the site.”

Travellers will only see the advice of their Facebook friends that permit TripAdvisor and Facebook to show their reviews on TripAdvisor. Travellers that do not want access to their friends’ travel advice, or don’t want their reviews to be seen by their friends, can simply choose to opt-out of this feature.