Florence historical train station Stazione Leopolda , now turned into a convention center, was the locale for the 2009 edition of the Buy Tourism Online Tradeshow (16-17 November). The B.T.O. is an Italian web 2.0 and online tourism tradeshow which central theme is TOURISM 2.0, the phenomenon that is radically changing the dynamics of supply and demand in the entire range of tourist accommodation.

Many speakers introduced a choice of points of Web 2.0 and social networking that ned to be taken in consideration in the hotel industry. One of the most worthy of note was the speech delivered by TripAdvisor(c)’s Roberto Frua. Frua’s main point was how social media, and mainly TripAdvisor(c), can assist hoteliers in their marketing strategies.

Web 2.0, or consumer-based internet content, is a reality and it is very dynamic in the tourism industry. TripAdvisor(c), with its over 30 million traveler reviews, is an indispensable tool to monitor what it is being said about your property and take action. Monitoring and responding to your hotel’s reviews are essential in modern hotel business. More than ever if the reviews are negative, the hotelier should first of all be aware of the post and secondly come up with a satisfactory response. In order to facilitate this task, Tripadvisor(c) has introduced the Owner Center, built to help management teams from hotels, restaurants and attractions manage and optimize their properties’ presence on the portal.

By accessing to the Owner Center, hoteliers are able to provide and update information about their hotels and most of all keep track of their reviews and respond in an opportune manner. It actually helps to save time on a very time-consuming job. Managers can see their performance on the customer satisfaction index and also keep an eye on how their direct competitors are performing.

Today TripAdvisor(c) is one of the best ways for hoteliers to engage with their past and future guests. The Web 2.0 revolution is that consumers have their say and what they think about your property is visible to the entire online community. It is a blunder to disregard this reality that may hurt the hotel standing and image in the World Wide Web. Be it by means of the useful Owner Center or not, it is indeed worthwhile to observe what is being expressed about your property in TripAdvisor(c) and reply: The first move to being part of any online community is to listen to the conversation, and then to join in.