2 days ago
Tripadvisor launches a free loyalty program offering cash back for app users
Welcome to a new form of currency: trip cash. It's rolling out now from Tripadvisor, and you'll keep it in a digital wallet in their app.
Tripadvisor has long been a place to share reviews of restaurants, hotels and attractions in a way that helps travelers benefit from each other's experience. Now comes the next stage of the travel guidance platform: a new loyalty program. This free app-based program called Tripadvisor Rewards will give you, essentially, cash back when you use it for bookings. Now, you won't get cold hard cash, but you will get, uh, warm soft cash that you can use in the app to book more trips, as if it was real money.
Right now to encourage you to join in the app, Tripadvisor will give you $30 off booking a 'things to do.' And thereafter, you'll get five percent in trip cash for every eligible hotel and experience booking you make, which Tripadvisor promises is 'redeemable dollar-for-dollar with no blackout dates, no confusing tiers, and no hidden rules.' For instance, if you spend $100 on a booking, you'll earn 5 trip cash units, which is $5 you can apply to a future booking.
And even better: it's not just the people booking trips who earn the rewards; it's also reviewers, planners and researchers. You'll get bonus trip cash for planning trips, uploading photos, engaging with others on the forums and writing reviews. Tripadvisor will be rolling out special challenges now and then that will require you to do 'certain actions' for bonus trip cash—sounds a little dirty. These challenges will be announced in your inbox or in the online wallet where your trip cash is stored.
If you're already part of Tripadvisor, you're automatically enrolled; you just need to download or open the app to start earning. If you only use Tripadvisor on a desktop and don't want to download the app on your phone, you'll miss out on earning the rewards. If you already have rewards you've earned before the advent of this program, they carry over, converted into trip cash.
