In short, “Napa Valley” is being hidden by Tripadvisor, and almost all searches end up in Napa, the city.  This means 30 hotels are being listed, when there’s 65 options throughout the Valley, and the searching consumer may not be savvy enough to understand “Napa” isn’t the region, but just the city (as proven by search terms and keywords).
 
Pardon the lengthy data filled email, but it’s likely quite important. Let me know your thoughts, and happy to e-meet you, with a deluge of information. =)  Some of the data was sent to a rep at Tripadvisor, but I never got an answer. Maybe you’ll have better luck!
 
——–> Here we go more in depth, in the hopes of being able to gain a dialogue with Google or Tripadvisor in some manner:———————–———————————>
 
“Napa” is the town. To the uneducated world, it’s the region, and likely used interchangeably with “Napa Valley”. People booking probably don’t realize when they are searching “napa hotels” that they are only seeing a limited option for the valley, as they look solely at the city alone.
 
 
The Napa city listings: Page one is 30 Napa City hotels, Page 2 is B&B and VRBO/AirBnB type Napa City (NOT VALLEY) listings. —> https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g32766-Napa_Napa_Valley_California-Hotels.html
 
 
St. Helena’s Wine Country Inn doesn’t (obviously) show up in Napa city listings.  But it does show up in the listings for **NAPA VALLEY** hotels, not St. Helena. WCI is the #14 hotel out of 65 in *NAPA VALLEY*. But this page of listings is nearly impossible to find in google search or on the website –> https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g580460-Napa_Valley_California-Hotels.html
 
 
Not knowing how normal people use TA, how the heck does a user end up on Napa Valley vs “Napa”??  If one was to ignorantly search for “Napa hotels” in google, the 1st Tripadvisor link that comes up is for the 30 hotels in Napa, and bypasses completely the “Napa Valley” region page (see image below).  I can’t imagine how many people are shocked by how big the region is when they finally arrive.
 
 
You also have the data, but in looking at search terms, Napa far outweighs people being educated enough to use “Valley” in their search term, unless they are from the Bay Area.  So Napa City taking all the searches is limiting the exposure of the entire Valley to first time or uneducated searchers/consumers.
 
Data is here, but pics below:
 
 

Most people aren’t aware of the difference between Napa Valley and Napa the city. It’s interchangeable, and consumers are missing out b/c of this.

 
The below page (#1) is when you look at California on TA. link: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g28926-California-Vacations.html
 
I get it is “cities”. But Napa is 30 hotels.  Shouldn’t this page lead to Napa Valley hotels, and not just Napa city hotels?  It’s losing the consumer a lot of options.
 
 

#1

 
 
 
 
 
Then, If you are on the Tripadvisor California “popular destinations” (screenshot #2), to confirm that people think “napa” and “napa valley” are the same, an engineer or someone who doesn’t get the area has the listing as “Napa” and it leads to the Napa City page of 30 hotels. That misses out on 35 other world class, far better properties in the Napa Valley page. And Napa Valley is the destination.  Very few people want downtown Napa…. but you’re site doesn’t give any inkling or info that they are looking at the city vs the larget community they definitely want.
 
 
#2
 
 
Then (screenshot #3), when you search google for “Napa Valley Hotels”, the link that pops up is Napa city hotels, just 30 vs the Napa Valley page with 65 hotels. This is likely my biggest issue.
 
So, the question… when and how would someone *EVER* be able to find that Napa Valley hotel page with 65 hotels?
 
It’s not from organic search. It’s not from drilling down from California, either via city links or popular destinations… TA search seems to take you there, but with so much info on the pages, I am sure people get lost quickly, and don’t search.
 
The main issue is education: people use napa to mean napa valley, so it’s not likely they find it there too often.  So if nothing else, tell me how a user would find that Napa Valley Hotel page?
 
 
#3
 
 
 
 
I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to find it normally through all sorts of search, and it’s a mystery to me. I can only find it by backing out of one of our hotels on the hyperlinked and tiny menus (screenshot #4), or if I am a savvy in the know traveler, through your little search bar, when I know to use the term “Valley”.
 
Where and how would someone ever come across the “Napa Valley Hotel” page???
I’ve got to assume your data shows the traffic to Napa vs Napa Valley is far greater, while Napa Valley has more selection and better hotels.
 
Just curious if this was a UI decision, or it’s a mistake that can be fixed. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!
#4

About Michael

No Comments

Be the first to start a conversation

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.