NEWTON, Mass., May 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- eCornell, Cornell University's subsidiary for online education, together with TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site*, today announced the release of a free reputation management course for the hospitality industry.

"Managing Your Online Reputation with TripAdvisor" was co-developed by TripAdvisor and eCornell and leverages research from Cornell University's world-renowned School of Hotel Administration and faculty insights.

In the three-hour course, hoteliers will receive guidance and learn best practices from Cornell and TripAdvisor industry leaders about how to monitor and improve their property's online reputation. The course focuses on building strategies and action plans for reputation management that ultimately drive bookings and revenue. The following topics are addressed in the curriculum:

• Explain the importance of online reputation management to colleagues and peers
• Take steps to assess your online reputation
• Use methods for responding to online customer feedback
• Understand the correlation between online reputation and revenue
• Employ helpful tactics for incorporating customer feedback into day-to-day operations
• Develop an action plan for managing your property's online reputation based on best practices from Cornell and TripAdvisor

"As travel planning and booking become more dependent on online traveler reviews and opinions, online reputation management is paramount for property owners," said Brian Payea, Head of Industry Relations, TripAdvisor. "We're committed to helping businesses maximize their presence on TripAdvisor, which is why we partnered with eCornell to bring free, world-class educational content to hospitality professionals around the world."

"Together, eCornell and the School of Hotel Administration have been providing professional development and training for hoteliers for more than a decade. Our courses in marketing, social media, brand management, and reputation management all enable hotels and travel organizations to drive more bookings and increase revenues," says Chad Oliveiri, VP of Content and Partnerships at eCornell. "So this partnership with TripAdvisor is a natural fit."

Course enrollment in "Managing Your Online Reputation with TripAdvisor" is free and available to hoteliers and B&Bs around the world. Click here to enroll in the course.

About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor^® is the world's largest travel site*, enabling travellers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travellers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching nearly 260 million unique monthly visitors**, and more than 150 million reviews and opinions covering more than 4 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 39 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) manages and operates websites under 22 other travel media brands: www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.everytrail.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.gateguru.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com,  www.onetime.com, www.oyster.com, www.seatguru.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travelpod.com, www.tripbod.com, www.vacationhomerentals.com, www.virtualtourist.com, and www.kuxun.cn. 

*Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, Q1 2014

**Source: Google Analytics, average monthly unique users, Q1 2014; does not include traffic to daodao.com

About eCornell
eCornell, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cornell University, provides many of the world's leading organizations with online professional and executive development in the areas of leadership and management; human resource management; financial management; healthcare; marketing; and hospitality and foodservice management. eCornell's proven course development model and asynchronous instructor-led course delivery provide students with an engaging, rigorous, and interactive learning experience. eCornell has delivered online courses to more than 50,000 students across more than 200 countries. For more information, visit ecornell.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080902/TRIPADVISORLOGO

SOURCE TripAdvisor