Tripadvisor enables businesses to display "identity" attributes

In an effort to recognize and celebrate the diversity of the people who own the hotels and restaurants on its platform, Tripadvisor is adding functionality so those companies can display an “ identity attribute .”

Businesses in the United States and Canada can select from eight attributes such as Black-owned, Indigenous-owned, LGBTQIA+-owned and woman-owned. Tripadvisor says it selected these attributes based on research it conducted with 250,000 hotel and restaurant owners in the two countries.

Thirty-nine percent of business owners that responded to a Tripadvisor survey said they would use the attributes if available, with the highest interest coming from LGBTQ+-, Black-, Hispanic/Latinx- and Indigenous-owned businesses. The company says hundreds of businesses have already added an identity attribute to their profile during the test period.

“Representation is extremely important to the millions of businesses listed on our platform — and to the hundreds of millions of travelers and diners they serve,” says Kanika Soni, chief commercial officer at Tripadvisor.

“Enabling hotels and restaurants to celebrate their diversity is yet another way we deliver helpful guidance to those eager to support these businesses when visiting Tripadvisor.”

Tripadvisor says it hopes to make the attributes available to businesses in other locations and to add functions such as searchability in the future.

The platform is working with trade association and business advocacy groups to ensure hotel and restaurant owners are aware of this feature.