Why do I love Trip Advisor so much (reason no. 34)

I didn't always like Trip Advisor as I do now. It used to be a huge billaboard with too much information and no reasonable order, one of the less usable e-tourism sites on the web. The site's designers and HCI people did a very good job lately in facing the challange of turning such a monstrous website in terms of content into something digestible, so today wer'e talking of a totally different website (at least for me). But this is not why I love Trip Advisor so much, it's just an introduction. Here it comes:

I love Trip Advisor because the people there know very well how to utilize the excellent content they get from users all around the world, as can be seen in their latest "Travalers' Choice" list. This list is basically a collection of sentences users wrote about their favourite destinations, in addition to some nice images - nothing more. The guys in Trip Advisor harnessed the power they get from their users for the site's marketing efforts, and the result is absolutely beautiful (download your pdf file here).

This case demonstrates how even user generated content sites need the guidance and the management of professional editors. Sure, I can write a nice review about the last hotel I stayed in, it will be published and a week later will get lost under 40 others. My review can get some more screen time with editorial projects such as the above, and plenty of other users will actually see it. A few of them might even book the hotel (and you should, it's a real NYC bargain).

One word regarding the file's design: why start with the top 100 destinations list, when what's on offer is a long, boring list of numbers and names of places? the regional lists with the users' comments are the real thing, and should have opened the project. Still, good job.