Local answer to TripAdvisor reports massive growth
UAE-based hotel and venue review site YaDig plans to launch an Arabic platform in June, having reported 500% growth in pageviews and users in 2012.
The site, which was launched by Emirati Saif Al Zarouni in November 2010, had 3000 users registered or signed up (registered meaning contributing reviews; signed-up receiving weekly newsletters) on January 15 compared to just over 15,000 today, according to marketing director and part owner Andrew Miller. Pageviews are said to have grown from 140,000-plus in January to nearly 600,000 pageviews this month, attributed to increased digital marketing by YaDig and growing user demand.
“YaDig is the largest and most active reviewing community in the Middle East. The site is a free tool for peer-to-peer sharing of advice which we feel is the next major land grab in the online game here,” Miller told Hotelier Middle East.
He said the site was “quickly becoming the local version of TripAdvisor for hotels in the region” working with brands including Jumeirah Group and The Address Hotels + Resorts, but added that YaDig did not intend to compete with TripAdvisor on a global scale.
“To run a successful marketing department for a hotel you need to incorporate TripAdvisor to influence your international guests to come and stay at your property, but where do you turn to similarly for your local customers? YaDig is the answer.
“We have one of the largest and certainly the fastest-growing audiences of local, potential repeat customers for hotels and their venues anywhere in the Middle East,” added Miller. "TripAdvisor also has no local support office and YaDig prides itself on the support we give to businesses”.
Earlier this year, the UK Advertising Standards Authority banned international portal TripAdvisor from claiming all reviews on the site were real, following complaints that some hoteliers had posted fake comments on the site to boost their own business or sabotage that of others.
Addressing such concerns, Miller said: “We check every single potentially fake review and have a near foolproof way of spotting the false or overly malicious reviews.”
The site is live across the Middle East, with 85% of traffic currently coming from the UAE. In some countries such as Bahrain and Qatar, the site is live as a hotel and restaurant directory only.
“Saudi Arabia and Egypt will be very exciting this summer, once we go live in Arabic,” commented Miller on the company’s growth plans.
“Currently and for the short-medium term the site is entirely free for businesses to use as well so any hotel, and all their venues (that are already listed on the site), can ‘claim’ their businesses,” he explained.
“Once claimed they can edit their details and contact information, add deals, events, promotions and even respond directly to reviews of local people living in the cities they operate in. A really cool feature that no one else has, hotels can amass a following and send messages direct to the follower’s email inbox to announce a special offer etc,” added Miller.
According to Miller, the site currently has 250 UAE venues claimed out of more than 10,000 UAE venues listed in the site, but more and more hotels are said to be claiming their pages each week.
Claimed pages show a seal of approval that YaDig has vetted the business claim, leaving the hotel or outlet to manage their page and engage with their audiences. (For an example of an unclaimed hotel page click here compared to a claimed page here - as seen on May 21).