Do NOT sign up for Tripadvisor Plus ($99/yr) unless you enjoy throwing away your hard-earned money. I’m surprised and disappointed that a reputable company like Tripadvisor decides to run its business this way.Tripadvisor Plus is an online travel agency (OTA) that gives you highly discounted hotel rooms because they pass on the OTA’s commission to you in savings. A great idea in theory. But many problems in practice. My experience included: (1) hotel chain not finding my reservation in their system, (2) Tripadvisor phone support hanging up before I could get connected, (3) Tripadvisor claiming that a room is non-refundable even though their own conformational email said that it’s refundable. Some would call this growing pains but personally I think they’re trying to see what they can get away with — after all, Tripadvisor owns Viator, which has been in the OTA business for years.
