Few destinations do peaceful, relaxing vacations quite like Bali. Nestled amid rice paddies outside of Ubud, luxury resort Arya Arkananta invites guests to slow down and find their inner center. This brand new hotel is already wowing their guests consistently — 98% of their reviews are five bubbles, out of a possible five — since their opening in the summer of 2022.

Opening a new hotel is always a challenge, but that’s especially true in a crowded market like Bali, with over 400 hotels in just 2,232 square miles — about the size of the state of Delaware. Resort manager Purwo Prayago chose to partner with Tripadvisor to help evolve their online presence and tell their property story.

“Once we opened Arya Arkananta last year, the main challenge was related to marketing. We were starting at the bottom with our online ranking, and we had very few reviews,” says Prayago.

“Tripadvisor is one of the biggest marketing tools to bring new property like Arya Arkananta online, and we knew it would help us achieve our goals.”

Using Tripadvisor Sponsored Placements and Business Advantage together, the Arya Arkananta team saw immediate success, boosting occupancy rate to 83% in just six months and landing in the top 20 hotels on the island. Here’s what that looked like:

Sponsored Placements helps attract more eyes

Travelers already had hundreds of options for resorts in Bali when the resort opened in mid-2022. With only a few guests (or reviews), Arya Arkananta wasn’t easy to find online. Prayago knew that once guests came to the resort, they’d be impressed — but they had to get to the hotel first.

Sponsored Placements allowed them to gain exposure right away, increasing their visibility by appearing above competitors on the search results page, as well as on local competitor pages, map views of search results, and more on Tripadvisor.

Using Sponsored Placements, Arya Arkananta built a steady stream of traffic to their Tripadvisor listing. Now that they’re more established, it’s just as useful to maintain that traffic. Says Prayago, “Sponsored Placements is one of the effective tools to apply whenever our traffic is low.”

Business Advantage convinces prospective guests to book

Once a potential guest arrives on Arya Arkananta’s Tripadvisor listing, they’re evaluating images, reviews, and more to make a decision on whether or not to book it for their trip.

With Business Advantage, properties can show off the best of what their hotel has to offer. This includes:

• Curating a customized Storyboard, a video slideshow of photos and reviews.
• Automatically pinning a Favorite Review from a recent guest.
• Adding Direct Links, to the hotel website and contact information so guests can book directly.
• Running up to three Special Offers designed to get guests excited about your property and encourage direct booking.

“Business Advantage is a set of really good tools to bring up our brand awareness,” says Prayago. “We can provide more details that showcase our property by using the Tripadvisor platform.”

Together, Arya Arkananta and Tripadvisor boosted occupancy rate to 83% in just 6 months

Most hotels take years to fully establish themselves in the market. Arya Arkananta, with the help of Tripadvisor, took just six months. Since partnering with Tripadvisor, they’ve:

Sponsored Placements and Business Advantage work together at different points in the traveler decision-making process to encourage travelers to book your hotel.