Washington - Kosta's Pizza and Seafood has received high marks from TripAdvisor reviewers.
The diners rave about the baked haddock, pita bread and pizza. But none of the commenters acknowledge the historic significance of the Boston-area restaurant.
In 2000, a software engineer and some pals created an axis-shifting travel website above the Needham business. Appropriately, TripAdvisor.com came to life in a room smelling of Italy.
A lot has changed since the hatchling days above the pizzeria. Back then, co-founder Steve Kaufer and his wife searched in vain for independent reviews of resorts in Mexico, the vacation that inspired the site. The couple relied on glossy brochures supplied by a commission-driven travel agent. Today, the Kaufers, plus millions of other travelers, can sift through 250 million unvarnished reviews and opinions, including 160 new submissions a minute.
Last month, TripAdvisor moved into splashy headquarters less than three miles from its birthplace. Nearly 900 employees work in the $120-million building, which will eventually accommodate hundreds of new hires. The company also owns or manages more than two dozen travel media businesses, such as Cruise Critic, SeatGuru, Jetsetter and FlipKey.
Without question, TripAdvisor has become a monster. Not a mean ogre that eats all of your Girl Scout cookies but a friendly, helpful beast that accompanies countless travelers on their vacations.
“Travellers are much better off today than they have ever have been,” said Adam Medros, the company's senior vice president of global product. “The traveler is empowered to make their trips amazing and not 'oh-it-was-okay.' “
This summer, the annual study “Portrait of American Travellers,” by travel marketing company MMGY, highlighted the barrelling trend of user-generated content. Forty-one percent of about 2 800 respondents said they visited a travel review site for destination information, up 7 percent from last year. Only 37 percent said they relied on friends and family for trip ideas. In addition, more than half of the participants said they trust review sites over ratings by such established opinionators as AAA and Forbes.
“TripAdvisor has freed me from dependence on any individual or company that wants to profit from my choices,” said Ginny Cunningham, who has used the site for more than a decade. “Frommer's, Fodor's and travel agents are great, but they're exceedingly limited in the real-life feedback they offer.”
To understand how the company has altered the vacation-planning universe, I journeyed to Planet TripAdvisor. I found hotel managers who start the day by reading reviews written by recent guests and travelers who feed the community with hundreds of postings. I also gained a deeper understanding of the company's own journey, a multi-part adventure that involves exploring uncharted territory as well as revisiting well-trod paths.
TripAdvisor: This is your review.
TripAdvisor HQ sits in an office park off Route 128, surrounded by Coca-Cola trucks belonging to the neighbour bottling plant. The brick building with a soaring glass wall doesn't scream New Media Lives Here, but telltale signs abound. A drone hovered overhead. A row of parking spots were reserved for job applicants. Two guys in floppy shorts played Frisbee near a Roman-style amphitheatre that hosts bands.
I followed Matthew Gabree, director of global office experience, into the lobby, a playful space with vintage luggage used as shelving, a tower of Rubik's cubes and a world map made of travel photos. In the background, a TV touted the company's benefits: happy hours, free lunches, summer-casual Fridays. (I visited on a Wednesday, which felt like a Friday, so the end of the week must be as liberating as the Fourth of July.)
“We wanted it to feel like a hotel reception,” said Gabree, who appeared surprisingly formal in pants and a button-down.
Staying on-theme, Gabree showed me TripAdvisor's version of the hotel gym, a bright workout facility with cardio machines, weights and a yoga/pilates/spinning studio. He introduced me to a virtual trainer named Wellbeats — for when you only have 20 minutes to squeeze in your kickboxing training.
In the building's atrium, stadium-style seating rose like Machu Picchu. At the peak, “embalmed” vegetation mimicked green walls, an eco-update of plastic vines. In the game room, Gabree pointed out the fraternity house diversions, including Atari, ping-pong, craft brew taps and a wall-size mural of superheroes.
“Sometimes you just want to play shuffleboard and have a beer,” he said.
In the Hungry Owl (see: company logo), the kitchen staff prepares a global-cuisine-of-the-day; last Wednesday was Germany. There is also a grill station, 30-foot salad bar and gas-fired pizza station, a nod to the company's origins. Snack hubs provide all-day fixes of cereal, chips and coffee.
In the more traditional workspaces, I saw pods of employees glued to their computers and hunched over laptops. One worker typed with a dog on his chest. No loud voices (or barks) broke the deep concentration.
Every floor is named after a continent (Europe) or region (the Americas). Visiting each level is an immersive experience. The furnishings, artwork and even the decorative plants all capture the flavor of the destination. In the “South Pacific,” for example, an arrow points to the “dunny,” Australian slang for toilet. In “Africa,” Gabree and I passed Mauritius.
“One day,” he said wistfully, “I'll get there.”
He was not referring to the conference room.
Andrea Sachs, Washington Post