TripAdvisor already offers users assistance in booking flights, accommodation, activities, and restaurant reservations, and soon the site will also provide an easy means of ordering food online. The service is partnering with GrubHub to implement instantaneous access to delivery menus from its website and its mobile app.
When TripAdvisor started out, it was a destination for user reviews pertaining to all aspects of travel. Offering bookings directly from the site was an obvious evolution, and now the company is seeking to expand the services it provides to users who are visiting an unfamiliar place.
Whether you’re away on business, or traveling for pleasure, TripAdvisor wants to be your first port of call for anything and everything you may need during your excursion. That means that if you decide to skip room service and grab some takeout, the site will give you options on what’s good in the local area, and the ability to order your meal.
However, you won’t be ordering directly via TripAdvisor, according to a report from VentureBeat. The service will instead link to GrubHub, with eateries that have signed up for the delivery platform being accompanied by an “order online” button when they’re included in TripAdvisor search results.
This seems to be a mutually beneficial arrangement for the two companies. TripAdvisor benefits from being able to serve users with another strand of recommendations for the place they’re visiting, and GrubHub stands to pick up a chunk of extra business from travelers in search of good eats.
Of course, the fact that GrubHub is a tried-and-tested food delivery platform will inspire confidence from the hungry user making the order, whereas ordering food directly from TripAdvisor might seem a little strange.
At least to begin with, this functionality will be restricted to restaurants within the United States. Tens of thousands of eateries across 1,100 cities are set to be included in TripAdvisor’s listings.
