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Can today s do-it-yourself vacation planner be converted to tomorrow s loyal travel advisor client?
Tripadvisor, the premier consumer user-review site in travel, thinks so, and it hopes to profit from a platform it has dubbed Reco, which can connect its hundreds of millions of users to an appropriate trip-planning specialist.
A vetted group of 300 advisors, or trip designers, as Tripadvisor calls them, who have road-tested the concept see promise for profit, as well.
Reco is essentially a lead-generation program. Travelers answer questions about the kind of travel they are interested in, preferred destinations, their budget and their travel style, and in response they are served a list of advisors who best match their criteria. They can contact the advisors through the Reco platform and, after an initial discussion, engage an advisor s services for a $199 trip-planning fee.