“Ollie Awards” Given to Most Prolific Reviewers from Community of Over 120 Million TripAdvisor Members
New York City’s Bernardo Famorca Named World’s Review Contributor of the Year
NEEDHAM, Mass., Dec. 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TripAdvisor®, the travel planning and booking site, today announced the winners of the Ollie Awards, which recognize the individual TripAdvisor members who made the most contributions to the site in the past year. The company named individual winners across eight different award categories, with awards given to travelers at a world, continent and country level.
This year, the eight Ollie award categories include Review Contributor of the Year, Traveler of the Year (given to individuals who reviewed experiences from the most number of destinations in the past year), Restaurant Expert of the Year, Attractions Expert of the Year, Hotel Expert of the Year, Explorer of the Year (given to individuals who were among the first reviewers of the most establishments in the past year), New Contributor of the Year, and Forum Poster of the Year.
Bernardo Famorca from New York City is named the world’s Review Contributor of the Year, having submitted more than 2,000 reviews in the past year. He also won four U.S. categories of Review Contributor of the Year, Traveler of the Year, Restaurant Expert of the Year and Attractions Expert of the Year. Below are other U.S. winners.
U.S. Ollie Award Winners
| Category | U.S. Winner |
| Review Contributor of the Year | Bernardo Famorca: New York, New York |
| Traveler of the Year | Bernardo Famorca: New York, New York |
| Restaurant Expert of the Year | Bernardo Famorca: New York, New York |
| Attractions Expert of the Year | Bernardo Famorca: New York, New York |
| Hotel Expert of the Year | George Capen: Canyon Lake, California |
| Explorer of the Year | George Capen: Canyon Lake, California |
| New Contributor of the Year | Norma Waters: Melbourne, Florida |
| Forum Poster of the Year | Tom McDonald: Ely, Minnesota |
“As our TripAdvisor community continues to grow each year, the competition for these awards was tougher than ever,” said Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor. “Every single winner of an Ollie award has dedicated an incredible amount of time and energy to their reviews. It is their efforts, and those of millions of reviewers like them, that help improve the travel experience for the wider community. They fully deserve their moment in the spotlight.”
Meet Some of the TripAdvisor Community Award Winners
World Review Contributor of the Year: 811bernardf, Bernardo Famorca (2,353 reviews)
Based in New York City, Bernardo often travels two to three times a week. He uses TripAdvisor as a resource to find fun things to do and to read honest reviews of what other travelers enjoy in their cities. “My favorite travel destination, and a new city that I was able to cross off my list, from the past year has been Stockholm,” said Bernardo. “The city is compact and easy to get around, the people are friendly, the food is good, and it’s fairly inexpensive overall.”
U.S. Explorer of the Year: kauaibiztraveler, George Capen
Having recently moved from the East Coast to the West Coast, George, a self-proclaimed “opportunist traveler,” made it his mission to experience his new locale by using TripAdvisor as his resource. “To me, TripAdvisor is the gold standard,” said George. “People might think of TripAdvisor as a website or app for international travelers, but it’s also great for exploring your own backyard. Finding local reviewers will give you the real scoop, outside of the must-see tourist attractions.”
2016: The Year in Reviews
2016 saw a huge increase in the number of reviews and opinions posted on TripAdvisor, with a community of over 120 million members posting more than 280 contributions a minute to the site. TripAdvisor now features more than 435 million reviews and opinions, spanning 6.8 million businesses and properties in more than 135,000 destinations.
With so much content contributed to the site, here are five fun facts from the past year:
- TripAdvisor reviewers shared experiences of 3,438,633 different locations around the world
- London received just over 1 million reviews – more than any other city in the world
- Silver Legacy Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada was the most reviewed hotel in the world
- The most reviewed attraction was the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona – with over 32,000 reviews
- Pasteis de Belem, a specialist bakery in Lisbon, received over 10,000 reviews from hungry travelers this year – more than any other eatery in the world
Note to Editors:
Data based on traveler contributions submitted to TripAdvisor from November 11, 2015 – October 11, 2016.
The Ollie Awards get their nickname from the TripAdvisor mascot Ollie the Owl and were formally called the “TripAdvisor Community Awards.”
World or continent winners are available upon request.
About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor® is the world's largest travel site**, enabling travelers to unleash the potential of every trip. TripAdvisor offers advice from millions of travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools that check hundreds of websites to find the best hotel prices. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching 390 million average monthly unique visitors*, and reached 435 million reviews and opinions covering 6.8 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 49 markets worldwide. TripAdvisor: Know better. Book better. Go better.
TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRIP), through its subsidiaries, manages and operates websites under 24 other travel media brands:
www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.citymaps.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.thefork.com (including www.lafourchette.com, www.eltenedor.com, www.iens.nl, www.besttables.com and www.dimmi.com.au), www.gateguru.com, www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.housetrip.com, www.independenttraveler.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com, www.onetime.com, www.oyster.com, www.seatguru.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.travelpod.com, www.tripbod.com, www.vacationhomerentals.com, www.viator.com, and www.virtualtourist.com.
*Source: TripAdvisor log files, average monthly unique visitors, Q3 2016
**Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, July 2016