With more than 90 million global members, travelers from around the world share their experiences and advice with the TripAdvisor community to help improve travel across the world. To shine a spotlight on the individuals who share the most, we’ve recently announced the winners of the first annual TripAdvisor Community Awards. Also dubbed the “Ollies” after TripAdvisor’s owl mascot, the awards are given to the travelers who made the most contributions to the TripAdvisor in 2015.
Having traveled extensively across the globe, winners of the Ollies have a wealth of knowledge that they generously and continuously share with the community. Over the next several weeks we’ll be highlighting some of their stories on the TripAdvisor Blog, giving you even more insight into their best travel tales and tips!
First up is the Traveler of the Year. Awarded to the TripAdvisor member who submitted the most reviews in the most countries in 2015, the winner of this award gives true meaning to the term “globetrotter.”
Name: Simon-Pierre Vuillerme
TripAdvisor Username: Sipivu
Ollie Awards Received:
Traveler of the Year – Reviews in 73 countries in 2015
Other awards received:
Review Contributor of the Year (Europe and France) – more than 1,500 reviews in 2015
Attractions Reviewer of the Year (World, Europe and France) – more than 1,500 reviews in 2015
Home destination (Where you sleep when not on the road): Paris , France
Simon-Pierre Vuillerme, in his home city Paris. Vuillerme’s TripAdvisor reviews covered 73 countries in 2015.
When and why did you start to travel?
I started to travel when I was 7 years old so that I could learn English and German during linguistic trips. I grew up traveling, and now I can’t live without it.
How many countries/ continents have you visited?
Between 107 and 108 countries
What do you like the most about traveling?
I don’t like a daily routine and traveling allows me to break that routine. For example, last September (2015), I visited 17 different countries and took 27 different flights! I’m happy to go to a country just for half a day, if I want to try a restaurant. This is what I did in the Maldives before taking my wife there for a longer stay.
What type of traveler are you (for example, adventurous, luxurious, beach, hometown explorer etc.)?
I am a versatile traveler. I like luxurious experiences, but I can also happily go away with just my backpack…
Do you have a favorite destination? If yes, what makes this place your favorite?
I have traveled too much to be able to have a favorite destination, but every year I go to Tokyo and Hong Kong .
When and why did you start to use TripAdvisor?
I started to use TripAdvisor about 10 years ago when I came across the site by accident while researching hotels on the Internet. I used to read the comments before starting to contribute myself. Then I got caught up in it and wanting to be the one who wrote the most reviews in my city (Paris) and received the most useful votes.
TripAdvisor Traveler Simon-Pierre Vuillerme pictured during a trip to Antarctica.
Why do you post so many reviews?
Because I just got really into it. I have this objective of being better than the others in terms of the number of comments posted.
What kind of information do you provide in your reviews?
Very practical information, such as: location of the establishment, quality of service, prices…
What is your best advice for writing a review?
You should above all be practical and not just leave a general appreciation that doesn’t really help the people reading the reviews. Personally, I like to compare my different experiences before creating a review; this helps me with writing my comment.
What has been your best or most interesting experience when using TripAdvisor?
I really like being able to consult the log of my travels.
Also, a person from Seoul contacted me through TripAdvisor telling me that he had never met someone that had traveled as much as I had. We now exchange emails regularly about our travels.
