NORTHSIDE PARK AWARDED 2014 TRIPADVISOR CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE

Recognized as a Top Performing Attraction as Reviewed by Travelers on the  World’s Largest Travel Site

OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND –Ocean City Recreation and Parks (OCRP) today announced that it has received a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award. The accolade, which honors hospitality excellence, is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveller reviews on TripAdvisor, and is extended to qualifying businesses worldwide.  Establishments awarded the Certificate of Excellence are located all over the world and represent the upper echelon of businesses listed on the website.

When selecting Certificate of Excellence winners, TripAdvisor uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the honorees that takes into account reviews ratings.  Businesses must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, volume and recency of reviews. Additional criteria include a business’ tenure and popularity ranking on the site.

“Winning the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence is a true source of pride for the entire team at Ocean City Recreation and Parks and we’d like to thank all of our past visitors who took the time to complete a review on TripAdvisor,” said Susan Petito, OCRP Director. “I can’t think of a greater honor than being recognized by our visitors. This is a remarkable statement about our property and facilities and the staff that maintain them, and it only reaffirms our continued commitment to excellence.”

“TripAdvisor is pleased to honor exceptional hospitality businesses for consistent excellence,” said Marc Charron, President of TripAdvisor for Business. “The Certificate of Excellence award gives top performing establishments around the world the recognition they deserve, based on feedback from those who matter most – their customers. From Australia to Zimbabwe, we want to applaud exceptional hospitality businesses for offering TripAdvisor travellers a great customer experience.”

About Northside Park

Northside Park is located on 125^th Street and the Bay.  It is Ocean City’s largest and most popular park and home to the Recreation and Parks Department administrative offices.  This 58-acre complex boasts three lighted softball/baseball fields, a lighted soccer field, multipurpose field, a foot bridge, mini-borrowing library, concession stands, accessible playground, picnic shelter, two piers, over 1 mile of walking/jogging paths and a state of the art outdoor exercise area.  Indoor facilities include a Community Center with 14,200 square foot gymnasium, kitchen, community room, conference room, patio, sitting areas and a Sports Center annex with a 21,000 square foot multi-use arena. Northside Park hosts more than 100 special events and recreational programs and activities each year for both residents and visitors to Ocean City.

About TripAdvisorTripAdvisor^® is the world’s largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and have the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from real travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching nearly 260 million unique monthly visitors**, and more than 150 million reviews and opinions covering more than 4 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 39 countries worldwide, including China under daodao.com. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

For more information about Northside Park and the Ocean City Recreation and Parks Department visit: http://oceancitymd.gov/Recreation_and_Parks/.

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 *Source: comScore Media Metrix for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, Q1 2014

**Source: Google Analytics, average monthly unique users, Q1 2014; does not include traffic to daodao.com