It has become custom and practice with the travelling public to check how other visitors have reviewed a hotel before placing a booking.
An independent study has found that more than half (53 percent) of travellers questioned for a survey said that they will not book a hotel that does not have any reviews on the Internet. The study, conducted by PhoCusWright on behalf of TripAdvisor, a company that operates an online travel community for collating user-generated travel information, has underlined how hotel reviews have become important tools for this Internet-savvy generation of travellers, when deciding on accommodation bookings.
Around 98 percent of respondents have found hotel reviews accurate on sites such as TripAdvisor, while 74 percent of respondents had started writing hotel reviews to share a good experience. Around 71 percent of respondents have reported taking into consideration the expertise of the reviewer in deciding the importance of a review, while 67 percent admitted to deciding on hotels after seeing the photos submitted with reviews.
The survey also reported that 57 percent of users are likely to book hotels if the hotel management have responded to user reviews posted about the hotel, and around 84 percent of respondents said that they are willing to consider a hotel in spite of a bad review if the hotel management have made appropriate responses.
Stephen Kaufer, the president and chief executive officer of TripAdvisor, said, ‘The findings of the TripAdvisor survey reveal that, to thrive, hoteliers must actively encourage their guests to share their candid experiences online and also respond to their reviews when they do. Otherwise, more than half of travellers may either ignore the property or pick a more responsive one.’
