Whether you are looking for a budget friendly hotel or a luxury destination resort, chances are you’re already browse online reviews before booking a property. In a survey conducted by Marketing Land, 90% of customers admit that their buying decisions are influenced by online reviews. Positive reviews will make guests want to stay again and again while negative reviews with have anyone running from it like the plague without ever stepping foot in the parking lot. We recently asked our HotelPlanner community on whether hotel reviews help or hinder their decision to book a stay. Below are some ways online reviews are critical to hotel success.
BUILDS CREDIBILITY
Customer reviews are vital for any hotel’s online presence. For starters, reviews add a layer of credibility to the property, with positive reviews making potential guests develop enough trust to book a stay and hopefully become repeat customers. And they don’t just check star ratings either, they are reading actual reviews that are accurate to the site and the property’s current conditions. In fact, customers know when fake reviews are being published. Hotels should save themselves the added expense and rely on building credibility before any guest can see their name in a positive light.
MORE TRANSPARENCY AND TRUSTWORTHINESS
The majority of customers enjoy reading reviews and usually find them to be true and honest. Reviews are there to definitely help. Customers are always using their best judgement to decide whether or not something is a fact or opinion. Locking down a hotel takes valuable time and resources and finding real people’s experiences are always more trustworthy that any hotel ad placement. By simply enabling customer reviews online, hotels can make their business more transparent and trustworthy in the eyes of potential customers.
PRIORITIZES CUSTOMER SERVICE
Customer satisfaction says a lot about the hotel itself. Reading reviews and getting feedback do help when deciding on staying at a hotel, especially when the property makes customer service a priority. If there seems to be common theme among reviews listed that a property provides great service from check-in to check-out, chances are the hotel continuously has positive guest experiences. And it’s not just positive reviews, but recently published ones that matter most. Customers want to hear about all types of customer experiences based more so on how a hotel responds online and how quickly to their needs. Understanding and acknowledging any type of feedback, good or bad is key.
PROVIDES USEFUL INSIDER TIPS
It definitely helps to know other people’s experiences. Reviews hold merit as do the useful tips and insider secrets found within them from previous guests. Potential customers can learn a lot about a hotel before they even decide to book from how many features the hotel may have to hidden resort fees. Useful tips may include learning that an old hotel was recently renovated or that it was noisy because of renovations, or that the Wi-Fi was spotty and terrible in the rooms, or there was no free parking, etc. Reading reviews can help answer questions you didn’t think you needed answers to.
BOTTOM LINE: WORD OF MOUTH IS GOLD
If the negatives outweigh the positive reviews, look for a better hotel and stay up to date from a consumer point of view. Hotel reviews can often help uncover helpful things you may might not have known about otherwise and in the end, greatly impacts one’s overall decision to book a stay or not. What guests say about cleanliness, restaurant options, location and more are all important factors to consider. In this digital age, word of mouth online is gold. That being said, be smart about what you read and take into account what is being said to help with decision making, but don’t always put 100% faith into what people say. Everyone has different expectations and handles things differently and their experience won’t necessarily be your own. Before you decide to check into a new hotel, be sure to check reviews first and weed out the bad. This simple act could save you energy, money, and unnecessary grief in the process.
Share your thoughts! Do reviews help or hinder your decision to book a stay?
A digital content and communications specialist, editor, and cat enthusiast, Claudia Flores has a diverse background in public relations working at Hotel Planner and Meetings.com. A native of California and graduate from Liberty University, she is now residing in sunny West Palm Beach, FL. She loves traveling to new exotic places, dabbling in movie trivia, and has a soft spot for animals. Follow @ClaudeFloresPR
everythingsbettertogether 