A general review score does not tell you what needs fixing or your staff’s attention. A hotel might receive hundreds of comments about service and only a few about specifics like the pool or mattress quality.
NB: This is an article from TrustYou
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Without context, you have no sense of where to prioritize. Impact Scores, however, evaluate based on several factors, including:
- They look at how often something is mentioned;
- They measure the sentiment of the feedback and comments;
- They identify natural biases that appear in guest comments;
- They benchmark and consider what is normal in your competitive market;
- They calculate how much each category affects your overall score.
This approach avoids classic mistakes. For instance, one picky guest who only complains about a small detail will not ruin your rating. On the other hand, recurring negative feedback carries serious weight, because it tends to affect satisfaction more strongly than many teams expect.
Impact Scores surface the truths that are hidden in plain sight. Sometimes those truths are uncomfortable, but they are exactly what helps a hotel improve its customer experience and grow sustainably.
What The Data Shows About Guest Satisfaction
Across hundreds of properties, two categories show the strongest positive impact.
Location and Service.
Location Leads the Chart
Our data shows that location appears as a main positive driver and what guests care the most about. What surprises many teams is that the effect is not based solely on geography. It is based on how well the hotel sets expectations for their location.
Guests do not dislike being outside the city center if that is what they wanted. Simply put, they dislike surprises. Clear and honest communication shapes perception, and perception shapes sentiment.
Service Still Matters a Great Deal
Strong performance in this area reliably improves overall satisfaction. Even small gestures make a difference. A warm greeting, quick support in moments of stress, smooth check-ins, and a staff culture that genuinely cares create real loyalty. Guests notice it and they reward it with higher scores.
This is also where AI support makes a measurable difference. Smart tools like AI Agents help teams react faster and spot problems while staying consistent even when staffing levels fluctuate.
The Hidden Score Killers
On the negative side, the strongest score drops almost currently come from three categories: price, maintenance and Wifi/internet.
A few negative bathroom mentions alone can pull down your score by several points. That is huge. A dip directly affects ranking, booking decisions, revenue, and AI search discoverability.
If you have ever struggled to justify renovation budgets, your Impact Scores will finally give you the evidence you need. The return is real and measurable.
Fewer negative comments in these categories often lead to a noticeable lift in the overall score. This, in turn, leads to LLMs (such as ChatGPT and Gemini) recommending your properties to guests doing research and, at the same time, more bookings. It’s a win-win situation.
