Remember the days of the professional critic? You’d have the perfect room picked out — the pride of your hotel — and it would be flawlessly cleaned and prepped, mint on the pillow, bar fully stocked. Your staff would be on their best behaviour, waiting on the pseudo-celebrity hand and foot, all to make sure that you got the best review that you possibly could. We’re sorry to tell you this, but the professional critic is dead.
Everyone’s a critic
No longer does one person’s opinion act as a placeholder for all. The advent of the internet means that every guest is a critic, all of their opinions holding equal weight when it comes to reviewing your hotel. It’s no longer enough to have one room prepared once a year for the grading inspector. Instead, every room needs to be given that treatment. Every guest expects a great experience when they book your hotel, and it’s up to you to make sure that they get one, or face the wrath of the bad TripAdvisor review.
Why professional reviews don’t mean as much anymore
Having an outstanding review published in an internationally recognised magazine used to be the pinnacle, practically the definition, of success. It would see guests from around the world swarming to your hotel and booking for months and years in advance. Now, a review published in a magazine is nothing more than that — one review. It may still carry weight with some readers, but is unlikely to be the only source of advice that they look to. It will be followed by a trip to TripAdvisor, a browse of Booking.com or a glance at Google, and the reviews found there will tell the reader more than that single article ever could — it will tell them what an average experience at your hotel is like.
