In the digital age, online reviews have become an important digital currency for hotels—the more you have, the stronger your online position. Savvy online travelers frequently make their decisions based on the recommendations of others, and 95% of people say they read reviews before making a booking.
Of all the review sites out there, TripAdvisor is still widely regarded as number one. But things are changing. A number of review sites are now stepping up their prominence in the hotel space. The power of social media is also creating a shift in the way travelers seek out suggestions and tips to inform their booking decision.
In short, being on TripAdvisor alone simply isn’t enough. In the following post, we review the three other major review sites that all hotels should have on their radar and explain the unique benefits each of them offers.
Yelp reviews
With 135 million reviews and counting, Yelp is a platform with serious influence. And with some recent enhancements in business services, it’s now become a platform that’s easier to gain prominence on.
Businesses have always been able to pay for a featured listing at the top of Yelp’s search page, but this used to involve dealing with Yelp directly—hotel marketing managers would have to maintain the relationship with a Yelp account rep. But now, Yelp has started allowing digital marketing agencies to become official “partners.” In this role, official partners act as go-betweens, dealing with Yelp on behalf of the business.
The major benefit for hotels? By working with a Yelp official partner agency, you can take advantage of discounted rates for advertising on the platform, as well as reduced enhanced Yelp profile costs.
On top of this financial incentive, a digital marketing agency can manage a hotel’s PPC bidding, helping them to reach the top of Yelp’s search results page. The process on Yelp works in a similar way to Google’s own cost-per-click bidding model.
As an official partner, the marketing agency can also collect invaluable data from Yelp such as expected ad impressions and the average CPC. All of this can prove invaluable to help increase the success of a marketing campaign.
