When booking a getaway or business trip, travelers always consider the voices of their peers when selecting where to rest their head each night. According to TripAdvisor, 83% of travelers say that reviews help them select the correct hotel, 80% read at least 6 – 12 reviews prior to booking, and 53% will not commit to a booking until they have read reviews. That is over half of your potential guests who will not even book a room with you until they know what everyone else thinks.
User-generated online reviews have truly become the go-to source for information when booking hotels because users can get answers to their questions, as well as honest, unbiased feedback on the property. Is the staff friendly? Are the rooms spacious? Are the beds comfortable? Is the food decent? Additionally, responding to both positive and negative reviews shows your guests that you genuinely value their opinions, that your hotel can do better, and that you will actively strive to do so. With that said, there are many Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) out there, and it can be frustrating to know which to focus on.
Considering that 4 out of 5 potential guests are reading what their peers are saying about your property, responding to those peer thoughts in a tactful manner is crucial.
Which Hotel Review Sites Should You Be Monitoring
Currently, there are more than sixty OTAs in existence, and you certainly do not need to be monitoring each one. While it is important to have current information on each OTA as part of your hotel’s SEO strategy, today we will be focusing on four of the main OTAs: Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, and TripAdvisor.
Expedia and Hotels.com
Expedia and Hotels.com both allow you to respond in Expedia’s Partner Central, though both OTAs have specific guidelines. Some of these are useful across all OTAs: maintain a professional tone, do not refer to other hotels or chains, and focus on the specifics of the individual review.
