TripAdvisor, Booking.com have revolutionised booking holidays, but how much can you really trust online travel reviews?
Online travel agents prioritise ‘citizen reviews’ of hotels, restaurants and activities, and most of us rely on them when choosing holidays, but how many reviews are fake and what should we watch out for? We talk to the experts
How was your weekend away? Was the hotel any good? So leave a review online! Whatever website you used to book your last trip, the chances are it emailed you when you got home to remind you to write a review. Did you?
Many of us feel obliged to leave a review if we have a good experience – especially if the hotel was small and independently run – and almost all of us rely on other travellers’ reviews to make our decisions on where to stay, where to eat and what to do. But are we reading real reviews?
We now live in an era where so-called citizen reviews are decisive, where what online travel agents like to call ‘user-generated content’ is more important than any other factor in making our travel purchasing decisions.
Reviews, social media influence Thai travel plans
“Almost every traveller – 95 per cent – reads reviews and booking decisions are dependent on them,” says Singapore-based Alex Tan, vice-president of Asia-Pacific sales & operations for guest feedback platform TrustYou, which powers guest reviews on dozens of travel sites, including Google, Kayak, and Hotels.com.
“Our study on the effect of reviews on hotel conversion rates and pricing showed that travellers are 3.9 times more likely to book accommodation with higher review scores, given equal prices.” Tan also states that 76 per cent of travellers are willing to spend more for accommodation that gets high ratings from others.
It’s official; we’re now addicted to online reviews, and it’s a global trend. “Traveller reviews are an important part of both choosing a destination and deciding on travel accommodation and activities,” says Maggie Rauch, senior director of research at travel market research company Phocuswright. “We see this globally, including our most recent research in China, Southeast Asia and India.”