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Hoteliers urged to respond to online reviews
Hoteliers and B&B owners who respond to reviews on TripAdvisor are more likely to get a booking enquiry, according to new research by the review site.
A study of what makes people tick when looking at hotels and other types of accommodation showed that those providing a management response to reviews are 21% more likely to receive a booking inquiry via TripAdvisor than those who don’t respond.
Properties that respond to over 50% of their TripAdvisor reviews increase their likelihood of receiving a booking enquiry by 24%.
But the key factor that drives travellers to make a booking enquiry on hotel or B&B pages is the number of photos featured.
Properties with at least one photo get 225% more booking enquiries than properties with no photos, while properties with over 100 photos get 238% more.
"Looking at the results of this study, a clear theme emerges: the more engaged the business owner, the more interested the traveller," said Marc Charron, president TripAdvisor for business.
"It’s no secret that travellers want to see pictures and read reviews of a property before making their booking decision. What’s really key is the upward trend in average review ratings, traveller engagement levels and booking enquiries on the site, the more frequently a hotel owner responds to reviews.
"Taking part in the conversation and demonstrating that the owner cares about feedback has a very real and measurable effect on converting a traveller from a casual browser into a potential guest."
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Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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