It's widely accepted in hospitality that social media has the ability to surprise and delight your guests, support your property's customer service initiatives, and increase the likelihood that guests will share positive experiences on review sites after they have checked-out. However, a recent stay by our VP of Marketing shed light on how hotels are beginning to tie these social media initiatves to staff performance.
Thanks for the feedback, Mike. As we discussed today in email, I relied on an older Market Metrix post for that conclusion and sounds like that post didn't accurately summarize the results of the study. Regardless, I do come across lots of 3rd party reports that show the growing importance of reviews on the booking decision and hear from many hoteliers that guests tell them they booked with them because of online reviews. I know I won't book a hotel without reading the reviews first.
Here are just a few good stats:
•More than one third of consumers will not book a hotel room without
reading reviews first. (LateRooms, November 2012)
•90% of travelers avoid booking hotels labeled as “dirty” in online
reviews. (LateRooms, November 2012)
•87% of TripAdvisor users feel more confident in their decision when
they read the reviews (PhoCusWright, September 2012)
I’m really enjoying your articles. It’s great to hear from people with new ideas for hospitality. Keep ‘em coming.
But I want to make sure you understand the data Market Metrix published on the criteria people use to make a hotel choice. Online reviews is actually near the bottom of the list.
Use of social media, and contributions to social media and online reviews, does continue to grow. And we all agree that online reputation is really important for lots of reasons. But online reviews remain way down the list of things that influence a booking, at least according to what travelers are reporting to our Market Metrix Hospitality Index.
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Thanks for the feedback, Mike. As we discussed today in email, I relied on an older Market Metrix post for that conclusion and sounds like that post didn't accurately summarize the results of the study. Regardless, I do come across lots of 3rd party reports that show the growing importance of reviews on the booking decision and hear from many hoteliers that guests tell them they booked with them because of online reviews. I know I won't book a hotel without reading the reviews first.
Here are just a few good stats:
•More than one third of consumers will not book a hotel room without
reading reviews first. (LateRooms, November 2012)
•90% of travelers avoid booking hotels labeled as “dirty” in online
reviews. (LateRooms, November 2012)
•87% of TripAdvisor users feel more confident in their decision when
they read the reviews (PhoCusWright, September 2012)
Thank you, again, for the feedback.
Michelle
Posted by: Michelle Wohl | February 15, 2013 at 04:51 PM
I’m really enjoying your articles. It’s great to hear from people with new ideas for hospitality. Keep ‘em coming.
But I want to make sure you understand the data Market Metrix published on the criteria people use to make a hotel choice. Online reviews is actually near the bottom of the list.
Use of social media, and contributions to social media and online reviews, does continue to grow. And we all agree that online reputation is really important for lots of reasons. But online reviews remain way down the list of things that influence a booking, at least according to what travelers are reporting to our Market Metrix Hospitality Index.
You'll find the data we published a while back, and a brief post, here:
http://corp.marketmetrix.com/how-guests-select-hotels-around-the-world-global-results/
Posted by: Mike Waite | February 15, 2013 at 10:48 AM