June 8, 2022
What hotel shoppers look for in reviews
June 8, 2022
Curious what hotel shoppers are looking for when they read reviews? We asked 9,000 customers across five countries — here’s what we found.
What encourages a hotel shopper to go from browsing to booking?
We asked 9,000 customers across five countries — U.S., U.K., Italy, Singapore, and Australia — to find out exactly how travelers use Tripadvisor reviews and what information they’re looking for when they do.
Turns out, travelers want guidance about every aspect of their trip. They want to know the best dish to try at your restaurant, what the view looks like from your penthouse suite, and how it will feel to walk into town, the beach, or a local trail from your door. Accommodations serve as the foundation of a trip, and to many travelers, it’s one of the most important aspects to get right.
Let’s dive deeper into the top five elements hotel shoppers are most curious about when it comes to booking:
The #1 spot on the list? Cleanliness and hygiene (57%), which is unsurprising given the last few years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hotel shoppers want to ensure that they’ll be taken care of with transparent, fully outlined sanitization measures alongside standard elements of cleanliness.
You can add these COVID-19 protective measures directly to your profile, which appears as the second block of information as hotel shoppers scroll down. Here’s what it looks like:
But more than that, your shoppers want confirmation of cleanliness from your guests. Travelers perceive reviews as more reliable and credible than the information you provide on your website, especially because reviews can also include pictures of rooms, public spaces, and hygiene measures like sanitization stations or hydrostatic sprayers.
Next, hotel shoppers are looking at location (37%). Now, it may be obvious that your address is already listed on your Tripadvisor profile — but if a traveler has never been to your city (or country!) then it’s unlikely they’ll know what that means. Choosing an accommodation is often the hub of their trip, and how they can plan what they’ll see and do each day.
Travelers want to know: Is your hotel near big-ticket attractions they’ll want to visit? On a quiet street at the edge of town? Right in the middle of hot nightlife on the beachfront? Will they be able to see the mountains, or the Eiffel Tower? Make sure to include this information as much as you can on your profile and website, along with directions, parking, and public transportation information.
Rounding out the top three elements is value (34%). Hotel shoppers want to know if it’s quite literally worth it to stay at your property versus another. While what defines value can be difficult to pin down, it comes down to your brand and your guest experience — not just basic amenities like wifi or room service, but how your guests feel when they stay with you, and what they remember about their trip days, weeks, and months later.
Tripadvisor reviews offer detailed, long-form paragraphs that describe a traveler’s experience in detail. In fact, the most important part of a review in the same survey was, unsurprisingly, the content of the review (40%):
76% of travelers prefer these long-form reviews when they look to book accommodations, because they’re not just checking boxes on certain items, but trying to picture what their trip will be, and whether or not they’ll be getting their money’s worth.
With Tripadvisor Business Advantage, you can hand-select your favorite review to appear right at the top of the reviews section of your profile, so you can start that browsing process on the right foot.
There’s a special kind of magic to hotel rooms (30%), so it makes sense that hotel shoppers want to know what they’re like. Are they spacious? What is the configuration of beds? What kind of view will be outside that squeaky-clean window?
This is where the images on your Tripadvisor profile can really shine. Upload your own curated images of your different room options to showcase exactly what your guests can expect, especially if you have multiple configurations, family-friendly options like bassinets or bunk beds, and any special design elements.
With Tripadvisor Business Advantage, you can take this one step further by adding videos, a promotional storyboard, pinning your favorite photos, and more.
Finally, hotel shoppers are concerned about safety (21%). When you travel to a new city or country, there are a lot of unknown elements. This isn’t just about physical safety, such as whether or not you offer safes, locks, and your overall location, but about psychological safety — that when they check in, they don’t have to worry.
Give travelers peace of mind by mentioning these policies on your website and Tripadvisor profile, and actively responding to any review that mentions safety concerns as soon as possible.
While these top five elements represent the majority of hotel shoppers, they’re not the only elements to consider highlighting on your Tripadvisor profile.
After safety, hotel shoppers want to know about service (19%), amenities (18%), wifi availability (15%), quality of food (14%), and options like early and late check-in (9%). These nice-to-have features aren’t going to make or break a booking decision, but they could tip the balance in your favor if you do offer them, so include that information on your Tripadvisor profile.
You can add all of this information and more on your Tripadvisor profile. With so many choices on the market today — not to mention competition from short-term rentals and other types of specialty accommodations — you can make sure guests find what they are looking for on your Tripadvisor listing and in your online reputation across the web with our suite of marketing solutions.
| Learn more about how Tripadvisor can help promote the best of your property. |
