2018 Global Hotel Reputation Benchmark Report

2018
Global Hotel Reputation

Benchmark Report
Global Review Growth
Continues to Accelerate 2017
Reviews analyzed by Revinate

27%
from over 138,000 hotels
2016
in 200 countries
22%
2015
20%
Global review sites and online travel CONTENTS
agents (OTAs) continue to prove critical • 2017 Review Growth

to booking decisions.
• The Importance
of Benchmarking
It has never been more important to understand how your
hotel’s online reviews compare to those of your competitors • Volume and Pace
and identify the improvements in assets and services that • Top Review Channels
will have the most impact.
• The Rise of Google
For nine years, Revinate has been helping global hotel brands • Review Response Rate
manage their online reputations. In that time, we’ve amassed
• Response Rate by Region
over 320 million online hotel reviews—nearly 77 million of
those in 2017 alone—through our innovative hotel marketing • Average Review Scores
automation and review management solution. • Summary
2018 Global Hotel Reputation Benchmark Report

The Importance
of Benchmarking
Benchmarking allows you to track your This report is meant to serve as

an industry barometer, allowing
performance against the competition and
hotels to see and understand
set realistic and specific goals based on
changes in the market over time.
industry standards.
A larger number of positive reviews is correlated with

increased bookings and the ability to raise rates according
to a Cornell University study about online reputation and
hospitality performance.
This report is designed to provide benchmarking

guidelines for hoteliers, so they can assess their own
performance and define a strategy for 2018.

Volume and Pace of
Reviews are Increasing
Overall review volume increased 27% Review pace per

from 2016 to 2017, showing that online hotel/month
reviews continue to be an important
38
vehicle for guests to both plan their
stays and share their experiences.
Hoteliers and the review sites themselves are getting 29

better and better at driving their guests to write online
reviews, recognizing the impact that reviews have on
booking decisions.
Looking across the 77 million hotel reviews that Revinate

analyzed in 2017, the review pace per month per hotel was
38, versus only 29 in 2016. This 31% increase in review
pace means that hoteliers are likely more committed to
reading and responding to reviews, which explains the
healthy market for online reputation management.
2016 2017

Top Review Channels
Booking.com maintains its lead as the top review aggregator, while

Google and Facebook become increasingly influential with guests.
As shown below, the top four sites contributed the lion’s share of reviews in 2017, which
together generated 74% of the review volume we analyzed.
In 2016, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Google, and Hotels.com generated 78% of the hotel reviews
Revinate analyzed for the year. Facebook is new to the top four in 2017, replacing Hotels.com by
a landslide. In fact, Facebook received 58% more reviews than Hotels.com in 2017.
Booking.com 29.5%
Google 19.8%
TripAdvisor 16.5%
Facebook 8.3%
Top 4 = 74% of review volume
Hotels.com 4.8%
CTrip 4.0%
IHG 3.4%
Expedia 2.7%
Agoda 1.3%
Other 9.7%

The Rise of Google
Google had a 207% increase in reviews over Google reviews more

2016 and made a big push in the second half than doubled in 2017
of 2017, receiving 65% of its review volume
2x +
between July and December.
Google reviews accounted for 70% of net review growth in

2017. In fact, if we removed Google reviews from Revinate,
we would see only 9% YoY growth in the number of reviews
we captured in 2017.
In other words, Google is increasingly capturing growth

by activating and engaging reviewers that other sites are
missing. According to Skift, Google’s travel business is now
worth $100 billion, more than Priceline.
2016 2017

Review Response Rate
Reaching Maturity
Most hoteliers are actively reading and responding to online feedback

to let guests know that they care about guest satisfaction and are
always looking to improve.
There wasn’t a big change YoY in terms of how many reviews were responded to
overall, indicating that we have reached a high level of maturity around this practice globally.
In 2017, when we look at all the reviews from sites that allow responses, hoteliers responded
to 29.7%, a 1% increase over last year.
When advising our customers, we suggest that hoteliers respond to all 1- and 2-star reviews,
assuming there is actionable feedback, as well as 5-star reviews. 3- and 4-star reviews should
also be responded to as needed to address any bad experiences and to reassure the reviewer
that management is serious about improvement. Learn more about responding to hotel reviews
32.8%
29.7%
26.0%
2017 Global Average
Response Rate 27.2%
Globally, hotels
responded most 31.2%
often to 5-star
reviews in 2017 28.8%

Review Response Rates
by Region
Asia Pacific and Latin America outperformed the global review

response average, while North America and EMEA showed
opportunity for improvement.
U.S. and Canadian European hoteliers responded

25% hoteliers became more comfortable 25% to 25% of reviews, less than the
responding to negative reviews in global average. In 2017 they seemed
2017. While their overall response to have changed their attitude
rate was largely flat at 25%, they towards 1-star reviews, responding
responded to 29% of 1-star reviews to 4% fewer reviews, while their
(up from 26%) and 32% of 2-star response rate to other star levels
reviews (up from 29%). remained largely flat.
Latin America is the only Asia Pacific is outperforming

39% region that responded to fewer
reviews in 2017, across every star
40% the global average, responding to
more than 40% of reviews in 2017, up
rating. In fact, hoteliers responded slightly from 38% in 2016. Hoteliers
to 3% fewer reviews across the in Asia Pacific also responded to
board, with 5-star reviews taking nearly half of all 5-star reviews, more
the biggest hit at almost 5% and than any other region. Hoteliers in the
an average response rate of 39% Middle East and Africa responded to
overall. more reviews that the global average
(36% in 2017).

Average Review Scores
Remain Largely Positive
While many hoteliers believe that people take to review sites just to
complain about their hotel experiences, the fact of the matter is that
review ratings are mostly positive.
The average review score in 2017 was 4.23, up slightly from 4.21 in 2016.
Looking at country data, we find that some large European travel markets have lower than average
scores, including France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In Asia, Singapore
stood out for its improvement in average review score, going from an average score of 4.15 in 2016
to 4.23 in 2017. Likewise, China rose from 4.43 to 4.53, making it one of the highest average scores
in the world.
Global average review scores increased slightly in 2017
2017 4.23
2016 4.21

Looking Forward
The online review space continues Revinate Solutions

for Hospitality
to grow and evolve.
In summary, the online review space is not only here to

Revinate TM
Marketing
stay, it is flourishing. We recommend hoteliers use this
Drive direct bookings and
report to benchmark their own review management
increase guest engagement with
practices and take necessary action to improve. Revinate Marketing, an all-in-one
marketing automation and hotel
Hoteliers should pay attention to emerging channels like data solution built specifically
for hotels by hoteliers.
Google and Facebook. At the same time, it’s important
to continue focusing on more established channels that
Revinate TM
remain an important outlet for guests. Guest Feedback

Measure and optimize the
To remain up-to-date on industry trends and developments,
full guest experience with
please subscribe to our blog, the Revinate Roundup. Revinate Guest Feedback,
combining post-stay surveys
and reputation management
in one integrated solution.
Learn more at
www.revinate.com

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2018

Global Hotel Reputation

Reviews analyzed by Revinate

Global review sites and online travel CONTENTS

agents (OTAs) continue to prove critical • 2017 Review Growth