TrustYou, the inventor of the Meta-ReviewTM, working in conjunction with Donna Quadri-Felitti, Academic Chair and Clinical Associate Professor at NYU, Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism, has developed a study to understand the link between reviews and hotel conversion rates and pricing.
The study, which is available here for free download, is the first of its kind using simulated booking engines and heat mapping technology to determine consumers’ hotel choices.
Here’s what hotels should know about the link between travel reviews and prices:
- Travelers are 3.9 times more likely to choose a hotel with higher review scores when the prices are the same.
- When hotel prices are increased for hotels with better review scores, travelers are more likely to book the hotel with the higher score even when it costs more.
- 76% of travelers were willing to pay more for a hotel with higher review scores, when asked explicitly.
The full report is available for free download here with more details about factors affecting travel decisions and variances based on gender and income.
“This research shows that travel reviews have a significant impact both on conversion rates as well as pricing,” said Margaret Ady, Vice President of Marketing at TrustYou. “Hoteliers that effectively manage and improve their online reputations have the opportunity to increase revenue, both with more bookings and higher prices.”
“The effect that reviews have on the price that travelers are willing to pay is especially profound. In our simulations, hotels with the highest review scores received significantly higher clickthrough than lower rated hotels,” adds Donna Quadri-Felitti, Academic Chair and Clinical Associate Professor at NYU, Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism.
The study was conducted using an online survey panel that was drawn from a nationally representative US panel of Internet users during August and September of 2014. Respondents participated in an online questionnaire about their hotel booking habits. The research instrument included four graphics, each containing three hypothetical hotel choices in simulated booking engines.
Photo credit: Dusit Thani Maldives
