What OTAs Have That Most Hotels Don’t

In today’s search process, it’s all about options. When searching for a hotel, travelers are presented with a variety of accommodation options on search engines, OTA’s and travel sites. Aside from price and location, a major decision factor are the hotel’s guest reviews and ratings. As 95% of travelers check the hotel’s reviews before deciding to book, hundreds of thousands of hotels and travel intermediaries choose to incorporate review content onto their websites.

In order to understand which presentation of review content is the easiest to consume for travelers during their search for hotels, TrustYou conducted a study assessing and comparing full-text, aggregated visualization, or a combination of both.

Here is what we found:

  • 80% of respondents state that summarized review content was time-efficient compared to only 59% who said the same for full text reviews
  • 52% rated summarized review content as the most user friendly
  • Summarized review content provided a slightly better overview of a hotel compared to full text reviews
  • 72% of respondents stated that summarized review content was mobile friendly, compared to just 40% of respondents saying the same for full-text reviews

 

OTAs Are One Step Ahead

 

Considering that guest feedback plays an important role in traveler booking decisions, and that summarized review content is more easily consumed, travel intermediaries have begun leveraging this specific type of review content on their websites. TrustYou developed its very own Meta-Review that summarizes and displays verified review content from its review database, which collects 3 millions new reviews every week. It has become the industry standard for trustworthy, summarized review data. These summaries are already displayed and trusted by travel search sites such as Google, KAYAK, Hotels.com, FTI and many more, effectively influencing millions of travelers.

FTI Touristik, one of Germany’s biggest tour operators, has recently decided to include TrustYou’s Meta-Review into its booking websites www.fti.de and www.5vorflug.de. FTI’s aim was to create added value for travelers and Katja Biba, Director eSales at FTI Touristik, has already noticed positive developments:

“Since including TrustYou’s structured verified review content, we have seen a very positive trend of user engagement. This means that travelers appreciate the additional and simplified information and are more likely to book because all details of the hotels are right on our websites.”  

 

But Hotels Can Still Catch Up!

 

So now that you know summarized review content is effective, and OTAs are leveraging them today, what can your hotel do about it? The answer is easier than you might think. With TrustYou Meta-Review, hotels can leverage summarized review content to help increase bookings on their own hotel websites, just like the OTAs. Travelers who find the hotel’s website in their search will profit from clearly outlined characteristics of the hotel, such as location or value for money, and what they are rated on most highly. Additionally, travelers can use filters to find out the perspectives of the traveler type similar to their own, i.e. solo travelers, couples, business travelers, or families.

your-hotel-meta-review

 

Ready to publish structured review content on your website? Contact us today for free access to your hotel’s Meta-Review content, exclusively available from TrustYou.

 

Breakaway from the OTA

In order to truly be competitive with OTAs and drive direct bookings, hotels need to leverage feedback during every stage of the guest journey. Learn more about how onsite experiences and post-stay feedback can influence future bookings.