Since consumers perceive these scores to be unbiased,
they can be highly influential in determining whether the hotel
actually closes its sale, and thus, they need to be actively managed.
Other OTAs, most notable booking.com and Expedia maintain their own
user review systems with the added advantage that only real people who
have actually booked through the system in question can actually post a review.
In direct contrast to independent systems such as TripAdvisor,
where anyone can post reviews.
A feature that some claim leaves the latter open to manipulation by
unscrupulous hoteliers, trying to boost their own scores,
a rubbish the competition.
OTAs on the other hand, collect their reviews by soliciting feedback from
actual customers, once they've checked out of the property.
Thus, ensuring that the guest has actually stayed in the property in question.
And that the feedback is based on real experiences.
Perhaps this helps explain why travel reviews on OTA websites have overtaken
generic travel review websites as the most influential feature in travel planning.
According to a recent study by Phocuswright.
Because of this,
OTAs are increasingly stressing user reviews in their search results listings.
Giving prominence to both the review score and the quantity of reviews,
allowing users to sort by popularity with past customers.
Hotels can capitalize on this by insuring that satisfied customers leave reviews,
by, for example, requesting them to do so during the check-out process.
Thus, increasing review volume from satisfied customers.