Online reviews can make or break an accommodation business. Whether you’re a self catering property, hotel, B&B or campsite reviews have a huge impact on occupancy, and the ability to drive new customers.
Over 90% of guests will read at least three reviews before deciding to book a stay. So what do your reviews say about your business?
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So why are reviews so important?
Social Proof Drives Bookings
We’re more likely to book a stay if others around us—even total strangers—agree that it’s a good decision. Today, online reviews are the biggest source of social proof that you are not only a genuine accommodation provider but that you fulfill the promises made.
They Make You More Visible
Most potential guests will look on search engines like Google, Bing, or even Facebook when deciding where to book. These websites all have their own unique ways of indexing and delivering content, but they all value original and fresh content. Guest reviews can definitely help keep your accommodation visible. Additionally, large sites such as TripAdvisor generally rank better than your own site for generic searches. Therefore, appearing on these types of sites will help increase your exposure.
They Make You Look Trustworthy
Your accommodation business will build significant trust and credibility from a steady stream of positive reviews.
Many potential guests distrust a bed and breakfast, self catering property, hotel or campsite that has a rating below four stars. Accommodation providers with better than average ratings are significantly more likely to see views converted to bookings.
They Give You An Open Line to Consumers
Guests today expect accommodation owners to respond to their comments.
These reviews also give you a forum to further connect with guests and allow you to reinforce positive reviews with thanks, or promotions. However, more importantly, they also give you a way to quickly rectify a poor review and show that you care.
As you can see having good reviews is crucial to your accommodation business. However, don’t panic if you feel you could do with some work in this area as next week we will be looking at ways to help you improve your reviews or if you already have loads of great reviews we will show you how to stay ahead of the game.