Indonesia was the fastest-growing established market according to review volume, while Paraguay got the same accolade among emerging markets.
Revinate, the software as a service (SaaS) company that helps hotels reinvent the guest experience, announces the release of its 2017 Global Hotel Reputation Benchmark Report. This far-reaching study analyzed 70 million published online guest reviews worldwide over the last two years –nearly 40 million of those in 2016 alone.
The section on the average review scores by region and by established and emerging markets shows an upward movement across the board, proving that travelers are becoming more comfortable posting reviews.
Asia (4.28), Europe (4.24) and Latin America (4.24) were the regions with the highest average scores in 2016, followed by the Middle East and Africa (4.12), North America (4.09) and Oceania (4.08).
However, in terms of annual increase Middle Eastern and African (+1.5%) and North American properties (+1.2%) experienced the strongest improvements, while the remaining four regions grew below the 1-percent mark.
Looking at established markets – those with more than 100,000 annual reviews – hotels in China (4.42), Greece (4.34) and South Africa (4.26) received the highest ratings, while the United Kingdom (4.05), the United States (3.99) and France (3.94) closed the ranking. Scores grew compared to 2015 in all markets except from China, which took a 0.2% dip. Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil and the US experienced the greatest improvements compared to the previous year.
In terms of review volume, while the US and the UK were the two largest markets in 2016, their annual growth actually slowed down. However, reviews for those two countries alone exceeded the 15.1-million mark in 2016, which means that there’s a trove of valuable feedback for US and UK hoteliers to respond and act upon. In that regard, savvy hoteliers should analyze which stages of the stay cycle are more widely reviewed and actively use guest reviews to promote their properties and enhance the other parts of their clients’ experiences.
Among emerging markets, Paraguay, Romania and Kenya saw an impressive boost in review volume.
Following the launch of the report, Marc Heyneker, Revinate co-founder and CEO, said, “As hoteliers plan their management strategies for 2017, awareness of the state of their respective markets is a key to success. Online reviews are a critical component in raising hotels’ visibility to customers and driving more profitability. We’re thrilled to be able to provide this data analysis for hoteliers around the world.”
Heyneker also recommended that hoteliers “continue learning from guest feedback,” and highlighted how “working actively to boost online review volume is more important than ever for hotels –particularly those in large-market countries experiencing rapid growth in review volume.”
Photo caption: Best Western Resort Kuta, Bali.
Tatiana is the news co-ordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy. She holds a Bachelor degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
