User-generated online reviews – help or hindrance? David Churchill investigates the power of the people
WHICH IS BRITAIN’S best hotel? Step forward the 100-room Hilton Garden Inn located in the centre of Aberdeen, a mid-market hotel firmly focused on business travellers to the city involved in the North Sea oil industry. This Hilton Garden Inn – one of five similarly HGI-branded hotels in the UK and more than 500 globally – is rated the UK’s finest by online travel agency Expedia. Not only that, the hotel is ranked fourth best in the world – or at least among those 130,000 hotel properties on Expedia’s database. The next highest ranked UK hotel was the five-star
Intercontinental on London’s Park Lane – rated in 31st place globally. With the best will in the world it is hard to believe the Hilton Garden Inn in Aberdeen – whose facilities include a microwave in the lobby according to Expedia – really deserves the accolade bestowed on it. Expedia says its Insiders’ Select annual global listings are based on “verified” guest reviews from travellers who had stayed at the
hotel within the previous six months, along with the views of “hundreds of experts” in top destinations worldwide, who provided their “insight and first-hand knowledge” of their region’s best hotels. Certainly, the Hilton property is
worth considering for those headed to Aberdeen, although the city has a good collection of business hotels to choose from, given the importance of the oil industry – including two other Hilton hotels, along with four Holiday Inns. Aberdeen, moreover, is an established destination for those whose business is focused on the North Sea, with its business hotels enjoying a high-level of repeat bookings from regular travellers. But those corporate buyers and business travellers who have to find hotels in less obvious locations face