Analysis
rather more of a dilemma. This particularly applies to those in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who do not have the resources, experience or expertise of larger companies with full-time travel managers and travel management companies (TMCs) onboard. “Traditional TMC clients are also more likely to have corporate rates in place, meaning their travellers are obliged to stay with a preferred hotel chain, so any ‘chatter’ online is irrelevant,” points out Ryan Johnson, corporate land project manager for FCm Travel Solutions and Corporate Traveller. It is also sometimes forgotten that the bulk of business travellers are not often in a position to stay in an easily- identifiable branded hotel outside the main urban areas, either for reasons of cost or simply lack of information of what is suitable. For them – or those back in the office charged with booking the accommodation
American hotel guests over the past year, found a sharp deterioration in satisfaction with their hotel experience – to its lowest level for seven years. Yet given the investment and improvements in hotel technology over that same period – such as more comfortable beds, improved communications, and healthier food and beverage offerings – hoteliers believe that “everyone has become a critic” and are only too willing to turn to Twitter, Facebook and other user-generated review platforms, such as Trip Advisor, to make their opinions known.
TRIP ADVISOR TRIPS UP This is not necessarily good news for those buyers and travellers seeking unbiased, relevant and useful information about hotels, given the egregious examples of how online reviews can be manipulated.
The ‘game-changer’ has been the internet, providing an unparalleled database of hotels and other accommodation throughout the world
– the choices can be bewildering: hotel consultancy STR Global reported earlier this year that there were almost 4 million hotel rooms available every day across the UK and Europe. Of these, the majority were found in unbranded properties, not normally available on a GDS or other booking system.
NEWS TRAVELS FAST Of course, the ‘game-changer’ in the 21st century has been the internet, providing an unparalleled database of hotels and other accommodation throughout the world. But the world wide web has also brought with it some significant changes in attitude among road warriors, especially the younger generation of business travellers who are unwilling to accept lower standards from the hospitality industry – and are prepared to use social media to tell others about it.
Latest research, for example, from the influential JD Power & Associates survey of almost 62,000 North
For example: earlier this year Trip Advisor – the global leader in user- generated reviews of hotels and travel in general – was rebuked by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority over its publicity claims to publish “reviews you can trust” when there was potential for misrepresentation. As the ASA’s chief executive Guy Parker put it: “Don’t major on trustworthiness if fake reviews can appear.” Trip Advisor, unsurprisingly, was
not happy with the ASA, arguing it remained committed to “providing a trusted resource for travellers”. But how far can buyers and
travellers really trust third-party information on hotels? Traditionally, information on the quality and value of hotels was provided by the star grading systems or hard-copy publications. Yet in the second decade of the 21st century, star ratings and published guides look out of the loop compared with the plethora of online information available (see panel, above). The Department for Culture,
STARS IN THEIR EYES
THE RACE TO become the first five-star hotel in Liverpool has been claimed by the Hillbark Hotel and Spa, an 18-room ‘boutique manor’ set in 250 acres of Wirral parkland, which was given the accolade last June by the AA. While the hotel no doubt deserves recognition by the AA, any travel buyer or traveller looking for a five-star hotel in Merseyside might be confused by the claims by other hotels on websites to have five stars as well. The reason is that while the hotel world has
long segmented itself on a star-graded basis, there is no official, agreed ranking in the UK or in most other countries in spite of many (failed) attempts to do so. While the AA claims to have started the star
system a century ago – copying the stars awarded to different brandies – it has become a source of potential conflict and confusion. Moreover, star- gradings suffer from inflation: hotels inevitably rate themselves higher than independent observers, leading to claims of six or seven-star properties or more being opened, mainly in the Middle East.
But as a business tool for identifying
appropriate hotels for travelling executives, the star system’s days look numbered.
Media and Sport, in its tourism review last year, effectively washed its hands of the star grading systems for hotels, accepting that the many attempts to impose a unified and widely accepted standard had failed. Current Whitehall thinking is that, whatever its faults, the user-generated review system is potentially more useful to travellers than star ratings, although acknowledging that these still have a role to play when produced by independent groups such as the AA or RAC. But it does not believe this is something in which the government in future should become involved. Yet the leading hotel chains have
also started to shift their position on user-generated reviews over the past year. Having initially viewed them as an unregulated threat and open to manipulation, some hotels have now changed their minds and are embracing uncensored online
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