Here’s an interesting article that appeared Sunday in the NY Times on Trip Advisor and consumer reviews of hotels and their growing market impact. The travel sector in this capacity has long been a “leading indicator” of other trends online and in local (yes, travel is part of local). The article nicely captures the good and bad of the phenomenon and how hotels (stand-ins for businesses of all types in the future) respond to reviews:
[T]he growing influence of such sites is hard for hoteliers to ignore. Three out of 10 American travelers who do travel research online read reviews written by other travelers, according to Forrester Research. Of the people who book hotels online, 30 percent have changed their hotel plans because of comments written by other travelers.
Because of the importance consumers attach to guest reviews, some hotels have gone to great lengths to boost their ratings. Some encourage guests to write flattering reviews; some even submit phony write-ups or hire outside companies that specialize in online reputation management to monitor and respond to comments. Review sites, in turn, work to weed out bogus reviews.
Now, interest in the review sites is taking a new turn. As more travelers post detailed comments on everything from room service to décor, hotels are looking at their postings as market-research tools — sources of new ideas, feedback on new concepts and even promotional material.
The only thing for businesses (and publishers) to do is embrace reviews and facilitate dialog and discussion between businesses and their customers and prospects. Along those lines in a specifically local context, here’s my post about Yelp becoming a “CRM platform.”
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Related: Mike Orren at Pegasus News addresses “review fraud.”
Screenwerk 