Online Reviews Steering More Consumers

“Not friendly or helpful,” says Rene of Rochester, NY of one Downtown Denver hotel. “Room was just OK. Second night a group of people were talking outside our room. I called the front desk and the clerk said they’d received other complaints. They kept us up until 6 a.m. We checked out and they charged us for this terrible night.”Or, a trendy New Orleans boutique’s reviews available through Orbitz, comments that both slap and praise. Anonymous from Honolulu, HI on Jan. 8, writes, “Being that we were there for the Sugar Bowl, the location was convenient. I would have liked to stay on Canal Street but for the value it worked. No restaurant, though. Hotel was adequate and clean. But the street car stopped right in front. Would recommend to a friend.”The same hotel also has two other postings: “Staff unfriendly.” Two scrolls down: “Staff very friendly.”The maturation of online reviews by hotel guests – a phenomena soaring since travel search and booking Internet engines such as Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia are now embedded in the travelers’ vernacular – is steering consumers away from some hotels and toward others. It’s also causing hotel owners and operators to jump into the internet fray, responding at digital speed to negative reviews and changing operations to preserve a properties’ reputation — and ultimately its bottom line.

In 2006, Travelocity bought the 8-year-old IgoUgo.com consumer review site. Unlike reviews and capabilities posted on most travel search sites, IgoUgo’s is restricted to consumer reviews and has a bevy of steady contributors with screen names and column-like travelogues from across the world. Some have standing reviews with his or her own following. They contain warnings, blessings and information regarding the hotel-stay experience, plus additional information on location and nearby amenities, both good and bad.

Cameron Siewart, content and community manager at IgoUgo, says the review site is launching a hotel owner/operator-response page to address issues raised in consumer reviews. Do hoteliers take negative reviews seriously? She tells GlobeSt.com that “we do hear from properties on a regular basis asking for negative reviews to be taken down, which we do not do unless reviews clearly violate our terms or conditions” of use.What are the three major sins to block a posting? “It can’t be slanderous or contain offensive language and it can’t be written by hotel managers,” Siewart says.