How good are on-line hotel reviews? Can they be trusted? There was a time, and not so long ago, that when you booked a hotel room you had to believe the adverts in glossy magazines or the advice of your local travel agent; who invariably consulted a hotel directory that gave just basic information. This all changed with the Internet– and the birth of online hotel reviews. Has it really helped the traveller? Alan Dean spoke to Robert Cole, who has thirty years international hotel experience

Alan
You have worked for many of the big name hotel groups Has the fast pace of Internet technology and social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and the likes enhanced the engagement between the big hotel chains and their guests? Or are hotels still trying to figure it all out?
Robert
To be honest, hotel groups are still figuring out social media and how to harness rapidly changing technology. One thing is certain, hoteliers should be very wary of individuals who proclaim themselves to be social media experts, gurus or ninjas – whatever they call themselves. No two hotel brands, no two properties are exactly the same -- and neither are their clienteles. When it comes to technology for the hotel industry, one size does not fit all. The industry is headed in the right direction, but there honestly appears to be more art than science involved at this point.
Alan
Recently the world of online hotel reviews went into shock, with TripAdvisor, seen as the numero uno site for reviews, acknowledging that not all its user-generated content is entirely objective. What went wrong?
Robert
TripAdvisor is now very large and very influential. They always knew that there were some inaccurate or intentionally malicious reviews, but still maintain that they have negligible impact on the wisdom of crowds that drive the ratings; Hotels have discovered that higher rankings have a direct impact on business. It is a lot like the realization that websites that had higher search engine ranking drove traffic and profit. The challenge is that there is now a commercial benefit to artificially inflating a hotel’s own ratings and conversely, artificially deflating the ratings of competitors. The really tricky part is that there are now some groups that are very sophisticated at creating reviews that are very difficult to identify as fake, while remaining undetected themselves.
Alan
So how does somebody who is planning a trip, such as a self-drive holiday that is going to take them to several destinations, work out whether a review is genuine or fake?  Are there certain tell tale signs?
Robert
Ultimately, your best bet is to find a trusted friend who has some good recommendations. TripAdvisor is now integrated with Facebook, so you can find friends that live in or have visited a destination before. When relying on TripAdvisor, some recommend using an ‘Olympic scoring’ approach – throwing out the high and low scores to focus on those in the middle. Others suggest being wary of hotels with an outrageously high review to the number of rooms they offer. In some cases, the hotel may be doing a very effective job of asking guests for reviews, but if there are lots of negative reviews as well, be wary. Watch out for astroturfing.
Alan
What is astroturfing?
Robert
Astroturfing means submitting fake positive reviews using fictional or anonymous profiles. It’s a technique that attempts to bury negative reviews under a flood of fake positive reviews. They can usually be spotted. And remember that any photos supporting reviews – either positive or negative, can help provide better reliability.
Alan
Many of the fake reviews, it seems, are not the work of hoteliers boosting their own properties, but malicious reviews written often by equally malicious people who have never stayed at the property. Is there a way of profiling these types of 'reviews'?
Robert
It can be very difficult. If the reviewer uses non-specific platitudes, without providing specific examples of an event, that may be one indicator.  Also, hoteliers are given an opportunity to defend themselves against unfair reviews, so look for a rebuttal from the hotel.
Alan
Often you see negative on line reviews on TripAdvisor with no response from the hotel concerned. Some comments are mountains made out of molehills, others raise cause for concern when choosing a hotel. Should hoteliers be engaging more with hotel review sites?
Robert
Absolutely. It is so surprising to see the number of hotels that do not take advantage of this capability. Hoteliers reading this should take that aboard; engage with the reviewers – all of them, good and bad. In some cases, the guest may have had an unreasonable request and threatened a negative review as blackmail. The hotels can point out any inaccuracies in the review and endeavour to set the record straight.
Alan
Are there any hotels or hotel chains that you think have successfully got to grips with social media and the question of online hotel reviews from guests?
Robert
I can think of a couple off the top of my head. In New York City, HK Hotels is a family owned business with four properties, including the popular Giraffe Hotel that all rank near the top of the TripAdvisor rankings. They do the smartest thing – they actively seek input from their guests, listen to their advice, and try to eliminate anything that does not contribute to a positive guest experience. They obsess over the details. Marriott and Starwood recently started collecting reviews from guests to present on their own sites, but it’s not yet clear if these are going to be unbiased reviews that might contrast the hotels against the competition or just rabid brand fans talking to each other.
Alan
Should the publishing of online hotel reviews be limited to those who give their full names and dates of staying at a particular hotel or resort they are writing about? It may be difficult to monitor in reality, but it might cut back on fake reviews. What's your opinion?
Robert
I’m actually opposed to requiring guests to provide full names and stay dates. Strange as it may seem, it’s been proven that anonymous reviews are more accurate and honest than known reviewers. Unfortunately, anonymous reviews are also easier to falsify. I have recommended that groups like TripAdvisor work with hotel brands and travel booking sites to validate stays – ideally through booking records or frequent traveller programmes, but keep the identity of the reviewer anonymous if they so choose. Anonymous validated reviews could then be given a higher weighting than anonymous unsubstantiated reviews. I see this as the best method to fight fake reviews.
Alan
How about online hotel review sites that pay for their reviewers to stay at each property as guests, with no management knowledge of the reviewer’s booking? It sounds a good idea, but is one night at a property really a good basis for a review?
Robert
Some very reputable travel writers do this. Wendy Perrin of Conde Nast Traveler is a great example. She travels anonymously, never letting the hotel know who she is. She wants to have an honest guest experience. You have to give her credit – a lot of people who have the power to highlight or remove hotels from that highly regarded Hot List might be tempted to use their position to be upgraded into great suites and extravagant, complimentary meals. I look at this like trusting a movie or television reviewer – if you find one with a sensibility that matches your own, it’s a valuable resource.  You can’t expect to agree with them 100 per cent of the time, so it should just be treated as a trusted recommendation, not an ironclad guarantee.
Alan
Self-drive holidaymakers we have spoken to say they look for nothing more than the 3Cs when travelling - that a hotel or motel be clean, comfortable and competitively priced. How difficult can it be to get an auditable guest assessment record of these three points on check out, say on a 1 to 10 rating?
Robert
It’s very possible. After I left Four Seasons, I ran marketing for a budget motel chain in Canada – a chain of good, clean, new, inexpensive properties. We established a programme where all guest comment cards went to a central address, where the data was captured – we then sent a highly personalised letter to every individual who submitted a comment card – regardless whether it was positive or negative. The response was based on their specific comments – we captured everything.
Alan
That’s a very time consuming process. Were the results worth it?
Robert
Most definitely. Consumers like to see evidence that their voices are being heard. It was a tedious task at times, but people loved it. The main benefit was that we could use the business intelligence to see what guests liked, what properties were having service delivery or maintenance issues, and so forth. Most importantly, it helped us communicate – to show we listened to their concerns and were doing something to correct the situation. The key to success in the hotel industry is exceeding expectations – and that applies to five-star hotels just as much as one-star hotels. It’s not just location, location, location these days: it’s also communication, communication, communication.
Alan
Which way are on-line hotel reviews headed? Do you see a trend developing to more objective reviewing? Or is it going to remain much of a 'wild west' scenario for some time to come.
Robert
For the immediate future, it will unfortunately be the wild west.  The bad guys are breaking the rules faster than the good guys can make the rules, let alone enforce them. The ultimate solution, and I do not want to sound too technical, will be the integration of the review platforms with frequent guest programmes and social networks to validate identities and to allow individuals to rely both on the opinions of trusted friends, and those of other validated travellers. It will be interesting to see what develops. TripAdvisor clearly understands that if their reviews become unreliable, they will quickly become irrelevant. However, if they become complacent in their market position, thinking that they are too big to be undone by a new competitor, they may be in for a rude awakening. At least at this point in time, there is ample opportunity for someone to build a better review platform that is less susceptible to fake reviews.

* Robert Cole began his hospitality career working in resorts during summer breaks from high school and college, first for Sun Valley Resorts, then at Yellowstone National Park. He then spent eight years with Four Seasons Hotels – ultimately as their corporate director of marketing planning. He was also responsible for Sabre’s global hotel platform in the late 1990s. At Neat Group, he helped launch the first dynamic travel packaging platform, working with seven of the top ten global hotel groups. He is currently engaged with a major global hotel group doing some very interesting work in the online distribution area. He runs a very popular blog for the hospitality industry called Views From A Corner Suite