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Turning travel data into actionable insights

Guest Experience in the Middle East A Report on the Online Reputation of Hotels in the Middle East

April 2017 - March 2018

Disclaimer

This report is based on information extracted from online guest reviews. All analyzed content is publicly available. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data, Olery makes no representation, warranty or guarantee in connection with this report and hereby expressly disclaims any liability or responsibility for loss or damage resulting from the use of this data.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License, “Attribution Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands”. This license enables you to use, copy, spread, and build upon this work non-commercially, as long as you credit Olery, and license your new creations under the identical terms. Charts contained in this report may be reproduced for publication, however they may not be modified in any way without the prior written consent of Olery. The Creative Commons License is available for download at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/nl/.

Olery ©2018, some rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

1

Roman

Introduction 2017 was a turning point for the global tourism industry. With a growth rate of 7% international arrivals as estimated by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) global travel is well beyond the usual 4% growth mark and thus accelerating for the first time since the crisis of 2008. The recovery of Middle Eastern destinations in the past years is a contributing factor which is expected to evolve into a growth driver in the coming years. Events like the Expo in Dubai or the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will provide a direct boost as well as much needed attention of travelers worldwide. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia’s decision to issue tourist visas will open up new destinations to travelers hungry for exceptional experiences. The growth of online travel agencies and platforms even exceeds that of the global tourism industry as more and more people explore, plan, book and review trips online. Online reviews provide excellent insights into the experiences of travelers. Businesses, associations and governments worldwide use this data to understand their visitors and make better investment decisions. This report provides a snapshot into the review data for all major destinations in the Middle East.

Executive Summary The Guest Experience in the Middle East continues to improve, even if at a moderate pace. In general, guests are very satisfied with the rooms, service and cleanliness, but find the value for money and the facilities lacking. Qatar receives excellent ratings and is able to secure the top position held by Cyprus in the previous years. The political crisis of Qatar with its neighbours and thus the increase in share of domestic guests certainly plays a role here. Egypt accelerates its recovery with high satisfaction ratings from European leisure travelers. Saudi Arabia’s renewed focus on tourism is showing the first signs of success, but it is apparent, that catching up with the top destinations in the Middle East will take many years. Israel enjoys a sizeable increase in booked hotel nights, but seems to struggle scaling the guest satisfaction along with it. Jordan is able to strengthen its position and might be able to challenge the top destinations in the coming years. The experience at hotels in Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait continues to be somewhat lackluster, while Lebanon stagnates at a relatively high level. Guest ratings for the United Arab Emirates gain some needed consistency as hoteliers across the country try to follow the path laid out by Dubai and Abu Dhabi.


1

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Table of Contents 2

GEI & Methodology 3

Guest Experience in the Middle East 4

Destination Report: Bahrain 5

Destination Report: Cyprus 6

Destination Report: Egypt 7

Destination Report: Israel 8

Destination Report: Jordan 9

Destination Report: Kuwait 10

Destination Report: Lebanon 11

Destination Report: Oman 12

Destination Report: Qatar 13

Destination Report: Saudi Arabia 14

Destination Report: United Arab Emirates 15

About Olery 16


2

About the Guest Experience Index (GEI)

The Guest Experience Index (GEI) is a holistic measure of hotel performance through the eyes of the guests. It aggregates all data shared in online reviews for a hotel or other type of accommodation. At its core is a proprietary algorithm, developed in cooperation with the Free University of Amsterdam. This algorithm takes numeric ratings, the textual opinions stated in the review (sentiment analysis) and the trustworthiness of the reviews (based on the credibility of each reviewer and the review site) into account.

Our Methodology

This report is based on reviews of hotels in the Middle East published between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018. ● 5,909,476 reviews published in the observed period from

10,498 hotels were analyzed

● Multiple public travel websites were used as source

● The Guest Experience Index (GEI) per country constitutes an average of the GEIs for every individual hotel in the country

● Performance aspects are based on more than 538 rating categories of the review sites

● Guest segments are deducted from the public profiles of the reviewers

● Ratings and the GEI might vary from last year’s report due the analysis of additional reviews

● The scale of ratings (other than the GEI) was changed from 1-100 to 1-10 for this year’s report

● Syria, Yemen, Iran and Iraq are not included due to a lack of reviews


3

Guest Experience in the Middle East

Rank Country GEI Change # of reviews

█ 1 (4) Qatar 84.3 3.68% 208,921

█ 2 (1) Cyprus 83.1 -0.40% 191,643

█ 3 (5) Egypt 82.1 1.11% 641,591

█ 4 (3) Lebanon 81.3 -0.26% 68,801

█ 5 (2) Israel 81.2 -0.67% 417,262

█ 6 (-) Jordan 80.4 1.42% 144,836

█ 7 (8) UAE 79.5 1.10% 2,577,328

█ 8 (7) Oman 79.2 0.49% 110,683

█ 9 (-) Bahrain 77.8 0.45% 211,152

█ 10 (11) Saudi Arabia 77.0 1.55% 1,233,645

█ 11 (10) Kuwait 75.9 -0.56% 103,101

The current rank is compared to the one of the previous period (number in brackets). The data might differ from last year’s report due to the analysis of additional reviews.


4

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

0

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Bahrain

Reviews

Country of Origin Share Overall

Saudi Arabia 70.9% 7.7

Kuwait 7.7% 8.0

Bahrain 5.1% 7.9

United Arab Emirates 3.5% 7.9

United Kingdom 2.2% 8.1

Ratings

Facilities

8.1

Rooms

8.7

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.9

Value

8.2

Location

9.0

Service

8.8

Food

7.5

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark

Traveler Segment Share Overall

Families 32.9% 8.0

Solo 19.7% 7.5

Couples 18.4% 8.0

Business 14.1% 8.8

Group 9.5% 7.0

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

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Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Cyprus

Reviews



Cyprus 19.2% 8.1

Russia 11.0% 8.4

Israel 8.6% 8.5

Germany 3.0% 8.1

Ratings

Facilities

7.8

Rooms

8.4

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.6

Value

8.5

Location

8.8

Service

8.7

Food

6.6

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Couples 44.3% 8.6

Families 36.5% 8.4

Friends 10.4% 8.3

Solo 4.5% 8.3

Business 2.8% 8.2

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

6

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Egypt

Reviews


Egypt 29.1% 7.8


Germany 12.7% 8.8


Italy 2.5% 8.2

Ratings

Facilities

8.8

Rooms

8.7

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.7

Value

8.8

Location

8.9

Service

8.9

Food

8.6

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Families 38.5% 9.0

Couples 33.2% 8.8

Friends 16.4% 9.1

Solo 7.5% 8.5

Business 2.9% 8.6

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

7

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Israel

Reviews


Israel 42.2% 8.0

United States 6.8% 8.3

Russia 6.1% 8.0

Germany 5.7% 7.9

France 5.3% 7.7

Ratings

Facilities

8.0

Rooms

8.3

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.4

Value

8.5

Location

9.2

Service

8.5

Food

7.6

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Couples 37.2% 8.3

Families 29.9% 8.3

Friends 11.1% 8.5

Solo 10.3% 8.2

Business 6.6% 8.4

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

8

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

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40K

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Jordan

Reviews



Jordan 13.5% 7.8



United States 4.9% 8.3

Ratings

Facilities

7.8

Rooms

8.4

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.4

Value

8.2

Location

8.9

Service

8.4

Food

7.0

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Couples 27.7% 8.1

Families 25.4% 8.2

Friends 14.9% 8.4

Solo 14.3% 8.1

Business 10.9% 8.6

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

9

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

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25K

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Kuwait

Reviews




Kuwait 11.6% 7.9

Qatar 7.6% 7.9

Bahrain 6.0% 7.3

Ratings

Facilities

7.4

Rooms

8.3

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.5

Value

8.1

Location

8.5

Service

8.5

Food

7.9

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Families 35.1% 7.5

Business 24.6% 8.6

Couples 16.3% 7.3

Solo 12.4% 7.5

Group 9.1% 7.1

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

10

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Lebanon

Reviews


Lebanon 16.2% 8.1



Kuwait 5.0% 8.0

France 4.8% 8.1

Ratings

Facilities

7.9

Rooms

8.3

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.5

Value

8.2

Location

9.1

Service

8.4

Food

6.8

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Couples 25.0% 8.1

Families 23.1% 7.9

Solo 18.9% 8.0

Business 15.0% 8.5

Group 9.9% 7.9

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

11

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Oman

Reviews


Oman 29.9% 7.7



Germany 5.4% 8.3

France 5.0% 8.2

Ratings

Facilities

8.0

Rooms

8.7

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.9

Value

8.1

Location

8.7

Service

8.7

Food

8.2

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Couples 38.1% 8.4

Families 29.0% 8.2

Solo 10.6% 8.0

Business 9.8% 8.3

Friends 7.4% 8.4

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

12

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

0

75K

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Qatar

Reviews


Qatar 45.1% 8.5


Kuwait 4.1% 8.2



Ratings

Facilities

8.5

Rooms

8.9

Visitors

Cleanliness

9.0

Value

8.7

Location

8.9

Service

8.9

Food

8.9

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Families 25.0% 8.5

Business 24.0% 8.9

Couples 19.6% 8.6

Solo 17.1% 8.5

Friends 10.3% 9.1

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

13

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

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300K

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900K

1.2M

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: Saudi Arabia

Reviews




Kuwait 2.3% 7.9


Egypt 1.5% 7.7

Ratings

Facilities

7.8

Rooms

8.2

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.2

Value

7.8

Location

9.0

Service

8.1

Food

7.4

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Families 46.0% 7.6

Couples 20.7% 7.7

Solo 15.6% 7.5

Business 9.7% 8.1

Group 6.4% 7.4

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

14

Reviews Rating

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

0

750K

1.5M

2.3M

3M

6

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8

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Apr 1, 2017 - Mar 31, 2018

Destination Report: United Arab Emirates

Reviews





Oman 4.6% 7.5

Kuwait 3.0% 8.1

Ratings

Facilities

8.2

Rooms

8.8

Visitors

Cleanliness

8.9

Value

8.5

Location

8.9

Service

8.9

Food

8.4

8.1 8.5 8.4 8.7 8.1 8.1 7.9

Global Benchmark


Families 33.2% 8.5

Couples 28.5% 8.7

Business 13.8% 8.6

Solo 11.8% 8.1

Friends 7.9% 8.9

0 2 4 6 8 10


only Q1

15

About Olery

Olery captures content shared by travelers on accommodation booking sites and travel apps. Technologies such as Natural Language Processing help to analyze the millions of opinions published by guests. This way Olery extracts data about destinations, hospitality businesses and travelers worldwide. This data is used to monitor performance and reputation, improve services through feedback and to better understand visitors. The Olery data platform powers a suite of web applications, reports and developer APIs for the hospitality industry, tourism organizations and travel commerce companies.

Products

Olery Destination Reports

Benchmark the local hospitality industry against its competition and monitor individual business

Olery Destination Dashboard

Real-time insights into local businesses and guest satisfaction

Olery Reputation for Hotels

Actively manage guest reviews on various platforms and improve your online reputation

Olery Review API

Access to data from millions of guest reviews


5

Roman

We are looking forward to hearing from you

______________________________________________________________

Why work with Olery Experienced in capturing and analyzing online reviews

Individually customized reports for your destination

Proven track record of serving tourism authorities

Strong portfolio of partners and advisors

Online tool for real-time monitoring

______________________________________________________________

For enquiries please contact

Hans Keukenschrijver, CEO

+31 20 – 752 03 16

[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/keukenschrijver

Follow us @OleryHQ, like us on facebook.com/OleryHQ and visit olery.com to learn more.

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/keukenschrijver

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