reviewpro's guide to hotel review sites

Hotelierʻs Guide to Review Sites, June 2011"

Hotelier’s Guide to Review Sites Overview of 50 major review sites and their features"

Hotelierʻs Guide to Review Sites, June 2011" 2"

About this guide Most hoteliers today will agree that managing a hotelʼs online reputation is critical to their business in todayʼs internet-driven economy.""A major part of any hotelʼs online reputation is based on guest reviews. Managing these reviews is not an easy task: There are dozens of online travel agencies (OTAs), online communities and other travel related sites that allow their users to publish reviews, and sometimes even photos and videos of hotels.""This Guide gives an overview of 50 of the major review sites in Europe and North America. For each website, we have created an easy to read checklist of features and information that will help you manage your reviews on these sites and decide where to focus your efforts."""""

Please note: All information in this guide has been researched by the ReviewPro team online. These sites evolve constantly, and we cannot guarantee that the information presented here is always up to date. If you would like to update some information, please do reach out to us. We intend to keep this guide up to date, expand it and provide it to the community free of charge. You can always reach us at [email protected].""If you are looking for more information and advice on monitoring, increasing or responding to reviews, we encourage you to take a look at our other guides with detailed advice on managing your online reputation. They can be found on our blog: www.reviewpro.com/blog.""


About the Guide 2 Holidays Uncovered 21 Thomas Cook 39

Introduc?on 4 Hotel.de 22 Thomson 40

Ab-‐in-‐den-‐Urlaub 5 HotelCheck 23 Travbuddy 41

Ac?ve Hotels 6 HotelClub 24 Travelocity 42

Alpharooms 7 Hotelopia 25 TravelPost 43

Atrapalo 8 Hotels.com 26 TripAdvisor 44

Bookassist 9 Hotels Combined 27 Triptake 45

Booking.com 10 HotelSearch 28 Trivago 46

Cheqqer 11 HotelSpecials 29 Tui.com 47

Ciao! 12 HRS 30 Venere 48

Citysearch 13 IgoUgo 31 Vinivi 49

EasyToBook.com 14 LateRooms.com 32 Virtual Tourist 50

Ebookers 15 Orbitz 33 Weg.de 51

Expedia 16 Priceline 34 Yahoo! Travel 52

FastBooking 17 Qype 35 Yelp 53

Global Hotel Review 18 Splendia 36 Zoover 54

HolidayCheck 19 Superbreak 37 What’s Next? 55

Holiday Watchdog 20 Tablethotels 38

3"

Contents


Scores and Ranking!"• Global rating: Is there an overall score

that the reviewer gives the hotel? If so, on what rating scale is it?"

• Recommendation: Can the reviewer say whether he would recommend the hotel to a friend?"

• Rating by department: Many sites allow reviewers to go into more detail with their rating, and give individual scores for concepts like service, cleanliness or value for money"

• Overall city ranking: Some sites rank hotels by their review scores or a related algorithm."

• Other city rankings: This includes city rankings for specific attributes, e.g. For business travel, by star category etc."

Reviews!"• Review Languages: What languages is

the website available in/do reviewers typically write reviews?"

• Booking required for review: While most websites require in their terms and conditions that reviews should only be written by someone who stayed at the hotel, some websites only allow reviews by customer who have booked through this website. This is indicated here."

• User photos: Does the website allow users to upload their own photos of the hotel?"

• Reviews from other sites: Some websites increase their database of reviews by also showing reviews from one or more external sources. "

Management options!"• Link to hotel website: While most OTAs

will not link to a hotelʼs own website, some communities or aggregators do allow this."

• Management response: Does the site allow hotels to reply to a review, either with an official management response function, or by posting a comment under a review?"

• Private response: Can hoteliers send a private message or email to a reviewer?"

• Hotelier control panel: Is there some type of extranet that allows hotels to verify and update their information? Note: these may or may not include review response functionality"

• Flag/report review: Is there a way for readers to flag a review if the content seems incorrect or it does not adher to the siteʼs review guidelines?"

4"

Introduction This guide contains one page overviews of 50 sites that host online reviews. "Each individual site guide is structured as a checklist with the following sections:"


Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Gastronomy, Hotel, Location, Value, Rooms, Service, Sports"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" German"

Booking required for review" ✗!

User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Reviews from other sites belonging to the same group:

Hotelreservation.com, Urlaubstours, Hotelreservierung.de, Reisen.de, Fluege.de"

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! Hotels can edit general hotel information and add/edit photos"Flag/report review" ✗!

5"

Ab-in-den-Urlaub"URL:! http://www.ab-in-den-

urlaub.de"

Type:! Online Travel Agency"

Owned by:! Unister"

About!!Ab-in-den-Urlaub is part of a network of German travel sites owned by Unister. All six sites can be managed from one control panel by the hotel. Similarly, reviews posted on one of the sites appear on all six sites. ""The site lists over 50,000 hotels and the entire network together has 10 million website visitors per month according to their website."

To update or modify this information, email [email protected]"


Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Clean, Comfort, Location, Services, Staff, Value for Money"

Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 5" English, French, German, Spanish and Italian"Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✓!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗!

6"

Active Hotels"URL:! www.activehotels.com"


Owned by:! Priceline"

About!"Active Hotels is an online hotel reservation provider with more than 50.000 hotels.""Users who book through the site can write a review of the hotel they stayed at. ""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓! Alpharooms asks reviewers which of the following concepts

describes the hotel, and uses the most mentioned ones as summary at the top of the reviews site as kind of a recommendation: Family friendly, Good for singles, Quiet, Lively, Romantic, No frills, Great service, Close to the beach, Trendy/Boutique, Good for shopping, Central location, Luxury"

Rating by department" ✗!Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English"

Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✓! TripAdvisor"

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓! Anybody can comment on a review; this could be used to

write a management response"Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗!

7"

Alpharooms"URL:! www.alpharooms.com"

Type:! Online Travel Agency

Owned by:! Alpha Accommodation Ltd "

About!"Alpharooms.com is one of the UK's leading websites for discount travel. It has an unusual rating/recommendation system in that users are asked which attributes correspond to the hotel (for example “great service”) without an actual rating, making it a kind of recommendation by department.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✓! Recommendation is split into two parts: “Would you

recommend this to your best friend” and which type of travel the hotel is recommended for: Business, group events, Cultural/touristic trips, Family trips, Disconnect & Relax"

Rating by department" ✓! Location, Room, Staff Attention, Decoration, Quality / Price, Cleanliness, Installation and Services"

Overall city ranking" ✓!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 4" Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French "

Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! https://extranet.atrapalo.com/hoteles/"Flag/report review" ✗!

8"

Atrapalo"URL:! www.atrapalo.com"

Type:! Online Travel Agency "

Owned by:! Atrapalo S.L."

About!"Atrapalo is a Spanish Online Travel Agency that offers a plenty of services for accommodation, transportation and activities for travelers with more than 600.000 guest reviews from registered users.""The site is particularly important for the Spanish market, but is also active in Italy, France, Chile, Brazil and Colombia.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✗!Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

!

Reviews!Review Languages" 2" English and Spanish"Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓!Management response" ✓!Private response" ✓!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗! . "

9"

Bookassist"URL:! www.bookassist.com"


Owned by:! Automatic Netware Ltd."

About!"Bookassist provides booking engine technology and online marketing solutions to hoteliers trough their online site. The hotel search on their site allows guests to book stays directly through Bookassist as well. ""A large part of the reviews on Bookassist are posted with the customerʼs real name, making it less anonymous than the majority of review sites.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Clean, Comfort, Location, Services, Staff, Value for Money "Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 39" Including English, Spanish, German, French, Italian,

Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese, Dutch and Russian "Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! https://admin.bookings.org/hotel/"

Flag/report review" ✗!!

10"

Booking.com"URL:! www.booking.com"



About!"Booking.com is an online hotel reservation agency with over 30 million unique visitors each month from both leisure and business markets worldwide and more than 7 million hotel reviews. It is one of the major OTAs, particularly for European travelers.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! General impression, Rooms, Food & Beverage, Personal,

Hygiene, Location, Respect for people and nature, Price / quality"


Reviews!Review Languages" 2" Spanish and Dutch "Booking required for review" ✗!

User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✗!

Flag/report review" ✗!

11"

Cheqqer"URL:! www.cheqqer.com"

Type:! Aggregator"

Owned by:! TUI"

About!"Cheqqer is an online travel community where users can read and exchange experiences about their travels. The site has more than 1.5 millions of reviews from travelers. Users cannot book directly through the site, but Cheqqer links to offers on other sites, including Booking.com, Laterooms and Hotelopia.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Value for Money, Shopping, Nightlife, Ease of getting around,

Family Friendly, Sightseeing. Note: This may be different depending on the hotel."


Reviews!Review Languages" 7" English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish"Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓! Possible as a comment if someone from the hotel registers as

user for the site."Private response" ✓! Registered users can send each other messages."Hotelier control panel" ✗!

Flag/report review" ✗!

12"

Ciao!"URL:! www.ciao.com"

Type:! Aggregator"

Owned by:! Ciao GmbH"

About!"Ciao is an online community that enables users to publish reviews a large range of products and services, while also showing prices and linking to offers for these products. Users can earn money for writing reviews depending on the category and the usefulness of a review as rated by other users.""Ciao differs from other hotel review sites in that reviews are typically a lot more detailed and longer than on most other sites. A large percentage of reviews receive comments from other users."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✗!Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English "Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓! Any member can comment on a review, hoteliers could use

this to respond."Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! Hoteliers can “claim” their business listing for free. Claiming

enables hotels to update their basic information (address, opening hours, phone number), see page stats, add a special offer for Citysearch users and integrate their Twitter and Facebook profiles."

Flag/report review" ✗!!

13"

Citysearch"URL:! www.citysearch.com"

Type:! Aggregator"

Owned by:! Independent"

About!"Citysearch is a virtual guide with more than 75,000 recommended locations, comments and expert advice from local businesses troughout the United States. Citysearch allows hotels to manage their listing for free. The site focuses on a memberʼs local community, which makes it interesting for hotel restaurants and spas as well."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! General Impression, Services and Facilities, Hotel Staff, Price/

Quality, Cleanliness, Location "Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 9" English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish,

Russian, Chinese"Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗! "

Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! http://extranet.easytobook.com/"Flag/report review" ✗!

14"

EasyToBook.com"URL:! www.easytobook.com"


Owned by:! Independent""

About!"EasyToBook.com is an OTA that focuses exclusively on hotels. Hotels can register to be listed for free, payment is commission-based. ""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Amenities , Maintenance, Hotel staff, Room comfort, Location,

Value "Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 5" English, German, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian (on international

sites with own domains)"Booking required for review" ✓! Any registered user can write a review, but reviews written by

users who have booked through Ebookers have a “Verified Customer” seal"

User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✗!Flag/report review" ✗!

15"

Ebookers"URL:! www.ebookers.com"


Owned by:! Orbitz Worldwide "

About!"Ebookers.com offers a wide range of travel products including flights, hotels, rental cars and cruises. ""Ebookers has an interesting approach to user verification, allowing any registered user to post a review, but showing a verification seal for users who booked through Ebookers.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Hotel Service, Hotel Condition, Room Cleanliness, Room

Comfort, Location, Neighborhood "Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 11" English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Danish,

Japanese, Swedish, Norwegian, Malay"

Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Shows Tripadvisor rewviews and average rating"

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓! Hotels can respond to reviews on Expedia through the

Expedia Partner Central "Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! https://expediapartnercentral.com/"

"Flag/report review" ✓! Possible from hotelier control panel"

16"

Expedia"URL:! www.expedia.com"


Owned by:! Expedia Inc."

About!"Expedia is one of the largest OTAs in the world and offers vacation packages, hotels, flights cruises, rental cars and more.""Hotels can sign up for Expediaʼs partner program, which allows them to manage their hotel on Expedia, Hotels.com and Venere.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✓! Recommendation only shown as aggregate

(“Recommendation rate”)"Rating by department" ✓! Geographical location, Quality of reception, Cleanliness of the

hotel, Size of room,Room sound insulation, Breakfast,Services available, General quality, Value for money "


Reviews!Review Languages" 5" English, Spanish, German, French, Italian


Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓! Yes, this is one of the distinguishing features of the website "Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! http://www.fastbooking.net/en/"Flag/report review" ✗!

17"

FastBooking"URL:! www.fastbooking.com"

Type:! Aggregator"


About!"FastBooking offers a booking engine for hotel websites, and runs FastBooking.com, where internet users can book rooms at FastBookingʼs client hotels.""Unlike most other websites in this area, FastBooking links to the hotelsʼ websites for no additional charge (hotels have to be FastBooking clients)"



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"

Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Cleanliness, Facilities, Service, Location, Pricing "

Overall city ranking" ✓!Other city rankings" ✓! Ranking for hotels in same star category"

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English"Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓!Management response" ✓! Anyone can post a comment to a review; hotels can check a

box to state that they represent the hotel management."Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✗!

Flag/report review" ✗! No button to flag/report a review, but the site encourages users to report reviews by email"

18"

Global Hotel Review"URL:! www.globalhotelreview.com"

Type:! Travel Community"


About!"Global Hotel Review is an independent hotel review site. It lists over 130,000 hotels worldwide. ""The site allows hotels to be taken off their listing or to block the review function, distinguishing it from other travel portals.""



Scores and Rankings!

Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 6"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Hotel, Room, Service, Location, Gastronomy, Sport and

Entertainment"


Reviews!Review Languages" 10" English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Polish, Russian,

Dutch, Czech and Chinese "Booking required for review" ✗! Any user can review a hotel, an email address is required."User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓!

Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! Aside from responding to reviews, hoteliers can also add

news and photos of their hotel and see statistics"Flag/report review" ✗!

19"

HolidayCheck"URL:! www.holidaycheck.com"

Type:! Aggregator "

Owned by:! Holidaycheck AG"

About!"HolidayCheck is a travel portal that is particularly important for the German market. ""It offers hoteliers a management portal where they can not only respond to reviews, but also manage their listing and see detailed statistics for their hotel on HolidayCheck."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Room, Service, Pool, Dining, Beach,Amenities"



Booking required for review" ✗! Any user can write a review, email address is required"User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Reviews from TripAdvisor"

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!

Management response" ✓!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✗!Flag/report review" ✗!

20"

Holiday Watchdog "URL:! www.holidaywatchdog.com"

Type:! Aggregator and Community "

Owned by:! TripAdvisor Ltd"

About!"Holiday Watchdog is a UK travel information web site where users can post reviews and upload photos.""Users cannot book hotels within Holiday Watchdog, but the site links to offers from other OTAs including Booking.com, Expedia, HRS and more.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 6"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Cleanliness, Food, Hotel Entertainment, Hotel service,

Location, Room comfort, Value"Overall city ranking" ✓!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English"Booking required for review" ✗! An email address is required"User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓! Hoteliers can use the comment function underneath each

review to respond."Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✗!Flag/report review" ✗!

21"

Holidays Uncovered"URL:! www.holidays-uncovered.co.uk"

Type:! Community"

Owned by:! TUI UK Limited"

About!"Holidays Uncovered is a well known travel community in the UK and part of the TUI group. ""Aside from hotel reviews, it also features destination (“resort”) reviews and tips on what to do for each destination. When a user reviews a hotel, the form asks them to review the destination as well, which can give hotels additional insights."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✓! Recommendation rate is shown as average only, not for

individual reviews"Rating by department" ✓! Room quality, Room noise, Cleanliness, Friendliness and

capability of staff, Price-performance ratio, Breakfast/Food"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 37"


Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗!

22"

Hotel.de"URL:! http://www.hotel.de/"


Owned by:! hotel.de AG"

About!!Hotel.de (also operating under hotel.info internationally) is a major OTA for the European and especially the German market. Aside from enabling private customers to book hotels, it also focuses on business travelers with corporate discounts and a tool for meeting planners that allows them to search for hotels with meeting rooms."



Scores and Rankings!

Global rating" ✓! 1 to 6 points. Careful: HotelCheck uses the German school grading system, where 1 is the best grade and 6 the worst; the best rating a hotel could get would therefore be a 1.0."

Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Cleanliness, Facilities, Location, Room, Service, Gastronomy,

Sports & Entertainment & Wellness"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" German"Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓! Via comment function under each review"Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✗!Flag/report review" ✗!

23"

HotelCheck"URL:! www.holtelcheck.com"

Type:! Aggregator "

Owned by:! Holidaycheck AG"

About!!HotelCheck is a hotel review portal and aggregator operated by HolidayCheck. The reviews are typically more detailed than average. Careful: The rating system is based on the German school grading system, with a 1.0 being the best, and a 6.0 being the worst rating, this can be confusing for international hoteliers."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Cleanliness, Facilities, Service, Location, Pricing (shown as

averages only)"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 14" Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), English, French, German,

Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Polish, Thai, Russian and Dutch."

Booking required for review" ✓!



24"

HotelClub"URL:! www.hotelclub.com/"


Owned by:! Orbitz Worldwide Inc."

About!!HotelClub is a website specialized in hotel bookings, owned by Orbitz. Their membership program allows members to earn points, similar to a loyalty program of hotel chains."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Room, Facilities, Cleanliness, Quality of the food, Staff

professionalism, Check-in procedure, Price-quality ratio (shown as averages only)"


Reviews!Review Languages" 11" English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Catalan,

Portuguese, Russian, Danish, Swedish"Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!


25"

Hotelopia"URL:! www.hotelopia.com"


Owned by:! TUI Travel PLC"

About!"Hotelopia is an OTA specialized in hotels, listing over 35,000 hotels worldwide."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Hotel Service, Hotel Condition, Room Comfort, Room

Cleanliness"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 20" More than 20 languages including English, Spanish, German,

French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese, Dutch and Russian"

Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Reviews from TripAdvisor, Expedia"

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓! Hoteliers can respond to guest reviews trough the Expedia

Partner Central. "Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! https://expediapartnercentral.com/"Flag/report review" ✗!

!

26"

Hotels.com"URL:! www.hotels.com"



About!"Hotels.com is a leading OTA specializing in hotel reservations.""Hoteliers can manage their presence on Hotels.com and the reviews they receive through the Expedia Partner Central. "



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5 points. Shown as average only"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Cleanliness, Dining, Facilities, Location, Rooms, Service.

Shown as average only."Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 22" Includes English, Spanish, German, French, Italian,

Portuguese, Russian, Chinese "Booking required for review" ✗! Users can write a review of any hotel. However, the siteʼs

main review feature is its “Verified Reviews” system that aggregates review scores from other sites that require booking."

User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Shows average score and summary of review data from over

30 partnering sites"

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗!

27"

Hotels Combined"URL:! www.hotelescombined.com"

Type:! Aggregator"

Owned by:! Hotels Combined Pty Ltd "

About!"Hotels Combined is an aggregator that allows users to search for hotel offers and compare prices from different providers.""Reviews are also shown in an aggregated way. An average score is displayed alongside a summary of what people write about for a given hotel. The site links to online reviews of their partner providers and shows reviews from their own users."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Cleanliness, Location, Common facilities and services, Staff,

Quietness, Room, Value for money "Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 5" English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese "

Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓!Management response" ✓! Management response is possible, hoteliers need to send

their response in via e-mail."Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗!

28"

HotelSearch"URL:! www.hotelsearch.com"


Owned by:! Mirai España, S.L."

About!"HotelSearch is a Spanish online travel agency that specializes in hotels in Spain, France, Italy and Andorra."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓!

!Room Comfort, Room Cleanliness, Breakfast Quality, Dinner Value, Service, Atmosphere, Value, Location"


Reviews!Review Languages" 1" Dutch (has Swedish partner site)"




29"

HotelSpecials"URL:! http://

www.hotelspecials.nl/"



About!!HotelSpecials is an Online Travel Agency in the Netherlands that focuses on hotels in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany and France. The site lists over 3,000 hotels.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10 points (aggregate score only)"Recommendation" ✓! Aggregated, three levels of satisfaction/recommendation"Rating by department" ✓! How warmly were you welcomed, How willing were staff to

help, Room facilities, Cleanliness,Wellness area, Restaurant quality, Package amenities, if reserved, Size of room, Hotel facilities, Sanitary equipment, The quality of breakfast, Value for money "


Reviews!Review Languages" 30" Including English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch,

Catalan, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese "Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗!

!

30"

HRS"URL:! www.hrs.com"


Owned by:! Robert Ragge GmbH"

About!"HRS is an OTA specializing in hotels. It is known for giving customers a price guarantee of being less expensive than any other site with same booking conditions.""Review ratings are shown in aggregated numbers, giving travelers an idea of the average guest rating of a hotel.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✗!Overall city ranking" ✓!Other city rankings" ✗!


Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Travelocity reviews"

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✗!Flag/report review" ✓!

31"

IgoUgo"URL:! www.igougo.com"

Type:! Community and Aggregator "

Owned by:! Travelocity.com LP."

About!"IgoUgo is a travel community that allows their over 500,000 members to post reviews and photos of destinations, hotels and attractions. The site is highly focused on its community, showcasing members and giving out writing awards. "



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 6"Recommendation" ✓! Aggregate percentage only"Rating by department" !

✓!Customer service, Hotel cleanliness, Quality of room, Value for money, Quality of food, Family friendly "


Reviews!Review Languages" 5" English, Spanish, French, Italian, German"Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!


32"

LateRooms.com"URL:! www.laterooms.com"


Owned by:! LateRooms Ltd "

About!"LateRooms.com is a UK based OTA that focuses on hotel rooms. ""Aside from enabling hoteliers to manage their listing and reservations, their extranet also has a hotelier forum where hotel professionals can exchange experiences and receive advice."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Amenities, Maintenance, Hotel staff, Room comfort, Location,

Value"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!


Booking required for review" ✗! Any registered user can leave a review, but reviews written by a customer who booked through Orbitz have a “Verified Customer” seal and have more weight in ratings."



33"

Orbitz"URL:! www.orbitz.com"


Owned by:! Orbitz Worldwide"

About!"Orbitz.com is one of the leading OTAs worldwide, especially in North America. It is part of Orbitz Worldwide, a group that owns several consumer brands including Ebookers, HotelClub and RatesToGo amongst others."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Hotel Cleanliness, Hotel Staff, Location of Hotel, Hotel Dining.

Shown as aggregate only."Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English"Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!


34"

Priceline"URL:! www.priceline.com"



About!"Priceline is an OTA that is mainly known for its “name your own price” feature that allows users to book a hotel by star category and neighborhood for a low price without knowing the exact hotel. Users can also book specific hotels however. """ "



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✗!


Reviews!Review Languages" 7" English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Italian"


Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓!Management response" ✓!Private response" ✓!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✓!

35"

Qype"URL:! www.qype.com"


Owned by:! Qype GmbH"

About!"Qype is a local reviews site with over 22 million visits per month. Members review not only hotels, but any local business."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✓! Aggregated percentage only (“recommended by 85% of our

customers”)"Rating by department" ✓! Location, Public areas of the hotel, Room, Quality of service,

Breakfast & restaurant "Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 10" English, Spanish, Deutsch, French, Italian, Portuguese,

Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Cantonese"Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!

!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗!

36"

Splendia"URL:! www.splendia.com"


Owned by:! Splendia Limited"

About!"Splendia is an OTA specializing in luxury hotels. It offers a club for customers where members enjoy special privileges at some of the hotels."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Destination, Sleep, Breakfast, Staff"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English"Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✗!


37"

Superbreak"URL:! www.superbreak.com"


Owned by:! Holidaybreak plc"

About!"Superbreak specializes in short breaks in the UK, but also provides offers from over 5.000 hotels worldwide, ranging from 2 stars to 5 stars. "



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! Feedback score out of 20 points, shown as average score of

all users. On individual reviews, ratings are shown as “fair”, “good”, “excellent” etc."

Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Rooms, Service, Public Spaces"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 9" English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German,

Russian, Japanese, Korean"Booking required for review" ✓!



!

38"

Tablethotels"URL:! www.tablethotels.com"


Owned by:! Tablet Inc."

About!"Tablet Hotels is a travel community and OTA that specializes in luxury hotels selected by its members. Hotels can apply to be listed for an application fee, but will only be listed as long as their overall rating by users remains above 15 out of 20 points."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓! Shown as average only (“x% of travelers recommend this

hotel”)"Rating by department" ✓! Hotel Service, Hotel Condition, Room cleanliness, Room

comfort "Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 5" English, French, German, Dutch, Polish "



39"

Thomas Cook"URL:! www.thomascook.com"


Owned by:! Thomas Cook AG"

About!"Thomas Cook is a largest travel groups in Europe. Its OTA offers vacation packages as well as hotels, flights and cruises.""Note:"Thomas Cook seems to currently be changing its review system. The info here is based on what was visible on the site in May 2011."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Room Comfort, Location, Food, Cleanliness"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!


Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Reviews from TripAdvisor"


40"

Thomson"URL:! www.thomson.co.uk"


Owned by: ! TUI Travel PLC"

About!"Thomson is one of the most well known online travel operators in the UK and a part of Tui."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Value, Location, Cleanliness, Amenities, Bed, Bathroom,

Service "Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English"Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓! Hoteliers can use the comment function to respond to reviews"

Private response" ✓! Hoteliers can use the private messaging function to respond privately"

Hotelier control panel" ✗!Flag/report review" ✗!

41"

Travbuddy"URL:! www.travbuddy.com"

Type:! Community and Aggregator"

Owned by:! TravBuddy LLC "

About!"TravBuddy is a community for travelers. Users can post their experience, find travel buddies and join in discussions in TravBuddyʼs forums. The site also has a hotel search engine that compares prices from over 30 sites and shows reviews and photos posted by community members."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! Score from 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Value for Money, Staff & Service, Room Quality, Cleanliness,

Bed Comfort"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 3" English, Spanish, French. Note: Travelocityʼs network of sites

spans 27 international sites under different brands, with additional languages"


Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✓!

42"

Travelocity"URL:! www.travelocity.com"


Owned by:! Sabre Holdings"

About!"Travelocity is one of the most important online travel agencies in the US and hosts over 190.000 guest reviews.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✗!



Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Several sites including IgoUgo, MyTravelGuide, Yahoo Travel,

Citysearch, Perfect Escapes, Epinions, BedAndBreakfast.com"


43"

TravelPost"URL:! www.travelpost.com"

Type:! Aggregator"

Owned by:! Kayak.com"

About!!TravelPost is a travel community and aggregator, showing reviews from several other sites. ""Unlike most sites, TravelPost allows hotel employees to write reviews of their hotel, and incentives may be offered to guests for writing reviews. In both cases, this must be disclosed in the review."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! Score from 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Value, Rooms, Location, Cleanliness, Service, Sleep Quality"Overall city ranking" ✓!Other city rankings" ✓! Business"

Reviews!Review Languages" 21" Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German,

Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Taiwanese, Thai, Turkish"


Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓! Fee required"Management response" ✓!Private response" ✓!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✓!

44"

TripAdvisor"URL:! www.tripadvisor.com"



About!"TripAdvisor is one of the best known review sites in the travel industry with over 40 million reviews of hotels, restaurants, destinations and attractions. ""TripAdvisorʼs hotel rankings for each city by its “Popularity Index” are a key indicator of quality and reputation for many hotels. ""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Location, Rooms, Service, Value, Dining"


Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English"Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Including TripAdvisor, MyTravelGuide, DHR.com, Venere"


45"

Triptake"URL:! www.triptake.com"

Type:! Aggregator"


About!"TripTake is a website where travelers can find hotel reviews and compare prices for hotels, flights and rental cars."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 100"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Room, Hotel Facilities, Food & Beverage, Location. Shows

average score only, not scores for individual reviews."Overall city ranking" ✓!Other city rankings" ✗!Reviews!Review Languages" 19" English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese,

Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Greek, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Finnish, Romanian, Norwegian, Russian, Bosnian "

Booking required for review" ✗!

User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Reviews from other sites including Booking.com,

HolidayCheck, Expedia, Atrapalo, Laterooms, Logitravel. "

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓!

Management response" ✓!Private response" ✓!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗!

!

46"

Trivago"URL:! www.trivago.com"

Type:! Aggregator and Community "

Owned by:! Trivago GmbH"

About!"Trivago enables travelers to find and exchange information about hotels, destinations and attractions. The site receives over 7 million visits per month and has more than 140.000 registered users. "



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 6"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Hotel, Beach, Food & Drink, Service, Family friendly, Activities,

Culture, Location, Rooms, Pool, Sport & Leisure, Wellness, Infrastructure"


Reviews!Review Languages" 1" German (Tuiʼs network of international sites under various

brand names includes additional languages)"Booking required for review" ✓!



47"

Tui.com"URL:! http://www.tui.com/"


Owned by:! Tui Travel PLC"

About!!Tui.com is the online travel agency of Tui, one of the major tour operators in Europe and one of the biggest tour operators in Germany. ""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Cleanliness of rooms, Quietness of rooms, Spaciousness of

rooms, Quality of service provided, Hotel surroundings "Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 7" Italian, Spanish, English, German, French, Chinese and

Japanese "Booking required for review" ✓!User photos" ✗!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Reviews from TripAdvisor"

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✓! Expedia Partner Central"Flag/report review" ✗!

!

48"

Venere"URL:! www.venere.com"



About!"Venere is one of the most well known Italian online hotel reservation sites. It has more than 800.000 hotel reviews from registered users of Venere and from TripAdvisor.""



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Value for money, Atmosphere, Activities, Food, Location,

Room, Service, Cleanliness"Overall city ranking" ✓!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 2" English and French "


Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓!Management response" ✓!Private response" ✗!

!Hotelier control panel" ✗!Flag/report review" ✗!

!

49"

Vinivi"URL:! www.vinivi.com"

Type:! Community and Aggregator "

Owned by:! Vinivi Ltd"

About!"Vinivi is an independent website with reviews from travelers from all over the world. People can share photo albums, videos etc. Hoteliers can request that their hotel is added to the listings, and can comment on reviews."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✗!Overall city ranking" ✓!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English"Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✓! Reviews from TripAdvisor"

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✓! If a hotelier registers as member of the community, they can

use the private messaging functionality to write a private response"

Hotelier control panel" ✗!Flag/report review" ✗!

50"

Virtual Tourist"URL:! www.virtualtourist.com"

Type:! Aggregator "

Owned by:! TripAdvisor Media Group"

About!"VirtualTourist is a worldwide travel community where travelers and locals can share travel advice and experiences around the world. Members write hotel reviews and travel guides, and share advice and socialize in the community forums."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 6"Recommendation" ✓!Rating by department" ✓! Hotel, Room, Service, Location, Food & Drink, Sport &

Leisure, Beach, Pool, Family-friendliness"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 1" German"




51"

Weg.de"URL:! www.weg.de"



About!"Weg.de is a German Online Travel Agency that predominantly offers vacation packages from over 70 tour operators, including a portfolio of over 80,000 hotels."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Service, Cleanliness, Location, Value "


Reviews!Review Languages" 1" English"Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✗!Private response" ✗!Hotelier control panel" ✗!Flag/report review" ✓!

52"

Yahoo! Travel"URL:! www.travel.yahoo.com"

Type:! Aggregator"

Owned by:! Yahoo! Inc."

About!"Yahoo Travel is Yahooʼs travel aggregator and community. Members can create trip plans and keep travel journals, review hotels and attractions, and book travel arrangements."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 5"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✗!Overall city ranking" ✓!Other city rankings" ✓!

Reviews!Review Languages" 5" English, French, Spanish, German and Dutch "


Management options!Link to hotel website" ✓!Management response" ✓!Private response" ✓!Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✗!

53"

Yelp"URL:! www.yelp.com"



About!"Yelp is a community focused on local businesses. Users can search and review business in many categories, including restaurants, nightlife, hotels and more. ""Businesses can sign up to manage their listing, share information about their establishment and respond to user reviews."



Scores and Rankings!Global rating" ✓! From 1 to 10"Recommendation" ✗!Rating by department" ✓! Location, Service, Price/Quality, Food, Rooms, Child friendly"Overall city ranking" ✗!Other city rankings" ✗!

Reviews!Review Languages" 19" Including English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch,

Portuguese"Booking required for review" ✗!User photos" ✓!Reviews from other sites" ✗!

Management options!Link to hotel website" ✗!Management response" ✓!Private response" ✓! It is possible to send a message if a reviewer chooses to

leave their email address"Hotelier control panel" ✓!Flag/report review" ✓!

54"

Zoover"URL:! www.zoover.com"

Type:! Aggregator "


About!"Zoover is an aggregator, originally from the Netherlands, that allows users to leave reviews, photos and videos of destinations, attractions, accommodations and cruises. "



Keep learning! ReviewPro monitors what is changing in the world of online reputation management and passes along practical ways to use that in hospitality." "Read the blog for more articles and guides like this: http://reviewpro.com/blog" "Follow us on Twitter for daily ideas and tips:"http://twitter.com/ReviewPro" " "!!!!!!!!!

About ReviewPro""ReviewPro enables hoteliers to efficiently aggregate, organize and manage their online reputation and presence in leading social media sites. It provides the analysis, customer intelligence, competitive benchmarking and reporting needed to help hotel professionals more effectively manage their organization.""ReviewPro currently tracks 60+ review sites and can help you overcome the complexity of managing reviews a simple online dashboard." "Get a demo of ReviewPro today"!!!!!!!

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55"

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