Highly engaged hotels rate higher on popularity chart: Report

Highly engaged hotels are more popular as compared to the non-engaged ones on the back of greater communication engagement with the customers, a recent survey showed.
The average 'popularity ranking' for highly engaged hotels was 63 per cent higher than their non-engaged counterparts, according to a latest report by TripAdvisor, world's largest travel site operating in 45 countries.
'High engagement' is the communication engagement by responding to customer reviews on travel websites.
It said highly engaged hotels could be seen by two of every three travellers searching that market, increasing its visibility.
The report also found that highly engaged hotels see 30-40 per cent more traveller interaction with revenue-driving products like business listings.

The report is based on data from over 12,000 properties located in the top 25 traffic markets on TripAdvisor, as well as interviews with executives from four global hotel chains.

When review content is published within the hotel's direct booking channel, they provide travellers with a sense of transparency and credibility, it added.
The report explained when in-line reviews are added to a hotel's booking site, they improve competitive effectiveness against third-party intermediaries, such as online travel agencies, by providing helpful information in the booking process that a traveller can use to determine whether a hotel is right for a particular trip.

It said the review feedback is constantly monitored and analysed, based on which hotels also make improvements that lead to more satisfied guests, better reviews and ultimately greater visibility.
The enhanced visibility result in more traveller bookings, which causes the cycle to repeat again, it pointed out.