According to Orbitz, what most people try to search for the most before booking a hotel is free parking, free airport shuttles, swimming pools without paying a resort fee, pets welcome and spa/fitness center.
But what do people write about the most in their hotel reviews? Here's a quick list of the things people touch on most in their handcrafted hotel reviews. And, believe it or not, people don't only write about their negative experiences. In fact, positive hotel reviews vastly outnumber negative words when people write reviews. Hoteliers, estate owners and property managers need to take note of the importance of these make-it-or-break-it, uncontrollable influences upon prospective customers.
People write about the check-in process three times more often than they do as often as check-out process. Hoteliers should be genuinely concerned and proactive to consider if they should really rethink their receiving process due to this fact. First impression are the most important, be aware ALWAYS of the customer as well as they may be just arriving in from a long journey and really desire to stress the importance of a no hassle, pleasant check in. I know, from experience, that a hotel that has a history of upgrading people checking free of charge whenever there was space- can go a long way in terms of positive review and repeat customers. Making a customer feel important can be the "golden ticket" when considering a hotel's online reputation.
Although seemingly important to the hotel, concierge doesn't get mentioned that much. In fact, valet gets mentioned nearly 15% more times in hotel reviews than the word concierge. A good note to remember for all those overlooked and underpaid rubber movers in your establishment.
Pillow(s)!. Sure, people care about the beds in a hotel, but what they care most about in that bed is the pillow. How comfortable it is and whether or not it's clean. (Placing a cool chocolate mint on it at night doesn't seem to help...)
Here's a very interesting fact about how the Web 2.0 and social media is changing the hospitality industry: It used to be that location and price was the number one factor researched before people booked hotels. Now, it's online reviews and recommendations that drive more bookings. There is a huge wealth of consumer response and advice to the hotelier industry available on the internet and in social media today and no excuse for hotels to not vastly improve their customer relations and creature comforts in the future.