Starwood Hotels & Resorts is taking on TripAdvisor by encouraging travellers to rate and review its hotels on its own websites. Many other hotel groups are now integrating TripAdvisor into their websites but Starwood, which includes brands such as Sheraton, Westin and Le Meridien, has opted to go it alone.
The company claims reviews posted on its site will be “real, authenticated reviews” a clear shot at TripAdvisor, which is often accused of failing to ensure the reviews posted on its site are genuine. Travellers will only be able to write a review by entering their reservation name or loyalty program number, making it almost impossible to lodge a fake review.
Those reading the reviews will be able to filter them according to various factors and will be able to mark other travellers’ reviews as helpful or not.
With only confirmed guests able to write reviews, it is likely to take some time for Starwood to build up a meaningful number of reviews and ratings on its sites. And only time will tell whether travellers will trust these reviews or continue to check TripAdvisor and other independent sources.
This article is an excerpt from Jane E. Fraser’s weekly travel column in The Sun Herald, Sydney.
Doomed to fail with little credibility
They will censor and control what is posted.
For all the so-called negatives of Trip Advisor – it still give the best all round balanced view.