A survey of UK travellers by online travel agent Netflights.com, has shown that despite threats of legal action from hoteliers, and a recent Channel 4 documentary depicting the motives of habitual reviewers as questionable - over three quarters of the UK's long haul travelling public still believe online review sites to be entirely trustworthy.

Despite the threat of a 'group defamation action' over claims that reviews on a major online review site have been falsified by competitors or individuals, the majority of the UK public still rely heavily on such sites when deciding where to stay and eat when on holiday.

Of the 550 travellers surveyed, all of whom have travelled long haul at least once in the last 12 months, 76% stated that on the whole they found the content on online review sites to be a valuable guide.

Perhaps more encouraging for hoteliers is that only 12% would rule out a hotel on the basis of one negative online review, where as a more ominous 54% would choose alternative accommodations if two or more reviewers had deemed service or facilities to be below par. 18% claimed these sites only make up part of the hotel decision making process, along with other more traditional factors such as price and location.    

Perhaps surprisingly, less than 5% of respondents suspect that any content on review sites might be contrived or in any way biased.

A Netflights.com spokesperson said: "We've seen the influence of online reviews grow sharply in recent years and there's no question our customers see them as a valuable tool in the decision making process.

"Our contact centre team are often questioned by customers around reviews of hotels we feature that appear online. Many of our team have visited the hotels in question personally and often find that the reviews don't marry up with their own experiences.

"The team are often able to offer reassurance that the review is the exception rather than the rule; sometimes however even this advice isn't enough to counteract the seeds of doubt sewn by a single negative online comment.

"Our advice to our customers is always to consider the possible motives of online reviewers and bear in mind that human nature dictates that people are more likely to report a negative experience than a positive one. Seek the advice of family, friends or friends of friends as well as that of impartial travel professionals, whether over the phone or on the high street."  

The results of the survey will no doubt be encouraging for online review sites as they battle to protect their reputations as a fair and impartial consumer champions, though somewhat more sobering for hoteliers who will take it as an indication of the difficulties that lie ahead in the battle with their online nemesis.