78% of guests expect an ‘above average’ level of cleanliness according to trivago’s quality test. trivago found that guests are more likely to book another stay at a hotel and recommend it if the hotel has a high level of cleanliness.
P&G Professional, the away-from-home cleaning arm of Procter & Gamble, has teamed up with trivago, to unravel the mystery behind online reviews and determine how much impact cleanliness actually has on a guest’s willingness to positively review and recommend.
Data illustrates that 61 percent of customers read online reviews before making e-commerce purchasing decision, which in practice means it’s likely the very first impression a prospective guest has of a hotel is the opinion of a previous guest.
Additionally, results from trivago’s Quality Test, a mystery guest programme in which real guests receive a cash incentive for filling in a detailed questionnaire regarding their stay, shows that 78 percent of guests expect an ‘above average’ level of cleanliness and that if they rate a hotel as clean, they are more likely to give the hotel a high rating overall.
So while it is commonly understood that good online ratings boost the number of stays, the combined data clearly outlines that cleanliness is a crucial factor in securing positive recommendations and reviews. In fact, P&G Professional’s research shows that an increase of 1 star rating in cleanliness is likely to increase the overall rating by up to 1 star. To put that in a revenue context, if a hospitality business increases its review scores by one star on a total rating of 5 stars, a hotel can increase its price by 11.2 percent and still maintain the same occupancy or market share.
Commenting on the recent P&G Professional findings, Denise Bartlett, UK Public Relations Manager at trivago said: “trivago recognises strong online content as one of the most important features of a successful hotel search – which includes accurate, comprehensive and unbiased reviews. We believe a hotel’s reputation should be based on qualitative and extensive data about the hotel’s best strengths. As feedback from our Quality Test showed, the cleanliness of a hotel plays a key factor in guests’ retention and can positively impact a hotel’s online reputation. A good online presence is key in this industry, which is why we support the Top Rated campaign and hope hoteliers from around the world will welcome these findings”.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
