TRAVELER REVIEWSOnline Communities Reshape Marketing Strategies

JUNE 2013

Dan Marcec

Contributors: Dan Munns, Stephanie Wharton

Read this on eMarketer for iPad

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2

CONTENTS2 Executive Summary

3 Travel Reviews: By the Numbers

5 Travelers Look for Relevant Advice over Specific Sources

8 Hotel Marketers Respond to Traveler Reviews

11 eMarketer Interviews

11 Related eMarketer Reports

12 Related Links

12 Editorial and Production Contributors

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Travelers have always relied heavily on

recommendations for trip inspiration and planning,

and online review sites have made peer commentary

much more visible and accessible. Online reviews

provide a lens into unfiltered consumer sentiment

and behavior that was previously unavailable. This

information is becoming simultaneously more

sophisticated and unwieldy, presenting concurrent

opportunities and challenges for marketers.

Marketers must also recognize that travelers behave differently when interacting through review sites or in their personal social networks. In review forums, consumers are in direct communication with or about travel brands while thinking about past or planned trips. Reviews are personal interactions much like social mentions, but consumers typically view travel information on social networks on the periphery of their everyday lives, not as a deliberate stop on the path to purchase.

Traveler reviews are also democratizing travel marketing. They have a direct influence on hotel operations, for example, and the collaborative nature of online review communities is contributing to the evolution of travel brands. Marketers have the opportunity to harness this collaboration if they are humble enough to recognize they may not always be driving their brand’s message.

KEY QUESTIONS ■ How many travelers read and write travel reviews?

■ In what ways do travelers distinguish between

review sites and social media posts when deciding

on travel destinations?

■ How are marketers mining travel review data to

personalize communications with customers?

% of respondents

Internet Users Worldwide Who Gave Reviews orRecommendations About Accommodations, Jan 2013

Recommended the accommodation you stayed at to friends andfamily offline (e.g., talked to them, gave them a call, etc.)

58%

Wrote a review about the accommodation you stayed at51%

Recommended the accommodation you stayed at to friends andfamily online (e.g., posted a comment on Facebook, sent anemail, etc.)

41%

Source: TripAdvisor, "TripBarometer" conducted by StrategyOne, March 6,2013154004 www.eMarketer.com

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 3

TRAVEL REVIEWS: BY THE NUMBERS

Online reviews have become an integral part of

travelers’ digital path to purchase, and the influence

of peer-to-peer travel information is increasing.

More and more travelers are going online to

share their opinions, providing a deep data mine

for marketers looking to learn more about these

consumers’ preferences.

Travel reviews posted online have exploded in recent years, and they’ve garnered significant attention because there are so many of them. The number of reviews on TripAdvisor, for example, surpassed 100 million in March 2013, bolstered by a 50% increase year over year. While TripAdvisor far and away boasts the most traveler-submitted reviews, other major online travel sites have also compiled tens of millions more.

Profile of Select Travel Review Websites Worldwide,June 2013

TripAdvisor

trivago**

Booking.com

HolidayCheck

Hotels.com

Agoda.com

Hostelworld.com

Expedia

Yelp (travel/hotel-specific)

Travelocity

Verifiedreviews*

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Number of reviews(millions)

100.0+

34.0

20.8

10.0

7.0

4.0+

3.5

3.0+

1.5+

0.5

Note: *reviews are only accepted by verified guests who booked through the website itself; **includes reviews by trivago users as well as reviews aggregated from partner sites such as Expedia and Booking.comSource: eMarketer compiled from company websites, June 6, 2013158367 www.eMarketer.com

More than half of the 15,000 internet users worldwide who responded to TripAdvisor’s TripBarometer, conducted by StrategyOne in January 2013, said they’d written a review for an accommodation after staying there, and 41% noted that they also shared personal recommendations via other online channels, such as social networks or email messages.

% of respondents

Internet Users Worldwide Who Gave Reviews orRecommendations About Accommodations, Jan 2013

Recommended the accommodation you stayed at to friends andfamily offline (e.g., talked to them, gave them a call, etc.)

58%

Wrote a review about the accommodation you stayed at51%

Recommended the accommodation you stayed at to friends andfamily online (e.g., posted a comment on Facebook, sent anemail, etc.)

41%

Source: TripAdvisor, "TripBarometer" conducted by StrategyOne, March 6,2013154004 www.eMarketer.com

Among US internet users in particular, just fewer than half said they’d post an online review for excellent or good service at hotels, with 36.0% saying they’d post for poor service, according to ReviewInc and Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management’s “Online Reviews Study.” Just 15.4% of respondents said they would not post about a hotel either way. The survey queried consumers about a variety of products and services, and hotels were the second most likely category respondents would review overall, trailing only fine dining establishments.

% of total

US Internet Users Who Would Post a Review OnlineAfter Receiving Select Levels of Service, by Industry,Spring 2012

Fine dining restaurants

Hotels

Health & medicalprofessionals

Spas & personal care

Automotive

Financial services

Nightlife

Event planning & services

Coffee & tea

Real estate

Arts & entertainment

Fitness professionals

Chain restaurants

Active life

Will postfor excellent

service

51.4%

41.1%

36.0%

34.9%

32.0%

26.3%

25.7%

25.7%

25.1%

25.1%

25.1%

25.1%

24.0%

20.6%

Will postfor goodservice

12.0%

7.4%

7.4%

8.0%

6.9%

4.6%

3.4%

7.4%

5.7%

8.0%

8.0%

9.7%

8.6%

6.3%

Will postfor poorservice

36.6%

36.0%

31.4%

27.4%

30.3%

23.4%

24.0%

24.6%

25.1%

24.0%

22.9%

21.7%

29.7%

20.6%

Will notpost

0.0%

15.4%

25.1%

29.7%

30.9%

45.7%

46.9%

42.3%

44.0%

42.9%

44.0%

43.4%

37.7%

52.6%

Note: numbers may not add up to 100% due to roundingSource: ReviewInc and Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Businessand Management, "Online Reviews Study"; eMarketer calculations, March 11, 2013158048 www.eMarketer.com

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 4

In addition, Deloitte’s “Customer Loyalty in the Hotel Industry” report—which looked at 4,000 US travelers in October 2012—found that 15% of respondents had written a hotel review in the past 12 months.

Travelers almost universally agree that reviews are instrumental to their buying decisions. For example, TripAdvisor’s traffic numbers indicate how important reviews are for travel research: The company’s Q1 2013 financial results reported that the site had 200 million monthly unique visitors—accounting for approximately 11% of the world’s monthly unique visitors in online travel, per comScore data.

“[Travel] is a confusing purchase, and reviews from other customers who experienced that same product are much more credible than content from the company,” said Faraz Qureshi, founder and general manager of cruise review forum Cruiseline.com. “Brands can talk about their experience, but obviously they’re going to emphasize all the positive aspects, so consumers are relying on reviews more and more to make their decisions.”

According to Travel Weekly’s “Consumer Trends 2012” study, more than 96% of US leisure travelers in each age demographic surveyed—21 to 34, 35 to 54, and 55 and older—said travel review sites influenced their purchases. Approximately one-third of travelers ages 21 to 34 said reviews “have much influence” on their travel buys, compared with 18% in each of the other demographic sets polled.

% of total

Influence of Travel Review Sites on Travel PurchasesAccording to US Leisure Travelers, by Age, June 2012

55+18% 82%

Have much influenceHave some influence

Have little or no influence

Note: among those who have used a travel review site in the past 12monthsSource: Travel Weekly, "Consumer Trends 2012," July 30, 2012147552 www.eMarketer.com

21-3431% 67% 2%

35-5418% 78% 4%

Among different traveler types, leisure travelers are more likely to rely on online reviews. Google, Ipsos OTX and Ipsos MediaCT found that 50% of leisure travelers considered online reviews of lodging establishments important when planning vacations, compared with 39% of business travelers.

% of respondents

Importance of Features When Choosing a HotelAccording to US Business vs. Leisure Travelers, May 2012

Price

Hotel desktop website

Promotions

Specific accommodation options available

Online reviews of the lodging establishment

Virtual tour or pictures of the lodging establishment

Can earn rewards points/miles

Online videos posted by the lodging establishment

Posts, comments or reviews on social

Hotel mobile website

An app on a mobile phone

Business

81%

55%

51%

49%

39%

32%

58%

19%

18%

20%

9%

Leisure

90%

58%

57%

50%

50%

42%

33%

21%

18%

16%

6%

Source: Google, Ipsos OTX and Ipsos MediaCT, "The Hotel Traveler's Road toDecision 2012," July 2, 2012149822 www.eMarketer.com

Not surprisingly, given the influence they have on purchase decisions, a lack of reviews has a distinctly negative effect on hotel bookings. According to a September 2012 PhoCusWright survey commissioned by TripAdvisor, 53% of travelers said they wouldn’t book a hotel that doesn’t have reviews.

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 5

TRAVELERS LOOK FOR RELEVANT ADVICE OVER SPECIFIC SOURCES

There’s a fundamental difference between how people

interact within travel forums and how they interact in

general-purpose social networks. On social networks,

travelers may mention brands and experiences and

share information and recommendations, but those

mentions are peripheral and fleeting in the context

of people’s everyday lives. Consumers go to travel

review sites with specific purposes: To write or read

about travel excursions they’ve experienced or plan

to purchase.

To wit, travelers put greater emphasis on internet reviews than on recommendations from their own social networks. According to an October 2012 survey from Text100 conducted by Redshift Research, leisure travelers from 13 countries in the US, EMEA and Asia-Pacific collectively said that internet reviews and online travel forums were more influential than social networks when choosing travel destinations. Forty-four percent of respondents said that they looked to internet reviews, and 37% participated in online travel forums; about one-quarter of respondents said they turned to Facebook, while one in five identified Pinterest and Twitter as a source of travel inspiration.

% of respondents

Online Sources Used to Choose a Travel DestinationAccording to Leisure Travelers* Worldwide, Oct 2012

Internet search 55%

Individual provider websites 49%

Online travel sites 46%

Internet reviews 44%

Tourist board websites 41%

Online travel forums 37%

Facebook 27%

Deal sites 26%

YouTube/Vimeo 24%

Pinterest 22%

Twitter 21%

Note: *traveled for leisure purposes in the past 12 months or intend to doso in the next 12 monthsSource: Text100, "Digital Index: Travel & Tourism Study" conducted byRedshift Research, Nov 28, 2012149909 www.eMarketer.com

In the US, travelers consult reviews during travel shopping more than any other online resource aside from interactive maps. PhoCusWright’s “Consumer Travel Report Fifth Edition” found that nearly two-thirds of US travelers used other travelers’ reviews, and 10% said they used travel reviews every time they planned a trip. Just 31% of travelers said they used social networks for recommendations from friends, with 4% looking to advice from those networks every time they traveled.

% of total

Frequency with Which US Travelers Use Select OnlineFeatures to Plan Leisure Travel, 2012

Interactive maps11% 11% 16% 29% 34%

Traveler reviews10% 11% 14% 29% 36%

Professional reviews7% 10% 13% 27% 44%

Professional photos7% 7% 12% 26% 48%

Traveler photos5% 7% 11% 23% 54%

Social networks (friends)4%4% 6% 17% 69%

For all trips (100%)For most trips (about 75%)For half of the trips (about 50%)

For some trips (25%)Not at all

Note: n=2,364 who typically use websites to plan travel; numbers may notadd up to 100% due to roundingSource: PhoCusWright, "Consumer Travel Report Fifth Edition," April 30,2013158693 www.eMarketer.com

Traveler videos

2%

4% 7% 15% 73%

Professional videos

2% 3%6% 19% 70%

Social networks (companies)

2% 3%5% 12% 78%

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 6

According to J.D. Power and Associates, reviews are more influential along the path to purchase than family, friend or colleague recommendations. One in five respondents to a November 2012 survey said they were influenced in part by reviews to select the travel website from which they purchased, while 16% of respondents said they visited the travel site where they booked based on recommendations from close counterparts. In both cases, millennials overindexed: Approximately one-third of travelers ages 18 to 24 were influenced to visit the sites from which they purchased by reviews, along with about one-quarter of respondents ages 25 to 34. Twenty-seven percent of 18- to 24-year-olds and one in five consumers in the 25-to-34 age group took advice from personal connections before visiting travel sites where they booked.

WHAT MAKES A TRAVEL REVIEW TRUSTWORTHY? A debate has intensified among travel professionals over whether consumers should trust what they read on user-generated content sites. TripAdvisor is at the center of this discussion, since the site does not require proof that the reviewer actually experienced what they evaluate. Those concerned about the impact of fake reviews ask the question: “If you can’t trust one review, can you trust any?”

Companies that sell travel—both brands and third-party agencies—want to minimize the time and energy it takes to sniff out fraudulent reviews, so most travel booking sites require reviewers to make an actual purchase on the site in order to submit an evaluation. Ideally, verified reviews provide assurance that the information is from real guests who actually paid and stayed at the hotel, easing concerns for both hotel operators and travelers who are skeptical about the authenticity of travel reviewers.

For example, Wyndham Hotel Group’s system collects validated reviews on the brand’s website and then funnels them straight to TripAdvisor, according to Flo Lugli, executive vice president of marketing at Wyndham. HotelMe, a website developed by USA TODAY and Travel Media Group, takes this action a step further by allowing anyone who has proof of a booking on any site to submit a review, essentially creating a verified-review metasearch engine.

“Travel is a product for which there essentially are no returns, and so reviews are very, very important, and our guests have told us they want authenticated reviews,” said Clay Cowan, vice president of global digital for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. “It’s not like retail when you can buy something and even if you read some great reviews and it turned out that you didn’t like it, you can always take it back to the store.”

From a consumer standpoint, collections of unverified and verified reviews—quantity vs. quality—are both useful. Different travelers with different needs mean that verified review sites are not unequivocally better or more useful on the whole than unverified review sites. There are potential pitfalls in the verified review process, as well as positive implications for allowing unimpeded access to traveler feedback.

The review authentication process is not foolproof, and certain drawbacks could have the opposite intended effect of increasing credibility, considering that many travelers gauge a hotel’s legitimacy by its number of reviews. While verifying purchases eliminates the potential for falsified accounts, doing so could make legitimate reviews more difficult to collect—for instance, a traveler whose spouse paid for a hotel would be unable to leave his or her impression of the property without chasing down the purchase information required for verification. Under the same scenario, large family groups traveling on a single payer’s credit card would have even more logistical difficulties in gathering the information required to leave their impressions on a verified site.

Requiring verification from the paying “customer” could also block business travel reviews. If frequent business travelers are unable to review their experiences because they didn’t enter their credit card information—whether it was paid by their travel manager, travel agency or traveling partner—brands that rely on lucrative business traveler bookings could lose valuable feedback from some of their top customers.

Adam Medros, vice president of global product for TripAdvisor, noted that participants solicited for reviews through email may be more inclined to post positively than reviewers organically inspired to write something. In addition, some hotel brand surveys ask typical customer feedback questions about the stay—comfort level, staff friendliness, intent to return and so forth—and then automatically compile that information into a review format that appears organic.

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 7

“In contrast to other types of direct marketing and consumer outreach, reviews are written free-form,” added Michelle Wohl, vice president of marketing at Revinate, which provides an online reputation software platform for the hospitality industry. “When someone is writing a review, they’re essentially telling you what’s most important to them, rather than being guided through a survey or feedback questionnaire.”

According to PhoCusWright, travelers look to multiple review sites during their research process, which means they’re using both verified and unverified reviews. Approximately two in five US travelers used online travel agencies, general search engines and travel-specific review sites during their planning process, and about one-third went straight to a hotel website. Fifteen percent said they specifically sought out social networking websites to read travel reviews.

% of respondents

Websites Used by US Travelers to ReadTraveler-Submitted Reviews, 2012

OTA websites44%

General search engines40%

Travel review websites38%

Hotel websites32%

Travel search engines25%

General user review websites16%

Social network websites15%

Blogs/online forums11%

Other3%

Note: n=1,989 who read reviews onlineSource: PhoCusWright, "Consumer Travel Report Fifth Edition," April 30,2013158694 www.eMarketer.com

“Quantity is incredibly important if you are looking at reviews from strangers. … It’s the same idea as asking for three quotes when you want to get your roof retiled,” said Alan Young, senior vice president of marketing and strategic partnerships at TrustYou—which aggregates and analyzes reviews, tweets and posts across the social web. “Travelers are much more savvy in today’s marketplace, and as such, they are spending a little bit more time online to make those decisions. They are willing to take a look at more sites.”

Travelers are accustomed to seeing exceedingly large numbers of reviews, and the majority already take a sophisticated approach to filtering out potential fakes. According to TripAdvisor’s September 2012 study, conducted by PhoCusWright, 59% of travelers ignore extremes when reading evaluations, and approximately seven in 10 said they prefer to see basic information about contributing reviewers, like how many assessments they’ve written, as well as traveler-submitted pictures as they browse. Each of these elements provides a way for travelers to weed out phony posters and planted, fictionalized photography—for both good and bad reviews.

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 8

HOTEL MARKETERS RESPOND TO TRAVELER REVIEWS

While reviews are influential across all travel

categories, hotel recommendations carry the most

weight. Travel Weekly’s June 2012 study found that

more than 60% of US leisure travelers reserved both

resort and nonresort hotels as a result of reading

reviews, compared with about one in five who looked

to peer sites before booking airfare or cruises, and

one in seven who sought advice for rental cars.

% of respondents

Purchases Influenced by Travel Review SitesAccording to US Leisure Travelers, June 2012

Nonresort hotel 65%

Resort hotel 61%

All-inclusive resort 37%

Air 22%

Packaged tour 19%

Cruise 19%

Rental car 14%

Escorted tour13%

Other 8%

Note: in the past 12 monthsSource: Travel Weekly, "Consumer Trends 2012," July 30, 2012147551 www.eMarketer.com

Hotel reviews are not only the most influential among all travel categories, they stand out among all product and service categories across industries as well. ReviewInc and Pepperdine University’s study found that nearly all US internet users were “very likely” or “likely” to consult hotel opinions. Notably, the other 1.1% was neutral; hotels and fine dining restaurants were the only categories for which zero respondents said they’d forgo reading reviews before patronizing a business.

% of total

Likelihood of Using an Online Rating/Review Site toHelp Decide About Trying a Business According to USInternet Users, by Industry, Spring 2012

Fine dining restaurants

Hotels

Spas & personal care

Automotive

Arts & entertainment

Event planning & services

Nightlife

Health & medicalprofessionals

Real estate

Active life

Financial services

Fitness professionals

Coffee & tea

Chain restaurants

Verylikely

79.3%

73.8%

57.4%

53.4%

52.9%

51.1%

46.3%

44.2%

38.6%

38.4%

33.3%

33.2%

28.6%

13.8%

Likely

17.6%

25.1%

28.4%

28.6%

31.7%

26.1%

32.1%

42.1%

27.5%

35.8%

34.9%

34.7%

27.0%

28.6%

Neutral

1.6%

1.1%

10.0%

12.7%

12.7%

14.4%

13.2%

7.4%

23.3%

18.9%

18.0%

16.8%

20.1%

23.8%

Notlikely

1.6%

0.0%

2.1%

2.1%

2.1%

4.8%

5.3%

4.2%

7.4%

3.7%

10.1%

8.9%

15.3%

22.8%

Wouldn'tuse

0.0%

0.0%

2.1%

3.2%

0.5%

3.7%

3.2%

2.1%

3.2%

3.2%

3.7%

6.3%

9.0%

11.1%

Note: numbers may not add up to 100% due to roundingSource: ReviewInc and Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Businessand Management, "Online Reviews Study"; eMarketer calculations, March 11, 2013158047 www.eMarketer.com

Transparency is important to travelers who read reviews, so when hotels respond, travelers take note. The TripAdvisor study conducted by PhoCusWright found that 57% of travelers would be more likely to book a hotel whose management responded to reviews over a comparable property whose management was silent on the subject. In addition, 84% of respondents said that appropriate management responses to bad reviews improved their impression of the hotel.

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 9

As a result, one of the main purposes for hotels to monitor and respond to reviews is managing customer complaints. Accommodation owners worldwide take negative reviews very seriously, with more than 60% saying they both respond to reviews publicly and address review content privately with staff, according to TripAdvisor’s TripBarometer. Just 5% of respondents said they ignored negative reviews altogether.

% of respondents

Actions Taken After Receiving Negative OnlineReviews According to Accommodation BusinessesWorldwide, Jan 2013

Respond to the review online65%

Address the contents of the review with staff62%

Increase staff training45%

Respond to the review in private43%

Review/change operations41%

Offer the reviewer a goodwill gesture30%

Change pricing structure5%

Other11%

Nothing5%

Source: TripAdvisor, "TripBarometer" conducted by StrategyOne, March 6,2013154009 www.eMarketer.com

Positive online reviews were more often left to speak for themselves, and accommodation businesses turned more focus internally to encourage further positive reviews; 55% congratulated and rewarded their staff, and about three in 10 took those good reviews as a sign to invest in further training that would lead to a better online reputation. Half of the respondents replied to positive reviews online, and 35% said they also highlighted good reviews. Ten percent of respondents said they did nothing when they received positive reviews.

% of respondents

Actions Taken After Receiving Positive OnlineReviews According to Accommodation BusinessesWorldwide, Jan 2013

Congratulate/reward staff55%

Respond to the review online50%

Respond to the review in private37%

Highlight the positive review online35%

Invest in further training to encourage further positive reviews28%

Nothing10%

Other7%

Source: TripAdvisor, "TripBarometer" conducted by StrategyOne, March 6,2013154010 www.eMarketer.com

A strategy for responding to reviews treads a fine line. Damage control is crucial, but reinforcing glowing reviews may have a greater impact, considering that 81% of all reviews are positive, according to TrustYou.

“Hotels and destinations can get it wrong spending too much time focused on responding to bad reviews vs. responding to good reviews as well,” said TrustYou’s Young. “A good analogy is if I were to walk up to the front desk and tell the agent what a wonderful time I had at the hotel, and that I’m definitely coming back, only to have them immediately turn their back on me.”

Hotels have centered on reputation management as a marketing tactic, taking steps to harness public chatter about their properties. To manage—and respond to—reviews of their properties, many hotel brands are incorporating these directly into their websites. According to USA TODAY, Marriott International’s JW Marriott and Starwood’s W Hotels brands started the trend to post traveler reviews directly on their websites in 2011, and hotel companies with midscale and economy properties like Best Western International and Wyndham also rolled out programs in 2012. According to L2 Think Tank and SapientNitro’s “Digital IQ Index: Hotels” report based on December 2012 research, 28% of the luxury brands they studied worldwide incorporated ratings and reviews on their own sites, jumping from 5% in the 2011 report and 17% from early 2012.

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 10

% of total

Customer Service Features on Brand Sites ofUpscale/Luxury Hotels Worldwide, Dec 2012

Ratings and reviews 28%

Live chat 23%

Callback 19%

Contact concierge 16%

Note: n=57Source: L2 Think Tank and SapientNitro, "Digital IQ Index: Hotels," Jan 31,2013151808 www.eMarketer.com

MINING REVIEW CONTENT TO FUEL PERSONALIZED MARKETING Reviews are significant because consumers’ collective voice—in real time and in massive volume—is shifting the way travel businesses operate. Online reviews have created complex challenges—like dealing with review trolls and freeloaders—but also unprecedented marketing opportunities to develop deeply personal relationships with customers.

“Marketing has gone through evolutions that basically have put consumers in charge, and we need to acknowledge that we’re no longer 100% in charge of our brand message,” said Wyndham’s Lugli. “If marketers crowdsource anything, they have to be willing to respond and implement the feedback in some way or form. When consumers are asked for their opinion, their expectation is that something will be done with it.”

Merging user-generated content and social media has drawn the focus of travel startups like Gogobot, a social travel network that “basically straddles the line between the two extremes, the one being Facebook and the other being the TripAdvisor,” according to Travis Katz, Gogobot’s CEO and co-founder. Dedicated solely to talking about and sharing travel information, these sites are building communities of experienced (or at least passionate) travelers tied to a social graph where users can also access family and friend recommendations.

“Social media has changed what people expect from the internet, and people no longer want just a bunch of access to just any kind of content,” explained Katz. “They want content that’s curated and personally relevant.”

According to Matt Laessig, director of business development for Bazaarvoice, travelers tend to follow clear patterns when writing reviews, which provides readers—other travelers and marketers—with a better sense of reviewers’ personalities. Bazaarvoice research from 2012, based on an analysis of 275,000 reviews from five online travel agency clients, found that positive hotel reviews generally followed the same track, regardless of whether travelers were staying for business or pleasure, with family or friends, or as singles or couples. Typical topics in positive reviews were both straightforward and consistent: front desk and staff, breakfast, and location.

On the flipside, negative reviews tend to be much more specific, with each of those six traveler types having unique complaints. For example, business travelers noted lack of convenience amenities like internet and fitness centers. Families were concerned about cigarette smoke and pool size. And couples were almost exclusively concerned with noise levels.

TravelShark’s review system attempts to take personalization to the next level, providing information to travelers who engage in the review process as both writers and readers. Eschewing star ratings, TravelShark’s reviews collect what the company calls the “Essence” of a place, culling keywords about hotels and restaurants by frequency and uniqueness. The site then curates information for users and serves them recommendations based on their preferred “Essences.”

“Measuring performance of reviews across industries, we don’t really see differences between review styles for different product categories,” added Laessig. “Instead, what we have found is that consumers are consistent. People may spend more time thinking about a multithousand-dollar purchase like travel, but sources of influence are similar for different types of purchases.”

By engaging with travelers who create in-depth profiles on travel-specific sites (as many already do on sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp), marketers can identify individuals as their travel identity changes. Pinpointing these sources of influence can help marketers target for different types of trips—for example, what consumers’ preferences are like for business, family vacations, boys’ and girls’ weekends, and so forth—which can facilitate better, more open communications with travelers.

TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 11

EMARKETER INTERVIEWS

Tailoring Experiences for Social Media-Savvy Travelers

Christy Liu Co-Founder and Director of Marketing

Wanderfly Interview conducted on December 18, 2012

Verified User Reviews Pay Off for Wyndham

Flo Lugli Executive Vice President, Marketing

Wyndham Hotel Group Interview conducted on May 28, 2013

TripAdvisor Shares Tips on Keeping Reviews Trustworthy

Adam Medros Vice President, Global Product

TripAdvisor Interview conducted on January 9, 2013

Reputation Management Firm Lays Out Best Practices for User Reviews

Alan Young Senior Vice President, Marketing and Strategic Partnerships

TrustYou

Interview conducted on May 28, 2013

Clay Cowan Vice President, Global Digital

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Interview conducted on May 30, 2013

Adele Gutman Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Revenue

Library Hotel Collection Interview conducted on May 22, 2013

Travis Katz CEO and Co-Founder

Gogobot Interview conducted on May 24, 2013

Faraz Qureshi Founder and General Manager

Cruiseline.com Interview conducted on February 1, 2013

John Walton Director of Data

Routehappy Interview conducted on May 23, 2013

Michelle Wohl Vice President, Marketing

Revinate Interview conducted on May 28, 2013

Matt Laessig Director, Business Development

Bazaarvoice Interview conducted on May 30, 2013

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TRAVELER REVIEWS: ONLINE COMMUNITIES RESHAPE MARKETING STRATEGIES ©2013 EMARKETER INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 12

RELATED LINKS

Bazaarvoice

Cruiseline.com

Deloitte

Gogobot

Google/Ipsos MediaCT/Ipsos OTX

HotelMe

Intel

J.D. Power and Associates

L2 Think Tank

Pepperdine University Graziadio School of Business and Management/ReviewInc

PhoCusWright

Redshift Research/Text100

Revinate

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Tnooz

TravelShark

Travel Weekly

TripAdvisor TripBarometer

TrustYou

USA TODAY

Wyndham Hotel Group

EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION CONTRIBUTORS

Cliff Annicelli Senior EditorKaitlin Carlin Copy EditorJoanne DiCamillo Senior Production ArtistStephanie Gehrsitz Senior Production ArtistDana Hill Director of ProductionHeather Price Copy EditorNicole Perrin Associate Editorial DirectorAllie Smith Director of Charts