Should star ratings be taken into account when booking a hotel?
by Natasha Christou Digital Marketing ConsultantIt’s pretty common nowadays for people to scour the internet
before committing to a purchase of any kind. Whether it’s a new car, somewhere
to eat, or a hotel booking, people want to know that they are buying smart.
This is particularly prevalent in the hospitality industry
Customers are certainly placing a lot of faith into online
reviews too. According to TripAdvisor’s
Path to Purchase report,
33 per cent of people globally visit travel sites before booking and 74 per
cent of hotel purchasers check TripAdvisor before booking.
The internet is saturated in blogger reviews, YouTube video
reviews, website reviews, first-hand accounts, and more. The question has to be
asked then — do star-ratings have a place in the modern hospitality industry?
The value of reviews
With so many different ratings to look at, guests are
turning to first-hand accounts more frequently. Plus, it seems there is an
increasing level of trust in those online review and ratings.
Not that this was always the case. Back in 2009, C. Cox et
al noted that while 95 per cent of internet users at the time relied on online
research as part of their travel information search process, few were actively
trusting them as a primary means of gauging a hotel’s quality. This was deemed
to be because ‘[it] is not always easy to identify and access the profile of
people who post information on blogs and other social networking sites, [so]
the reader cannot easily gauge the credibility of the information provided’
(pg. 749).
Nowadays, we’re trusting these online reviews a lot more.
Reports show 84%
of people place online reviews on the same level of trust as a recommendation
from a friend. As mentioned at the start of this article, one of the
main ways potential guests scout out hotels is to look on TripAdvisor, meaning
they are placing a lot of value in the ratings there compared to the
star-rating of a hotel.
The issue with online reviews
Not every reviewer is trustworthy though. It is as relevant
now as it was in 2009; we simply do not know much about the person who rates or
reviews a hotel on TripAdvisor and the like. In fact, there’s even a ‘fake
review’ market present in the digital world that is said to be able to get
around the detection processes in place. So much so that one man managed to get
a
restaurant that doesn’t exist rated as the top restaurant in London.
Where the star-rating came from
It used to be that a star-rating was the only real
information a guest could get, bar word of mouth from friends and family who
may have been before them. The star system used to be quite simple and, without
the digital word of mouth, really the only information guests had to go on.
Now, the star system is as varied and unsettled as they come, with hotels
claiming everything from five to ten stars instead of the traditional rating. This
is down to the fact that there is no global star
rating system. Essentially, a hotel in Berlin might not give you
same level of service as a County
Durham hotel even if both hotels have the same number of stars.
The AA’s star-rating system was introduced to the UK in 1912
as a way to make hotel standards clear and understandable for guests. Back
then, the maximum number of stars was three. It wasn’t until 2006 that the AA
developed the Common Quality Standards with the help of a number of UK tourist
boards, which increased the maximum rating to five stars. Plus, in 1956, the AA
introduced an additional Rosette Award scheme to ‘assess the quality of food
served in restaurants and hotels’.
What the star-rating covers
The minimum
To be accepted into the AA star-rating system, there’s a
minimum level required of hotels. These include:
·
Safety and security minimum requirements
o
This includes staff to be on site and on call
24-hours a day, printed instructions for emergencies in the night and for
evacuation procedures in every bedroom.
o
Symbols, diagrams, and multilingual emergency
notices in every bedroom.
o
Registered guests should have access to the
hotel at all times, with the hotel entrance illuminated in the dark and
identifiable. Lighting in all public areas, stairways, and landings.
o
Telephone access 24-hours a day.
o
A key or card for guests to lock bedroom doors
inside and out, and security fittings on windows.
·
Hotel Proprietors Act compliance
·
Public liability insurance
·
Fire risk assessment
·
Licensing compliance
·
Data Protection Act/GDPR compliance
·
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading
Regulations 2008 compliance
·
Planning compliance
·
Equality Act 2010 compliance
·
Food safety/hygiene compliance
·
Health and safety compliance
The star-rating system also requires a minimum level of
maintenance. This covers fixtures, electrics, and gas equipment in the building
being clean and fit for purpose. There’s also a minimum requirement for
cleanliness, with the AA stating that there must be ‘a high standard of
cleanliness maintained throughout the property’ regardless of star level — cleanliness
is not expected to vary between star level.
The difference between levels
After the basics are achieved, the difference between one
star level to another is much more apparent. For example, where a one-star
hotel is required to offer an iron and ironing board, a five-star hotel is
expected to offer 24-hour return laundry service. A one-star hotel can verbally
explain the breakfast menu, where a two-star hotel must have a clean,
well-presented menu provided for breakfast items. But then for dinner
provisions, both one and two-star hotels (as well as three and four) all need
to serve dinner at a specific time advertised, communicate if no dinner is
provided, and can provide a self-service buffet. The only difference in dinner
requirements is for five-star hotels, which need to provide all courses, served
to guests at their table.
It doesn’t end there. There’s a huge level of detail for the
requirements of each level outlined in the full document, which can be accessed
here.
But just how relevant is it in this digital age?
The problem with star-rating
The crux of the matter is that the star-rating system is not
global. Other countries run their own systems, with some having multiple
different boards with their own star systems. Some hotels might even give
themselves their own ‘unofficial’ star rating. Then, there’s the matter of tour
operators running their own star rating system, which
can make four-star hotels look like five-star hotels to unsuspecting bookers.
In fact, the problem can manifest even within one country’s
ratings. Even within the UK, a hotel may have an AA two-star rating, but a tour
operator may advertise it as three-stars based on their own rating system.
Who should we trust?
If you can find the official AA star-rating for an
establishment, this is a good way to grasp the minimum offering. By checking
the minimum requirements set out by the AA, you can see the standards the hotel
had to achieve to be granted not only entry to the star system at all, but the
star level they have achieved. For example, the
AA has rated The Majestic Hotel as a four-star hotel. You can take
this and check their Common Quality Standard to find out that this means the
hotel must provide such things as televisions with a screen larger than 24
inches, and a high degree of spaciousness within the rooms.
From this, you have a general idea of the minimum offered by
the hotel. From there, a look at guest reviews can help to cement an idea of
the experience, but with caution for the above-mentioned flaws for the online
review process.
Really, it’s all about knowing what to look for and taking
all reviews with a pinch of salt. Approached the right way, they can provide a
keen insight into your potential booking. Just remember to check which stars are being shown!
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Created on Feb 18th 2020 04:53. Viewed 538 times.