No less than 97% of Indian business travellers and 95% of Chinese business travellers surveyed by Airplus base their hotel booking decisions on reviews at least occasionally.
Overall, of the 2,180 business travellers from 24 countries surveyed by the provider of corporate travel management solutions, 28% choose their hotel based on guest reviews. A further 58% are guided by reviews at least some of the time.
Many travellers regard reviews as having a high degree of credibility, AirPlus observed. Some 27% by-and-large trust reviews, while 66% trust them at least sometimes.
However, the extent of that trust in reviews differs from country to country. While 57% of Indian business travellers always trust reviews, the figure for the Netherlands is only 10%.
“Companies ought to share their business travel experiences and make reviews about hotel bookings, for instance, available to employees,” Yael Klein, marketing director of AirPlus, advised.
Reviews by a company’s own employees provide an opportunity to back up internal travel perceptions. Employees trust reviews by colleagues and comply with corporate policy by booking hotels preferred by the company.
Addressing travel managers, Klein suggested: “Why don’t you check whether the provider of your hotel booking tool offers review opportunities? Should this not be the case, a corporate link to a public review platform could be set up.
“The feared migration has not occurred within the context of subsequent booking processes. Instead, employees obtain information from a very wide range of sources, but ultimately bookings are made in the companies’ own systems.”
