Sunday 15 June 2014

Understanding TripAdvisor - again

It's so important: understanding as much as we all can about how TripAdvisor make up those all-important rankings. So at great personal hardship one of our researchers paid a visit to two establishments in Spain. 

Ranked at number 1 and 2 in their area, here are the raw TA statistics for both hotels:


Hotel 'A'                                                                                       Hotel 'B'


Which, do you suppose, is which? Well here are some more statistics before you decide:

Price per room: Hotel 'A': 90, Hotel 'B' : 240. Difference in facilities: both have great staff and a lovely pool, rooms at hotel 'A' are slightly more luxurious, Hotel 'A' has air-conditioning, Hotel 'B' has portable units (which were not needed in temperatures in the 90s). Both offered excellent breakfasts and three-course dinners. Both were in very similar locations.

So which was which? Hotel 'A' is the one with 80 reviews, hotel 'B' is the one with 310 reviews. 

There's just one more similarity: one has 8 rooms, the other 11. 

So what makes Hotel 'B' TripAdvisor's choice for Number 1 in its area? It has to be 'volume of reviews' - for what else could possibly indicate that Hotel A is less worthy of the number one spot (they have NO 3, 2 or 1 star reviews). It's a puzzle to both hoteliers (and to all of us as well).

As ever, we'd be delighted if someone at TripAdvisor would like to post a comment to enlighten us.

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