We all know how crucial TripAdvisor is for hotels. Hotels can use its algorithm to rank higher and drive more revenue if handled properly.
In this blog, we have explained how it works, which factors influence it, what hurts the index, and how you, as a hotelier, can crack this algorithm.
Do you recall checking TripAdvisor's rating before booking a hotel or activity? That's what almost everyone does! That's how popular TripAdvisor is and how people trust it.
As a hotelier, it is vital to understand how this ranking works and how it plays an essential role in generating revenue by heavily influencing potential customers.
This blog will explain how TripAdvisor’s Popularity Index works and how you can use it for your benefit!
TripAdvisor’s Popularity Index for hotels is a ranking algorithm of TripAdvisor that measures the quality of your activity, hotel, or restaurant.
For example, suppose the guest wants to book a hotel in San Francisco. In that case, TripAdvisor will compare all the listed hotels in San Francisco by using its factors which are quality, quantity, recency, and consistency in the reviews that the property has received over time along with its performance.
The goal is to provide nothing but the best to its users, which is why TripAdvisor is popular and trustworthy.
Guests do not need to worry about the recency of this index, as it is updated once a week, ensuring it gives its guests the best options that are frequently updated.
This is slightly different from the bubble rating. This is the overall rating based on the quality, quantity, and age of individual guests. One bubble means disappointing, and five bubbles mean excellent.
Bubble rating focuses on the quality of the hotel or the activity by breaking it down into various other factors like- the type of traveler (solo or business traveler), type of stay (business or leisure), quality of service, or upkeep of the property, etc.
So, the main difference between the popularity index and the bubble rating is that the popularity index provides a comparative ranking of the property with other hotels in the same location and category, whereas the bubble rating is purely for quality!
Now we will share what exactly this index signifies-
This shows that the hotel is well-regarded by travelers and has done a great job maintaining its standard of services and offerings.
This shows that the hotel is consistent with the level of service. Your guests will be able to cross-check the current condition of the property through the recent guest reviews.
This is simply opposite the higher-indexed hotels. It shows that the hotel is newer or less popular in the area.
Guests cannot rely on old or outdated reviews, and the low popularity index suggests exactly this. Inconsistent reviews are the major factor in low popularity indexes for hotels.
If a guest still chooses to go for such hotels, then it could be a riskier choice for them as they are not aware of the hotel's current condition due to outdated reviews.
They might get unexpected surprises they have not signed up for!
It's no surprise that a hotel with a higher popularity index will rank better than other competitor hotels in the same location and category.
This will positively impact bookings because when a guest searches for hotels in your location, your hotel may rank among the top ten options in the area due to higher rankings.
The popularity index is also an indicator of online reputation. The better the reputation, the higher the index.
The popularity index is counted on the quality and quantity of the reviews. So, if you have focused majorly on collecting reviews and have done online reputation management on TripAdvisor, more potential customers are going to trust your brand.
It shows that the hotel is reliable, popular, and delivers on its promises. This enhanced brand credibility can attract more discerning travelers.
A higher index directly impacts revenue and guest loyalty. Satisfied guests are more likely to leave positive reviews on TripAdvisor and ratings. This boosts the popularity index and attracts more guests. Additionally, loyal guests can become brand advocates, recommending the hotel to friends and family.
As we mentioned above, the bubble rating is a pure measure of quality. The popularity index is heavily based on this factor- Quality!
This factor compares the quality of an experience offered by a hotel. While doing this, if the two properties are equal in every other aspect, TripAdvisor will rank the hotel higher, with more 5-star bubble ratings, than the hotel with a lesser bubble rating.
Caption: Here, the hotel with fewer reviews is ranking lower than the hotel with more reviews.
TripAdvisor needs enough pool of reviews so that they can get insights into the quality of experience a hotel is providing. That makes the number of reviews one of the major factors that influence the ranking of the hotels.
Let us understand this with a simple example. When we are buying something online, we often check for reviews. If a product only has two reviews, it is hard to believe what kind of experience the property is offering in real. Those two reviews, positive or negative, will not matter in such cases.
This is exactly how quantity works for the TripAdvisor algorithm. You need to have enough reviews for your hotel for TripAdvisor to understand the quality of your service.
Also, let’s not confuse quality and quantity here. Quantity does not mean quality. A hotel with 1000 reviews does not necessarily have to rank higher than a hotel with 500 reviews even if both the hotels have received those reviews in the same period.
That is because both hotels have enough reviews that TripAdvisor can be sure about the quality of service and experience they deliver.
All the factors work together. You cannot achieve one benchmark and expect to rank higher. We have discussed two aspects before—quality and quantity. Let’s assume you have achieved both benchmarks.
But if your reviews are not recent, then you are not going to rank. Older reviews are almost useless. If your overall rating is 4.5 but all of the reviews are years old, you will not rank!
Hence, the recency of the reviews becomes an important factor in the popularity index.
Last but not least, consistency is the key! Now, putting it all together, the bubble rating a hotel receives is about the quality of the services and experience the hotel is offering. However, only a better rating is not sufficient. There have to be more people saying the same thing about your hotel.
When sufficient reviews say that the hotel is good, then the chances to rank higher are higher. BUT, along with that, we also have to check how old the reviews are.
More recent reviews bear more value, and you need more recent reviews to help rank better.
But, even if you have achieved all these three aspects, you need to stay consistent with this. When all the reviews speak the same thing about your hotel, more or less, it shows consistency.
If your hotel has many positive reviews with very few negative reviews as another hotel, it shows consistency in opinions. This will help you rank higher as it satisfies the consistency criteria of the popularity index.
But if you have fewer good reviews and lower bubble ratings, then you will face difficulties in ranking higher.
Now that we have understood how the popularity index works and what the factors that influence this are, we will see how you, as a hotelier, can improve your hotel’s ranking on TripAdvisor by keeping up with its algorithm!
Let’s dive in!
First things first- a greatly satisfied guest is more likely to leave a good rating and review for your hotel. So make sure you are providing them with a great service and make them feel personal.
A few personal touches in the services as simple as remembering a guest name and calling them by their name goes a long way.
Usually, hotels have the guests' information, such as where they are traveling from and where they are going next. You can initiate a conversation with them with these points. Imagine asking a guest about how his flight was when they came for check-in. This will make them feel personal and cared for.
Make them feel comfortable and at home. Train your staff to communicate efficiently with guests. Also, teach them how to resolve guests' concerns and handle angry guests. Offering a small delicacy or a complimentary beverage in such scenarios, along with proactive problem-solving, can enhance the guest experience.
Lastly, when you understand that the guest is happy with the overall experience at your hotel, ask them to leave a review for you with loyalty programs and reward points.
Send them personalized post-stay surveys through emails and offer some discounts or rewards upon completion. You can use review solicitation systems for this purpose.
This will not only improve your hotel ranking on TripAdvisor but also help you understand where you excel and where you need to improve.
Invest in review management tools that can monitor reviews and respond to them promptly across multiple platforms.
Set up alerts for new reviews so that you can respond to them as and when you receive them without delay.
Click here to learn more about Hotel Review Monitoring in Real Time.
Even if you are proactively managing your online reputation, it will hold no value if you do not analyze and track your review pattern over time. Leverage sentiment analysis to identify and understand positive and negative feedback.
You can create response templates for various types of reviews to prompt the responding process.
Here are 15 Expert Hotel Review Management Tactics that can skyrocket your online reputation management game like never before!
Know that responding to reviews, especially the negative ones, is very important.
Why?
You would want to compensate the unsatisfied guests then and there rather than have them spread bad word about you later. Sometimes, negative reviews are the result of misunderstanding and miscommunication. Prompt responding fills out this gap.
Make sure you respond with an empathetic and problem-solving approach. Do not try to justify your actions. Remember, in the hospitality industry, the guest is God.
Offer solutions to the problems, and if not, offer compensation in any form. A heartfelt apology can save you from a bad impression on the guest.
If the issue is major and sensitive, such as safety hazards during the stay or money-related issues like theft or wrongly charging, use private replies.
If you have received positive feedback, do not leave it there. Ensure you are thanking guests for leaving positive feedback, and highlight their specific compliments.
You can also use positive feedback to showcase your hotel on social media and your hotel website.
TripAdvisor is strongly opposed to any manipulation techniques employed by the hotels or any other businesses listed. Such actions may extensively affect your popularity index on TripAdvisor and will result in penalties.
Here are some of the scenarios you MUST avoid at any cost-
Anyone who owns the property or is employed by the hotel is primarily not supposed to leave reviews for that hotel. Anyone with whom the hotel is associated in any kind of business or affiliation is not supposed to leave reviews for that hotel, even if the review is honest.
TripAdvisor has the right to remove such content.
This may result in removing reviews and/or penalizing properties.
TripAdvisor opposes selling, purchasing, or exchanging reviews on the platform. If found, TripAdvisor will penalize not only the properties involved but also the reviewers who are engaged in the activity.
Offering subtle incentives for getting reviews is okay. But deliberately asking for positive reviews and forcing your guests to do this is an offense, and TripAdvisor will treat these reviews as fraudulent.
We know how badly a single negative review impacts any hotel’s online reputation. But there are healthy ways to tackle it, such as responding with empathy and improving that aspect of your hotel.
If you, as an owner or anyone associated with the hotel, are found guilty of pressuring the reviews with any kind of threat, it will result in penalties and other strict actions being taken by the platform.
Again, encouraging employees to offer an excellent service that guests mention their efforts is one thing. But limit it there only. Forceful encouragement to get reviews from guests can be fatal. Just for the hotel's appreciation and rewards, employees may force their guests to mention their names in the reviews or get positive feedback in general.
This will hamper guest satisfaction and, ultimately, your business. If TripAdvisor sees any such activity, your ranking will be potentially hampered.
Some hotels engage in activities like review gating. They may have an internal customer support channel that identifies positive reviews. If the guest is going to post a positive response, then he will be directed to TripAdvisor directly and can post a review.
But if he is going to post a negative response, then he will be directed to some other internal platform. Because of this, the negative reviews will not be posted on TripAdvisor directly.
This activity is against the TripAdvisor review guidelines. If caught, this will majorly impact the popularity index of your hotel and, ultimately, the ranking.
Rivalry is a real thing, especially when the competition is high! But the safest and most organic way to overcome this competition is to improve the guest experience and the quality of your service.
If you, as an owner or your employees, try to put negative reviews for the competitor or falsely register their properties by acting as an owner, and so on, it will be considered vandalism.
Any activity that intentionally hampers other properties’ reputations will face major actions taken by TripAdvisor.
The TripAdvisor Popularity Index for hotels is a numerical rating system that ranks hotels, restaurants, and attractions based on the quantity and quality of reviews, their recency, and overall popularity on the platform.
TripAdvisor's Popularity Index is calculated based on factors such as the quantity, quality, and recency of reviews, as well as the overall popularity of the business on the platform.
To improve your TripAdvisor Popularity Index, encourage customer reviews, respond promptly to reviews, claim and optimize your listing, and utilize TripAdvisor's promotional tools.
Yes, the Popularity Index is a significant factor in determining a business's ranking in TripAdvisor's search results. A higher Popularity Index generally leads to a higher ranking.
TripAdvisor's algorithm is constantly updating the Popularity Index based on new reviews, ratings, and other factors. However, the exact frequency of updates may vary.
Several factors can sabotage a business's TripAdvisor Popularity Index, including negative reviews, lack of engagement with reviews, an inactive or incomplete listing, and a decline in recent reviews. Additionally, competitor sabotage through fake negative reviews can also negatively impact a business's ranking.
Author
Roshan Patel
CEO & Founder
Meet Roshan Patel, the dynamic force propelling INNsight to new heights. As a co-founder, his pragmatic and cost-focused leadership shapes the company's technical strategy and product architecture, ensuring a seamless hotel digital experience. With a hotel management and technology background, Roshan is a driving force in providing INNkeepers the tools they need to economically showcase their properties to cost-conscious travelers. Roshan's impact goes beyond tech, raising INNsight as a game-changer in hotel digital marketing.
Follow him on LinkedIn - Roshan Patel - INNsight
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