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Motel.com Newsletter
Apr
29
MOTEL.COM: BUSTING MYTHS ASSOCIATED WITH TRAVEL REVIEWS
By Bob Levin on April 29th, 2011
Categories: The Travel Debunker
The internet being an indispensible part of our lives today, the popularity of travel review sites has escalated. Increasing numbers of people are now dependent on this searching technology to discover and explore their target locations for traveling. Regardless of this heightened popularity, travel review sites face various concern and apprehension from the public.
Popular travel websites have recently been accused of publishing fabricated reviews of hotels that want to boost or inflate their ratings. The travel industry is believed to hire public relation officers or customers to post positive comments in many cases that are exaggerated or blatantly untrue. These hired individuals are those who have no actual first-hand experience of staying or visiting the promoted locations. The purpose of fake reviews extends beyond the positive aspect of gaining higher ratings. Some find the lack of transparency and controls of these travel review sites as an opportunity to topple the reputation of their competitors by posting negative reviews.
The credibility myth of travel reviews leads customers into generally doubting the reliability of travel review sites and ratings. Most travel review sites lack control and transparency, and thus allow for any individual to sign up and write a review. This increases the risk of the travel sites falling victim to biased/manipulated reviews and decreases the value of travel reviews and the credibility of the travel sites.
Motel.com is a travel site which is independent of any association with industry focused travel review sites. The site enhances the travel experience by working directly with the travelers who personally experiences hotel and motel accommodations and amenities. After the travelers stay at their hotel, they have the opportunity to compete a predesigned survey. This rating survey is available for future travelers to the hotel and actually helps the hotel better understand its shortcomings in the eyes of it guest, offering the hotel the opportunity to make improvements.
This structured guest travel review distinguishes Motel.com generally from other travel sites. Unlike other websites which have little or no verification of whether the posted review is authentic and by a person who actually stayed at that particular location, Motel.com takes substantial measures to prevent this fabrication.
Motel.com encourages guests comment about their experience and about the hotel generally. Posting these comments is easy and convenient for the guest. Only a person who has stayed at the hotel has the opportunity to complete a review and therefore anyone using Motel.com can be assured the comments are authentic and credible. This emphasis on prevention of fabricated reviews and elimination of false, fabricated or exaggerated reviews provides the guest using Motel.com a high level of confidence of the truthfulness of the review about a specific hotel or motel.