It’s no secret that hotel reviews are big business, especially for the hotel itself. I’m sure that there are tons of hotels (and other businesses) that try to game the system by generating positive reviews that are perhaps not entirely genuine. I read a story over at View from the Wing talking about a hotel gaming the system to get positive reviews and it reminded me of a recent stay I had in Oakland, and I thought I’d share a bit about hotel reviews and how some hotels treat them.

Why Hotels Care About Reviews

There are two reasons that I can think of for why hotels care about hotel reviews. The first has to do with public reviews and how they might affect guests wanting to stay at hotels. The second (and probably more important) reason relates to the surveys that you often get from the brand or hotel after a stay. Brands often do monitor the results of these hotel surveys, and it can affect incentives or possible punishments that a brand might impose. Low-performing hotels might find themselves placed under brand oversight, or forced into making capital upgrades if they want to stay in the brand. In most cases, anything less than a 9 or 10 (out of 10) is considered bad.

A Chance At 30,000 Marriott Points

View from the Wing reports on the Renaissance Fort Lauderdale Marina Hotel. A reader reached out to him and shared his experience

Ice machines only on even numbered floors. Gross. See photos. Rooms okay, laminate flooring, small footprint bathrooms, sufficient, but that’s it. Cannot use the tub/shower spigot control without getting drenched. That’s a big thumbs down.

Guest rooms have different “colors” of interior lighting; daylight, soft white, warm white, etc. too.. Mis-matched carpet on guest room floor corridors.

Complimentary lobby coffee only had 20 oz paper cups and sugar in the raw (no white granulated, but pink/blue/yellow sweeteners). Carafe of cream.

And then in the elevator they have a big sign announcing that if you fill out your departure survey and give them a 9 or 10 you’ll be entered into a drawing to win 30,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. Keeping in mind that it’s just a DRAWING for points but without a list of winners, call me skeptical that this drawing even happens. I’d love to be proven wrong on that though.

5,000 IHG Points

When I read that report, it reminded me of my stay at the Holiday Inn and Suites – Oakland Airport. I wrote a full review of the hotel but one of the things that I found interesting was that on the back of your key card (and called out at checkin) was a note that if you give them a 10 on the survey they will give you 5,000 IHG points.

Felt a little gamey to me, but I did appreciate the final line where they say if there’s anything that would prevent you from giving them a 10 to reach out. It is always better to try and address issues (at least preventable issues) before you check out, rather than complaining after the fact.

I would have given them a 10 because we had a good stay, but I never got the email survey. I emailed the hotel about it and they just credited my account with 5,000 IHG points.

The Bottom Line

5,000 IHG points I count as being worth around $25. 30,000 Marriott points is worth maybe ~$200, but a “chance to win” 30,000 Bonvoy points is worth much, much less. It depends on the number of entrants, but I (admittedly arbitrarily) pulled $10 out of the air. It’s probably worth less than that, because there are probably more than 20 respondents. I’m not sure it’s entirely ethical for hotels to provide incentives for guests to leave positive reviews. I’m also not entirely sure that it’s ethical to WRITE a review where you were given an incentive to provide a positive review.

What do you think about hotels providing incentives to leave positive reviews? Leave your “review” in the comments below

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