You're Fired!

The following headline recently caught my eye: Canada's Filthiest Hotels.

I clicked on it and discovered that Trip Advisor compiles a "dirtiest hotels" list each year.  As I reached the end of the article, I saw this quote:

But Anthony Pollard, president of the Hotel Association of Canada, says the company's method of producing a dirtiest hotels list "is not particularly scientific."

"I take it with a grain of salt," Pollard says. "At the end of the day anybody with a keyboard and access to the Internet can write anything. That goes for the good and the bad."

Mr. Pollard - you're fired (or you should be).  The public doesn't care what some anonymous rating system says.  The public is far more likely to believe a personal review, than an anonymous association rating system.  

You're quite right to state that anyone can write a review and I think it's safe to say that people who are upset are more likely to write a review than those who had a pleasant experience.  However, it's up to your members to be so fabulous that they inspire customers to write positive reviews.  They don't have to be deluxe hotels to inspire people.  Great service, a friendly clerk, an extra towel and other small things will  often result in very happy customers who write positive reviews.  

I do consider the classification of a hotel, but I also consider the experiences of actual people who stayed there.  A personal review gives me a peek at a hotels worst and best.  If the hotel monitors their reviews, I can see whether or not they care how their customers feel.  A hotel that acknowledges a poor review and attempts to resolve the issue, is one that I am going to give high marks... and probably my dollars too.

More and more of us are checking sites like Trip Advisor when planning our travel.  We don't know you.  We don't care about you.  And like it or not - because you're paid to feed us "the corporate line", we don't believe you. On the other hand, we DO believe the person who paid good money to stay at the hotel and write about it.

Word of mouth isn't about Sally talking to Jane.  One person can now impact the perceptions of the world and you seem oblivious to this.

Welcome to the 21st century Mr. Pollard.  The unemployment line is over there.