Online Reviews for Hotels and Tour Operators: How to Manage Them and Turn Them into Bookings

Before choosing a hotel in Sorrento or a Vesuvius excursion, travellers always do the same thing: they read the reviews. Not one or two, but several, across several platforms. For a tourism business, online reputation isn’t a matter of image: it’s the first filter that decides whether you’re even considered.

How much reviews weigh in the decision

A TrustYou study published in 2025, run with New York University’s Tisch Center for Hospitality on more than 500 travellers, found that 95% read reviews before booking. Leisure travellers read six or seven on average and spend around half an hour doing it; one in ten spends more than an hour.

On Google the weight is technical too. According to BrightLocal data cited by Mews, reviews account for roughly a fifth of the factors that decide a business’s position in Google Maps local results. And when users sort results by rating, properties below 4.0 lose visibility.

Replying pays off (to positive reviews too)

A study published by TripAdvisor some years ago, still one of the most cited on the subject, showed a clear link between replies and results: properties that responded to more than half their reviews received 24% more booking enquiries than those that never responded. Average ratings also rose with the share of reviews answered.

Average rating out of 5 by share of reviews answered

No replies3.815–40%4.0440–65%4.05Over 65%4.15

It isn’t magic: replying shows you care, and guests reading those replies get a sense of how they’ll be treated. In a PhoCusWright survey for TripAdvisor, 84% of travellers said an appropriate reply to a negative review improves their impression of the property; 64%, by contrast, said an aggressive or defensive reply makes them less likely to book.

How to reply: practical rules

To positive reviews

• Thank them personally, mentioning a detail from the review (the breakfast, the guide, the view from the terrace).
• Add something useful for other readers: another excursion, the best time to come back.
• Avoid copy-paste replies. Ten identical “Thank you for choosing us!” messages signal inattention.

To negative reviews

• Reply within 24–48 hours, with a cool head.
• Acknowledge the problem without generic apologies and without attacking the guest.
• Explain what you did or will do to fix it. Readers don’t judge the problem; they judge how you handled it.
• Take the details offline: offer a direct contact to resolve the matter.
• Correct inaccuracies calmly and factually if the review contains false information.

How to get more reviews (without breaking the rules)

For many properties the problem isn’t negative reviews but too few, or only old ones. Platforms and travellers reward recent reviews. A few strategies:

1. Ask at the right moment: a message one or two days after check-out or the end of the tour, with a direct link to the review page.
2. Make it easy: a QR code at reception, on the transfer bus or on the excursion ticket.
3. Automate the request by linking it to your property management or booking system, so no guest is forgotten.
4. Don’t offer discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews, and don’t filter who you invite based on the rating you expect: Google and other platforms explicitly forbid it, and in Europe fake reviews are treated as unfair commercial practices.

Use reviews as data

Reviews are also the biggest free survey of your business. Read them looking for patterns: if ten guests in six months mention street noise or trouble finding the tour meeting point, that’s an operational issue to fix, and a FAQ to add to your website. AI tools can now summarise hundreds of reviews and surface the main themes in minutes.

Monthly reputation checklist

1. Have we replied to every review this month, positive and negative?
2. How many new reviews did we get on Google, TripAdvisor and Booking.com?
3. Is our average rating stable or slipping?
4. Which themes keep coming up in criticism?
5. Does the automatic review request go out after every stay or tour?

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a negative review removed?

Only if it breaks the platform’s rules (offensive, fake or off-topic content, conflicts of interest). A critical but genuine review stays: the best strategy is a good reply.

Which platform should I focus on?

Google is almost always the priority, because reviews appear directly in search and on Maps. Then the platforms that bring you the most customers: Booking.com for hotels, TripAdvisor, GetYourGuide or Viator for tours and experiences.

Can I use AI to write replies?

Yes, as a draft to personalise. A generated reply posted without reading it risks being generic or, worse, factually wrong.

Sources

• TrustYou – How Do Travelers Really Want to Read Reviews? (2025)
• Mews – Hotel reviews on Google (Italian)
• TravelDailyNews – TripAdvisor study on review responses
• Hospitality Net – PhoCusWright study for TripAdvisor

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [ {“@type”: “Question”, “name”: “Can I get a negative review removed?”, “acceptedAnswer”: {“@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Only if it breaks the platform’s rules (offensive, fake or off-topic content, conflicts of interest). A critical but genuine review stays: the best strategy is a good reply.”}}, {“@type”: “Question”, “name”: “Which platform should I focus on?”, “acceptedAnswer”: {“@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Google is almost always the priority, because reviews appear directly in search and on Maps. Then the platforms that bring you the most customers: Booking.com for hotels, TripAdvisor, GetYourGuide or Viator for tours and experiences.”}}, {“@type”: “Question”, “name”: “Can I use AI to write replies?”, “acceptedAnswer”: {“@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Yes, as a draft to personalise. A generated reply posted without reading it risks being generic or, worse, factually wrong.”}} ] }