Despite cries of fake content infiltrating reviews sites, travelers are still turning to TripAdvisor ahead of booking trips, a new study shows.
According to a survey from Ipsos MORI sponsored by TripAdvisor, which polled 23,000 respondents from 12 markets, four out of five people say TripAdvisor makes them feel more confident in their booking decisions.
Their primary reasons for visiting the site include descriptive and helpful reviews (70%), the accuracy of the content (62%) and the broad range of travel content (62%).
According to the study, more than four out of five travelers (85%) believe the hotel, restaurant and attraction reviews on TripAdvisor accurately reflect their experience, and 72% say they always or frequently read reviews before deciding where to stay or eat or what activities to do.
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When booking accommodations, four out of five travelers (81%) say they always or frequently read reviews before pulling the trigger, and nearly eight out of 10 TripAdvisor users (79%) say they’re more likely to select a hotel with a higher bubble rating when choosing between two otherwise identical properties.
More than half of respondents (52%) say they would never book a hotel with zero reviews.
Recency is also important to travelers, with 78% saying they focus on the most recent reviews in their research.
On average, TripAdvisor users read nine reviews before deciding on a hotel or restaurant to book, with more than half of survey respondents (55%) saying they read multiple reviews across several pages to get a sense of overall opinion. About 39% say they ignore extreme comments if they encounter them.
The study also revealed that travelers aren’t necessarily turning to TripAdvisor to complain: 87% of respondents say they want to share their good experiences with fellow travelers as their top reason for writing reviews.