TrustYou has announced today the release of its latest research paper, highlighting the impact of review content on the booking behavior of digital natives. The free white paper is based on a study which was undertaken in collaboration with the IUBH International University of Applied Sciences and the travel company TUI. The study narrowed down its target group to consumers of the age of 18 to 28, born between the years 1990 and 2000 and unveils their preferences in terms of consuming online review content. Furthermore, the research reinforced the importance of review scores and widgets on hotel websites, OTAs, and tour operators, along with their role in guiding the purchase decisions of modern travelers. The study is available as a free download.

Among the findings of this study, the most important insights can be summarized in the following way:

• 83% of the digital natives say that reviews play an important or a very important role for making a booking decision
• To trust a review, young travelers appreciate an authentic writing style (73%) as well as detailed (69%) and current (66%) reviews, not older than 3 months 
• For hotel bookings, they prefer Booking.com (68%), followed by Google (61%), TripAdvisor and Expedia with 30% each as a review source.
• 68% believe that scores are the best way to present reviews. Furthermore, 51% consider a consolidated representation (e.g. combination of a visual (e.g. stars) and score) to be good and 29% prefer widgets. 

“Our company’s vision is to enable hoteliers to listen to what their guests have to say, in order to adapt, adjust, and deliver an excellent guest experience. It is our firm belief that studying the particularities of each generation of travelers gives us specific insights into what they want, expect, and demand from a hotel business. We are positive that the results of our latest study will prove themselves beneficial for many businesses” said Valerie Castillo, TrustYou’s VP of Marketing. “Given our findings, we emphasize the rising importance of user-generated and visual content, when referring to online reviews. It has become essential for hotels, OTAs, and tour operators to provide supporting content on their website - such as scores and widgets - in order to encourage a booking.”

The German original version of the study is available on the website of the IUBH International University of Applied Sciences. 

Find more information on TrustYou and the guest feedback platform on www.trustyou.com. 

About TrustYou 

TrustYou helps companies win through the power of listening and provides a guest feedback platform that makes listening to customers easy, powerful, and actionable. The platform unlocks the potential of guest feedback and helps to: 

• Create unlimited opportunities to listen and respond to guests’ needs.
• Understand all reviews across the web and make better business decisions.
• Publish hotel reviews on the website and on Google and allow positive feedback to influence bookings.

TrustYou empowers companies to earn trust, make better decisions, and ultimately, win. 

Find more information on TrustYou and our feedback platform on www.trustyou.com.

Press contact  

Katharina Heitmann
katharina.heitmann@trustyou.com
+49 89 55 27 35 - 116