Customers using the one of the world’s largest hotel booking websites will now be able to gain access to verified consumer ratings of its services and provide their own reviews as a result of an agreement between Hotels.com and the global feedback engine Feefo (i).

Excellent customer service is a priority for Hotels.com, explained John Robinson of Hotels.com. “Using the Feefo service will enable us to listen even more closely to our customers so that we can ensure their experience in finding and booking hotels on Hotels.com is as smooth and seamless as possible,” he said. “By emailing customers the day after they have booked with us, we can find out any issues they might have experienced with our service and respond as quickly as possible.

“Collecting customer reviews using Feefo will also enable us to show other potential customers the high levels of customer satisfaction we have earned and that we are committed to delivering a high quality experience,” he added.

“We’re extremely pleased to have Hotels.com using our service” said Andrew Mabbutt, Managing Director of Feefo. “We have excellent relationships with the biggest names in the industry, and Hotels.com is the latest to trust us with providing genuine reviews. The 90 per cent Feefo service rating that Hotels.com has earned displays how committed they are to providing an efficient, transparent solution for consumers looking to research and book accommodation for leisure and business trips. Feefo is delighted to be a part of this process.”

Feefo provides ratings and reviews on behalf of merchants, verified by sales transactions to ensure that only those that have genuinely done business with a company are invited to leave feedback. This is a service that has come under particular scrutiny recently due to the scale of fake, or heavily-mediated reviews on unregulated review platforms being revealed (ii). Many of the biggest names in the travel industry have acted on this matter, by implementing the award-winning Feefo platform to provide genuine, consumer-trusted reviews that are easily visible and high-ranking in search engines.
 

- ends -

Notes to Editors
 

i Feefo sends out a feedback request every 1.5 seconds and over 20 million consumers in the UK have received a feedback request from Feefo

ii Gartner estimates that by 2014, 10-15 per cent of all reviews on Social Media will be fake. The Consequences of Fake Fans, 'Likes' and Reviews on Social Networks, July 2012

For more information on Hotels.com,  please contact:
 

Laura Watts at Hotels.com  lwatts@expedia.com, 020 7019 2761.
 

For more information on Feefo, please contact:
 

Matt Eames on 08456 800 320 or matt@feefo.com

About Hotels.com
 

Hotels.com is a leading online accommodation booking website with more than 240,000 properties around the world, ranging from international chains and all-inclusive resorts to local favourites and bed & breakfasts, together with all the information needed to book the perfect stay. Hotels.com benefits from one of the largest hotel contracting teams in the industry, negotiating the best rates for its customers, and offers frequent sales, special deals and promotions. Regular customer e-newsletters provide exclusive offers and advance warning of up-coming sales. There are more than seven million reviews on the site from users who have actually stayed in the hotels to ensure customers can make an informed choice when booking.

Through its industry-leading loyalty programme Welcome Rewards, customers can earn a free night for every 10 nights stayed at more than 100,000 hotels. Under its Price Match Guarantee, if a customer can find the same deal for less on a prepaid hotel, Hotels.com will refund the difference.

Travellers can book online or by contacting one of the multilingual call centres. Apps for mobile phones and tablets have been downloaded more than 25 million times and can be accessed at www.hotels.com/deals/mobile enabling customers to book on the go with access to 20,000 last minute deals. Follow Hotels.com on Facebook at facebook.com/Hotels.comUK, on Twitter at @HotelsdotcomUK and YouTube at www.youtube.com/HotelsEU.

Hotels.com is part of Expedia Inc., the largest online travel company in the world with an extensive portfolio that includes some of the industry’s best-known brands.

About Feefo
 

Feefo is a customer review system used by over 1,200 brands. Merchants tell Feefo who their customers are, so only genuine ratings and reviews can be submitted. No moderation is allowed, except for profanities, meaning the merchants of Feefo stand by their commitment to customer service, by sharing good and bad experiences with the world.

45% of personal travellers and 54 per cent of business travellers have made travel plans based on reviews and experience of others. (Google, Think Insights). When deciding between two hotels, 65 per cent of people say that seeing a management response would sway them to book with the responding hotel. (Forrester) Online reviews are the most trusted form of advertising apart from a personal recommendation from a friend or family member, or a branded website itself. (Nielsen) Having stars in an Adword campaigns increases Click Through Rates by an average of 17 per cent (Google Q2 2012)