Most travelers read online reviews before booking a hotel. In a recent Mattress Advisor survey of nearly 1,000 U.S. travelers on social media, the share of travelers who checked user reviews before booking was 93 percent. The survey also revealed what those travelers are looking for when checking other guests’ feedback online.
The top area that travelers reported looking for when scanning reviews is cleanliness—35 percent of respondents said that a clean room is the first thing they look for in a hotel review. The second most important aspect that 12 percent of U.S. travelers surveyed reported looking for is room comfort. Participants also acknowledged searching out negative reviews (9.3 percent) compared to positive reviews (6 percent). Overall experience (7.3 percent), customer service (7.2 percent), room quality (6.6 percent), and the highest star rating (6 percent) were also somewhat important and ranked higher than noise complaints (2.4 percent), sleep quality (2.2 percent), hotel safety and location (2 percent), authenticity (2 percent), and amenities (1.5 percent).
The survey revealed a few differences between male and female travelers—women were more concerned with cleanliness (42 percent) compared to men (26 percent). Overall, men were more concerned with both negative and positive reviews than women.
Hotel Sleep Experience
The survey also asked participants questions about their sleep experiences at hotels. When it comes to the sleep experience in a hotel, 80 percent of the survey respondents also said that a comfortable bed was the most important feature in a guestroom—more important than extra space, a nice view, attentive service, and complimentary refreshments.
Respondents also compared their quality of sleep at a hotel with the sleep they experience in their own bedroom. In terms of comfortable sheets and bedding, 47.7 percent of respondents preferred their own home, but 33.5 percent said that these were better in a hotel. Similarly, nearly half of participants preferred their home mattress versus 35.6 percent who preferred the hotel’s. The one category where hotels outranked the home in sleep experience was room darkness—nearly 40 percent said hotels knew how to keep the sunlight out.
