20/07/15
Hotels in Riga are rated among the best in the world. According to PwC’s study Online reputations – why hotel reviews matter and how hotels respond, Riga ranks number one in the world for four star hotels and number nine in the world overall (including three, four and five star hotels) – ahead of Abu Dhabi, the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates. Cape Town takes the number one spot in the Global Review Index (GRI), service, location, and value. Vilnius ranks second and Johannesburg third, with Edinburgh, Prague, Warsaw and Lisbon the only other European cities to make the top ten list in terms of overall GRI.
The cities are rated according to their online hotel reviews by the industry’s first academically tested general online reputation score Global Review IndexTM.
Below are key findings about Riga hotels from PwC’s study Online reputations – why hotel reviews matter and how hotels respond:
In the city ranking, Cape Town takes the number one spot in the Global Review Index (GRI), service, location, and value.
Rank | City | Rating | Rank | City | Rating |
1. | Cape Town | 86.0% | 6. | Prague | 83.4% |
2. | Vilnius | 84.6% | 7. | Warsaw | 83.0% |
3. | Johannesburg | 84.2% | 8. | Lisbon | 82.7% |
4. | Edinburgh | 83.7% | 9. | Riga | 82.6% |
5. | Marrakesh | 83.5% | 10. | Abu Dhabi | 82.3% |
Some hoteliers see reviews, especially negative ones, as a nuisance and are still unsure as to how to use them to improve their business. Some still tend to dispute their validity as a source of reliable information about their hotel and go on the defensive about them.
“Today, hotel online reviews have become one of the primary information sources for guests during the buying process. But even if some may challenge their validity, this is what is written about a hotel in the public space,” explains PwC’s Nicolas Mayer, Swiss Hospitality & Leisure Industry leader.
“Thus, hotels should pro-actively manage their online ratings, and embrace online reviews as an opportunity for constructive exchange with their guests. Hotels that not only monitor and respond to them, professionally, rapidly and honestly, and use them to improve their product where it is perceived negatively in reviews, will come out winners in the long run.”
Beyond the individual properties, destination management organisations will also find them useful in understanding the success factors in destinations that visitors rate highly, and where there may be room for improvement in their own realm. Owners, investors and asset managers in turn will find online reviews an interesting addition in the overall assessment of their asset management companies’ performance in the market.