REPORT: The best and worst brands online
According to a new report which has analysed 10,000 TripAdvisor reviews, the best and worst hotels in the Middle East according to user-generated content have now been revealed.
Social analytics and data science company Tagmemics has compiled data using analysis from over 10,000 reviews posted across a nine month period to determine how hotels are doing in the online sphere.
The company has used these “social analytics” to rank hotel brands on their operations, service delivery and guest experience in the Middle East.
According to the results, the best hotel in the Middle East is Ritz-Carlton, with Sofitel coming in last.
Ritz-Carlton had the highest positive brand association with consumers, with 26.3% of consumers identifying Ritz-Carlton hotels in the region as “best”, “excellent” or “amazing”.
Sofitel Luxury Hotels claims the top spot for highest negative sentiment amongst online reviewers at 10.8%. Despite this, it has the lowest negative brand association among all hotels at 17%.
Tatjana de Kerros, Tagmemics Founder, explained the importance of analysing this type of content, saying: “Solely measuring social media engagement or reputation management is no longer sufficient for hotel brands. Social content is the largest untapped source of data intelligence and is critical for all industries that want to remain competitive in an era of big data.
“Using analysis of social data coupled with sentiment, intent and in-depth text analytics, the hospitality sector can enhance their predictive data capabilities - particularly at a time when luxury hotel chains are expanding rapidly and competing aggressively in the region.”
Highlights of the report’s findings include:
• Ritz-Carlton receives the highest positive sentiment for its facilities (17.8%) and 15.4% for dining & entertainment.
• Sofitel is ranked the worst for “inattentive” front of house and “bad service” at 24.3%. Guests were most likely to complain about “ineffective” management.
• 23% of guests have a negative brand association for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
• Guests believe that Hilton Hotels & Resorts have the “best” service and staff - topping 33% positive sentiment.
• Starwood has the most “awesome” and “stylish” rooms according to guest sentiment data.
• Shangri-La Luxury Hotels are seen as having the most “amazing” locations (6% positive sentiment).
• Ritz-Carlton (15.4%) or the Four Seasons (15.2%) have the best dining and entertainment options
• Ritz-Carlton guests are the most loyal, and have the highest intent to return or recommend the hotel to others, followed by Kempinski and Four Seasons.
• Starwood has the lowest positive guest intent score - at only 40%.
“Using advanced social analytics technology shows how brands can gain not only in-depth consumer insight, but reinforce all aspects of their operations- from customer service, through to sales, business development and predictive analytics,” concludes de Kerros.
“Whilst sentiment analytics capture human emotions, intent provides a realistic measure of something much more difficult, but tangible to capture - future sales, loyalty and growth.”