What are Expedia reviews?

If an Expedia user books a hotel through the platform, they are invited to review their stay. These reviews are collated on the hotel’s listing, giving potential guests first-hand accounts of the experience that the property delivers.

Unlike the reviews you’ll see on Google and Facebook, which anyone can leave (even people who haven’t actually stayed), reviews on Expedia are ‘verified’ – a guest can only leave a review if they’ve actually stayed at the property.

Why are Expedia reviews important for hotels?

Expedia hotel reviews are important because all hotel reviews are important. They offer potential guests a simple way to compare your hotel against other options in the area – on Expedia you are given a simple score out of ten that allows guests to easily quantify the quality of the experience you deliver.

As a hotelier you can write a compelling description and upload stunning photos to your listing, but no amount of clever marketing is as powerful as a past guest sharing their first-hand experience. Almost nine out of ten consumers trust online reviews as much as recommendations from family and friends.

The fact that reviews on Expedia are verified only adds to their power. A potential guest can be confident that the reviews they are reading are from real people who have actually stayed at your property.

How do Expedia reviews work?

An Expedia review is entirely out of a hotelier’s hands – at least until it is published. Provided the guest has booked and stayed at your property, the review process plays out as follows:

Step 1: Create an Expedia account

In order to be prompted to leave a review after their stay, a guest needs to be an Expedia member. Expedia users are prompted to create an account throughout the booking process, and it can be done in a few clicks. Booking made, and stay completed, it’s time to review.

Step 2: Click on the email link

Expedia members will be emailed an invitation to complete a review in the days following their stay. If the member doesn’t receive an email they can still complete a review through their profile.

Step 3: Follow the prompts to leave the review

The Expedia portal will guide the guest through the process of leaving a review. Along with the overall score, the guest will be asked to rate cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities and eco-friendliness.

Step 4: Add photos and click ‘Submit’

The final step of the review process offers the guest an opportunity to add photos, at which point the review will be complete. The review won’t appear on the listing straight after clicking ‘Submit’ – it will be reviewed and posted within a day or two.

How to respond to reviews on Expedia

Once a review is live, a hotelier has an opportunity to respond to it, and it’s a good idea to do this to a good chunk of your reviews – a little under half is a nice number to aim for – as it gives potential guests a sense of what you’re about.

How to respond to good reviews

How to respond to good reviews on Expedia? There are many ways to accept praise, and your reply is a nice opportunity to show a bit of personality, but there are a few general rules to keep in mind:

  • ‘We’not ‘I’: Providing a great guest experience is always a group effort, so write your response on behalf of your whole team, not just yourself.
  • Personalise: There is no point in responding to positive reviews if you simply copy and paste every reply. Make each response unique and personal.
  • Stay humble: Accept the praise in a humble and modest manner, and always thank the guest for their kind words.

Check out our guide to learn more about responding to positive reviews.

How to respond to bad reviews

Replying to a bad review is a far greater challenge than replying to a good review. The following tips might help you to form a response, though your actions may be dictated by whether you feel the review is fair or not:

  • Always be professional, fair and objective. Avoid an emotional reaction by asking for the opinion of someone you trust and perhaps waiting a day to respond. 
  • Thank the reviewer, and highlight any positives that they may have mentioned in their review.
  • Use ‘I’ over ‘we’ to show someone is taking charge of the situation. If the review is fair, take responsibility. If the review is unfair, calmly explain why.
  • Ask for more information to get to the bottom of the issue. Humbly apologise for fair feedback and share how you plan to fix the situation.
  • End on a positive note by thanking the guest for taking the time to review, and extending an invite for them to stay again.

Here is our complete guide to responding to negative reviews.

Boost your reputation across various platforms with Little Hotelier

To some degree reviews are the lifeblood of OTAs, and between Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb and all your other booking channels, there are a lot of reviews to keep track of. But with Little Hotelier’s channel manager, managing reviews (and a whole lot more) becomes far easier.

  • All listings, one portal: Trade endless dashboards for a single screen from which you can manage all your OTA listings. With 450+ integrations, all your booking channels are covered.
  • Instant, universal updates: From updating room rates to monitoring reviews, you can view and edit all of your booking channel listings in a matter of clicks.
  • No more double bookings: When a new reservation is received, the Little Hotelier booking channel manager will update availability across every one of your listings.

By using Little Hotelier, businesses can enhance their guest experience and revenue, with potential increases of up to 46% in direct bookings and an ROI of 63x!

Try for free Learn more

By Dean Elphick

Dean is the Senior Content Marketing Specialist of Little Hotelier, the all-in-one software solution purpose-built to make the lives of small accommodation providers easier. Dean has made writing and creating content his passion for the entirety of his professional life, which includes more than six years at Little Hotelier. Through content, Dean aims to provide education, inspiration, assistance, and, ultimately, value for small accommodation businesses looking to improve the way they run their operations (and live their life).