The world’s largest online travel company, Expedia.com.au, has revamped its hotel review platform to ‘Expedia Verified Reviews’, now offering the most comprehensive pool of traveller reviews and new filtering capabilities to find the best hotel deals.

Research* commissioned by Expedia.com.au revealed that more than eight out of ten Australians (84%) take hotel reviews into consideration when deciding on which hotel to book, highlighting the need for credible hotel reviews.

The platform will utilise reviews from sister companies within the Expedia Inc. brand, including Hotels.com, Venere and Egencia. The slick new interface for viewing reviews on the Expedia.com.au hotel infosite includes:

• Reviews written for a particular audience
• Limitless customer-provided traveller types such as: “This review written for Adrenaline Junkies!” or “This review written for Pet Lovers”
• The ability to sort by guest rating, date submitted and language
• User submitted photos in addition to the hotel’s submitted photos.

‘Expedia Verified Reviews’ also features a streamlined process for submitting reviews and photos for sharing.

Amee Evans, Marketing and Communications Manager, Expedia Australia and New Zealand, said: “As the world’s largest online travel company, we are able to offer our customers unrivalled depth to the hotel review platform. Expedia.com.au reviews are already written by bonafide travellers who have stayed at the hotels. By offering revamped filtering capabilities, ‘Expedia Verified Reviews’ is offering a far more in-depth search to find the perfect hotel.

“Our research has shown Aussie travellers tend to be quite specific when booking a hotel,” she added.

Just over one third (37%) of Australians ranked the description of the experience as the key aspect of a hotel review, followed by just over a quarter (27%) ranking the ‘out of five’ rating by reviewers. The description was key for almost half (44%) of young Aussies (18-24), the highest of any age group.

The reviews will integrate social media with the ability to share reviews via Expedia.com.au’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Customers can also ‘thank the reviewer’. ‘Expedia Verified Reviews’ is the first step in a set of planned social communication and tools that will allow customers to easily search for that perfect hotel for their holiday.