What the ‘real’ reviews say about Australia’s top hotels

WOTIF takes a dig at rival travel review sites like TripAdvisor as it releases a new top 10 list of the best Aussie hotels — with an Adelaide hotel figuring high on the list.

Luxury Accommodation category: The Sebel Playford Adelaide.

WOTIF has come out swinging in the battle of travel review sites, claiming the title of No. 1 for Australian hotel reviews and taking a dig at competitors by pointing out its reviews are real.

The site has clocked up 1 million reviews — and Wotif.com says that means it has more “real reviews” for Aussie hotels than any other site.

To celebrate, it’s released a top 10 list of Australia’s best hotels, according to its reviewers.

Melbourne hotel The Langham leads the list, ahead of The Westin in Sydney and The Playford Adelaide — MGallery.

The Langham is no stranger to glowing reviews, having rated 15th in Australia in Wotif rival TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice awards this year.

See the full top 10 list of hotels.

“The reviews are from real customers who’ve booked and stayed — no wotifs about it,” Wotif says of its site.

Because Wotif.com is a booking site, only those who have booked and paid for accommodation can post a review, unlike the world’s largest travel site, TripAdvisor, which boasts more 150 million reviews for accommodation, restaurants and attractions around the globe.

And in response to claims of fake reviews, TripAdvisor has said it has “a world-class international team of specialists that spends 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, making sure our reviews are real”.

More than 88 per cent of Australian travellers check user reviews before booking a hotel, a Choice report found last year.

“The boom in hotel review sites has given rise to the practice of ‘astroturfing’ or the writing of fake reviews by companies to promote their own accommodation,” Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey said when releasing the report.

The managing director of The Langham Melbourne, Ben Sington, said he was delighted with the hotel’s top ranking.

“Our focus is on service and guest satisfaction, so it is pleasing when Wotif.com guests take the time to share their experience with other travellers,” he said.

“We value their comments and it is extremely motivating to receive such an endorsement.”

Recent reviews for The Langham have included comments such as “The most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in!” and “All staff made us feel like the King and Queen of England.”

The Wotif.com top hotel list was compiled based on reviews up to June 1, 2014 for each of the most popular destinations in Australia.

Wotif’s top 10 Australian hotels

Originally published as What the ‘real’ reviews say about Australia’s top hotels