Relevance of online reviews for campsites

Online reviews before a purchase or booking are becoming increasingly important for customers.

More than 80 percent of consumers already consult a rating portal before buying a product, and one in two now trusts online ratings more than recommendations from friends or an expert. Especially in the hotel and vacation sector, consumers place the strongest value on reviews from other users.
How you as a campsite operator can respond to the relevance of online reviews and use them for your own benefit is explained in the following article.

Facts and figures on the increasing importance of online reviews

According to a survey by a market research institute, around 82% of consumers nowadays research at least one review platform before deciding to purchase a product or make a booking. In the hotel and vacation sector, more than 70% of customers consult the reviews of other vacationers before booking themselves. This puts this sector ahead of electronics (67%) and leisure & restaurants (62%) in terms of the relevance of reviews. According to the survey, 94% of consumers have already avoided making a purchase or booking due to negative reviews on the Internet.

Assessments also increasingly relevant in the camping industry

This is also reflected in the camping industry, because today it is no longer just established regular customers who go to their favorite place, but also their children, for example. As new customers, the next generation grows up with camping and is inevitably also infected by camping fever and later very likely to become campers themselves. However, the young campers are eager to discover and are looking for a large selection of sites, which are often even scattered throughout Germany and Europe. This target group, as well as the ever-growing number of new campers of all ages, which has increased sharply in recent years, increases the relevance of reviews on rating platforms even more.

Camping.info, a campground rating platform, found when it surveyed its users that campground bookings via online tools increased by more than 10 percent in 2020. Primarily due to the Corona pandemic, early reservations have now become inevitable due to limited plots at campsites. As a result, research takes place some time in advance and one of the most important criteria for deciding on a campsite is now the rating on the respective platforms.

How to use positive reviews for your campsite

Therefore, campsite operators should proactively promote current and positive reviews. To avoid having to point out the possibility of a rating to every guest when they check in or out, there are now tools that take over this step automatically, so you don't have to incur any additional effort on a day-to-day basis.

With our WiFi solution you profit twice: On the one hand you can offer your guests a stable, reliable internet, which is becoming more and more important due to the changing usage behavior for customers, and at the same time you get the opportunity, more good ratings for your campsite to collect.

How does the Eventnet evaluation tool work?

Whenever a new guest logs into the Eventnet WiFi provided by you or uses a QR code from you, they are asked to submit a review. In doing so, all positive reviews are published directly on the review platforms used, such as Google or TripAdvisor. The guest is automatically reminded to leave a review and it gets onto the platform without any additional effort on your part.
If the guest leaves a negative review, it does not reach the platform, but is forwarded internally to the operator via email. This allows you to respond to the review and, if necessary, engage in conversation with the guest, thus avoiding a negative review. After all, as surveys have shown, 42% of reviewers who have left a negative review would like the company to respond. By emailing the review internally, you can reach out to the guest to highlight and improve your service.

Apart from that, the system runs fully automatically and without any additional work on your part, so that overall you benefit from the provision of the Internet, the positive reviews as well as the increased guest satisfaction.

We will be happy to explain in more detail how the tool works in practice and how you can use it on your campsite. More information about WiFi on the campsite you can find here.