Stakeholders in the European Union’s tourism ecosystem took an important step towards ensuring the credibility of online reviews and hotel and other types of tourist accommodation ratings yesterday, adopting a Code of Conduct that will govern reviews written for tourism businesses.
European tourism stakeholders have approved the new ‘Code of Conduct for Online Ratings and Reviews for Tourism Accommodation’, an EU initiative that aims to achieve a higher level of transparency and credibility in online reviews for consumers and businesses in the tourism and hospitality sector.
The code will enable synergies that will improve review authenticity practices, differentiate reviews from guests who have experienced the property from those who have not, and help tourists make more informed holiday booking choices.
Its content was co-created by stakeholders in the tourism ecosystem, representing the online review platforms, associations of these platforms, accommodation providers and their associations, consumer organisations and Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs). The co-creation process was facilitated and supported by regulators and the European Commission.
Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, underlines that “with the new Code of Conduct we are raising the bar in Europe, ensuring that only genuine guests can post reviews”. This means, he added, more reliable and transparent information for everyone. This is a win for travellers, a win for accommodation providers and a step forward for a more resilient tourism industry, he said.
The Code of Conduct is open to accommodation providers, associations, online platforms, consumer associations and other active stakeholders. By signing it, they commit to taking action to ensure genuine online reviews and ratings.
