Good Practice in online consumer reviews and ratings: European Commission opens consultation
UPDATE - The draft HOTREC reply to the survey is availble here:
HOTREC Members are invited to:
- Provide feedback to the HOTREC draft response by Friday 29 October 16h (note: HOTREC has requested an extension of the deadline to respond to the survey to at least 5 November; HOTREC will extend the deadline to comment for Members to 4 November if this request is approved and inform Members accordingly)
- Provide their own response to the survey, based on this response if desired
- Encourage hotelier members to respond directly to the survey.
Background
The European Commission has opened a survey to gather stakeholders’ feedback on the Principles and recommendations for Good Practice in online consumer reviews and ratings. The deadline for responses has been tentatively set to 2 November 2021 and survey results will be discussed on 24 November. These Principles have been produced based on the work of the Multi-stakeholder platform on quality of tourism accommodation in the framework of a study commissioned by the European Commission, DG GROW.
HOTREC and HSU have both been very active within the multistakeholder platform, guiding work towards focus on online reviews, rather than EU action on the harmonisation of hotel quality ratings/hotels stars. The submission of the document outlining 10 principles relating to hotel review providers has shaped the Principles put forward by the consultants running the multistakeholder platform.
The Principles are for providers of online marketplaces offering bookings, comparison shopping services, online meta search engine, reviews and ratings for all types of accommodation situated in the European Union (hereafter ‘providers’). They should be seen as guidance to providers on best practices. They should however not be seen as legal guidance.
Draft Principles and Recommendations for a Code of Conduct
HOTREC submission to the multistakeholder platform (incl. HOTREC 10 principles relating to hotel review providers):