A research has indicated that just 20 percent of British holiday makers trust hotel star ratings and nearly half of all holiday makers say they have been let down by the star rating of a hotel, with its rating not reflected in the true quality of their own holiday experience.

According to Jetsetter.co.uk’s research, conducted by independent research firm Vision Critical, although holidaymakers are researching on user review sites such as TripAdvisor, the sites are falling short of consumers’ needs, with just 19 percent of those surveyed claiming they always trust the reviews on these sites. Typical complaints about such sites include the anonymity of reviewers, with 13 percent not trusting who has written the comments and almost 20 percent not trusting reviews without knowing if the review-writer shared their own travel preferences and tastes. Despite this, the research reveals that 59 percent are willing to spend more on holiday accommodation and save on other elements of their holidays.

The research questioned 2,000 UK adults regarding holiday research and planning preferences.

The research also revealed that over half of those surveyed (59 percent) said they would be willing to spend more on a hotel and save on other components of their holiday, such as flight, airport transfers, and restaurants. This means consumers need to be confident that the advice they are seeking is trustworthy, especially when they are spending the largest proportion of their holiday budget on accommodation.

When people do book holidays, quality (21 percent) and price (30 percent) are key priorities.

Rob Deeming, general manager of Jetsetter Europe, said, “I’d like to see a system where user comments are vetted so that only genuine reviews can be posted. These should be offered alongside objective, expert reviews from experienced travel writers in order to paint a complete picture of a hotel or destination.”

Last month social commerce company Reevoo highlighted that the travel industry is currently facing an “awkward situation” in which people’s trust in travel reviews has declined at the same time as dependency on social sources for recommendations is rising quickly.

As per the findings of another study, released last month in the US, 60 percent of consumers say they factor other travellers’ online reviews into their plans when booking a vacation. According to the third annual Access America Vacation Confidence Index released by Mondial Assistance USA, among travellers who share reviews of their travel experiences online (24 percent of respondents), social networking sites such as Facebook are most popular. Nearly one in five (18 percent) say that they share their travel experiences on social networks, more than double the proportion of those who post on travel review sites (eight percent). As per the findings, travellers under 35 are most likely to say that online travel reviews influence their travel plans (74 percent) while those 55 and over are least likely to be influenced by reviews (44 percent); Nearly 79 percent of respondents with a household income of $75,000 or more factor other travellers' reviews into their own plans, while less than half of those with an income of under $25,000 do so (46 percent).