New Research: 83% of Short-Term Rental Guests Willing to Pay More for Properties with More Reviews
Study of 600 European travelers quantifies the impact of reviews on booking decisions
Customer Alliance today released its 2025 report: The ROI of Guest Review Management for Short-Term Rentals, revealing that 83% of surveyed guests would be willing to pay more for properties with a higher number of positive reviews compared to similar properties.
Customer Alliance today released its 2025 report "The ROI of Guest Review Management for Short-Term Rentals", revealing that 83% of surveyed guests would be willing to pay more for properties with a higher number of positive reviews compared to similar properties.
The 31-page report, based on survey responses from 600 English-speaking guests across Germany, France, and Italy, provides detailed insights into how reviews influence booking decisions and price sensitivity in the short-term rental market
This research helps property managers understand the specific ways reviews can impact their business. We found that guests are not just looking at reviews—they're actively willing to pay premium prices for highly-rated properties over comparable alternatives. Steffen Schmickler, CEO at Customer Alliance
The report answers critical questions for short-term rental operators, including:
- What makes almost half of potential guests willing to pay 5-10% more
- The 'review recency rule' that can eliminate you from 20% of potential bookings
- How to influence 87% of booking decisions with one simple practice
- What guests really look for in reviews (73% focus on this one factor)
- The minimum review star rating demanded by 80% of guests
- What really gets guests to leave reviews (and which methods to avoid)
The findings provide valuable context for short-term rental property managers looking to understand the relationship between guest reviews and booking decisions.
For property managers wondering whether investing time in review management is worthwhile, this research presents clear data on how guests use reviews throughout their decision journey,
added Steffen.
The full report includes detailed breakdowns of the survey responses and considerations for property managers regarding review collection and management.
Property managers can download the complete report immediately to implement data-driven review strategies ahead of the summer booking season. Find it on the Customer Alliance website.
About Customer Alliance
Customer Alliance is a guest feedback intelligence platform built for the hospitality industry, trusted by more than 5,000 hotels globally. We help hotels capture, understand, share, and act on guest feedback to improve experience, reputation, operations, and revenue.
Hotels use Customer Alliance for review management across major portals and to design and send customized surveys that measure CSAT, NPS, and key moments of the guest journey, all in one place. To date, we have processed 3+ million guest surveys and collected 90+ million reviews.
Once captured, feedback is brought together and reported with precision, giving each hotel a clear view of its online reputation, service quality, and the topics that matter most to guests. Those insights reach the right people: general managers, revenue, operations, quality, guest services, and regional teams, through a unified platform and 100+ integrations with PMS, CRM and Revenue systems.
From there, hotels can act with confidence. AI-powered insights, KPIs, and reporting highlight what is working and where to focus next, while reviews can be answered directly from Customer Alliance. Our true two-way integrations with Booking.com, Expedia, HolidayCheck and 16 other portals (19 in total) make Customer Alliance a complete solution for review and reputation management at scale.
As a long-standing partner that continues to innovate, Customer Alliance is recognised as a leading voice in guest feedback, reputation management, and modern hospitality intelligence.