In November 2021 (view update) HTR implemented new restrictions on giveaway incentives in order to be able to ensure compliance with FTC guidelines for online review collection with manual monitoring.  Beginning January 1, 2024 HTR will be implementing programatic automated monitoring to be able to more effectively enforce compliance for any giveaways provided by HTR to users.  As such, please make sure that your team is away of the guidelines and eligibility requirements if you wish to take advantage of HTR's provided giveaway incentive programs where HTR subsidizes and fulfills giveaways directly to hoteliers who leave reviews. 

• Subsidized Incentive Cards for Premium Members
• Review incentive matching program for Basic Members

IMPORTANT: If your campaign is not compliant with ALL eligibility requirements, HTR will NOT be able to subsidize any giveaways to your users.

How it Works

In order for HTR to be able to ensure compliance campaigns MUST be run through the Automated Review Manager in the vendor dashboard where we have a record of: (a) the campaign templates to verify the way the giveaway was described (b) campaign size to verify the randomness ratio (c) who the campaign was sent to in order to ensure that winners are selected at random only from users who left reviews based on a compliant description of the incentive that was offered.  The Review Manager will track the # of campaigns sent during your giveaway period along with templates utilized and # of users reached to ensure compliance with offering incentives to users. 

TL;DR

• Several pay-per-review incident reports.  We have become aware of several vendors have been offering pay-per-review without knowing that this is against HTR’s incentive guidelines
• This is against HTR’s guidelines and the rules of the awards.  While this is a level I infraction (least severe), it is still against HTR’s policies and therefore not permitted, in violation of the rules of the 2022 HotelTechAwards
• Penalties for current HotelTechAwards competition. Vendors caught in breach of this policy will have the reviews from the trailing 30-days be unpublished and will not be counted towards the HotelTechAwards competition as it is against the rules
• Several vendors have claimed not to be aware of this aspect of the incentive policy.  Several vendors have pointed out that the confusion lies in the fact that other review sites do permit this type of pay-per-review incentive
• Implications for incentives on the community.  While these reviews are against the rules of the awards competition and HTR’s incentive guidelines, HTR will amend its policy effective January 15, 2021 to permit pay-per-review with fair disclosure in accordance with FTC guidelines.  Incentivized reviews will be clearly designated in the UI and ratings will not factor into overall averages.

UPDATE (3/15/21): Please note that after surveying the community for feedback, pay-per-review will continue not to be permitted on HTR (details below)

HTR Vendor Community,

It has come to our attention that a handful of vendors were unaware of HTR’s policy not to allow direct incentive reviews on Hotel Tech Report so we wanted to reach out to all vendors and clarify HTR’s policies about incentivized reviews to make sure there is no confusion.

Overview of Current Policies & Perspectives on Incentivized Reviews

Since inception, HTR’s policies around incentivized reviews have remained the same which can be found in more detail via the help center.  In summary, HTR’s perspective and stance on incentivized reviews to date has been: 

1. Reviewing B2B software is not the same as consumer goods.  When a guest is reviewing their hotel on TripAdvisor for example there are intrinsic motivations like scrap booking to catalogue their journeys, building online clout/credibility or sharing an experience with friends.  Reviewing B2B software is quite different in nature and carries lower intrinsic motivation which is why incentives are a helpful tool to gather more feedback and foster knowledge sharing.  Incentivizing a review of B2B software is similar to paying for a survey completion - compensating for a busy individual’s professional time without biasing the content of feedback.
2. Incentives as a way to thank customers are encouraged.  Incentives are common in the B2B review space.  Companies are asking their users to take time out of a busy work day to help with their sales and marketing by advocating for their product. As such, offering an incentive is not only acceptable but we actually encourage it.  So much so that we even subsidize incentives for Premium Members and have an incentive matching program for basic members
3. Outreach may never be phrased in a way that introduces bias.  While incentives are encouraged, there are obviously guidelines to follow to ensure that the way the incentive is phrased to the user does not introduce bias into their review.  Specifically, to date HTR has outlined several permitted and not permitted scenarios which vary in level of severity and of which examples can be found below:

Vendor Infractions & Penalties for Pay-Per-Review

There have been three separate occurrences of vendors in the community being reported for pay-per-review (scenario 3) which is a level 1 infraction but none-the-less, an infraction and against the rules of the HotelTechAwards.  Since the inception of the annual HotelTechAwards four years ago, the rules have explicitly stated that direct pay-per-review is not permitted.  The reported incidents were Level I infractions (scenario 3) and were not found to introduce explicit bias.  Given that there have been several occurrences all claiming that the nuances of the permitted incentives were not clear--vendors identified will not be immediately disqualified from the competition however they will incur the following penalties:

1. Vendor will have 72-hours to respond to the violation report and show that they have corrected their outreach messaging with screenshot evidence
2. Reviews collected within 30-days of the correction will be unpublished and will not count towards the annual HotelTechAwards competition.
3. Vendors who have been reported for breaching this guideline will be marked under close watch for up to 90-days where their account will be monitored closely and reviews will appear in a separate moderation queue where moderators will keep a closer eye on activity.
4. Vendors in breach will only be permitted to collect reviews via the Review Manager in the dashboard for 45-days where HTR can more closely monitor their activity and outreach strategy
5. Vendors will receive a strike meaning that any future incidents will incur more severe immediate level II penalties without option to cure

Future Amendments to HTR’s Incentive Policies

UPDATE (3/15/22) After surveying the community (both hoteliers and vendors) we have concluded that HTR will not be changing review guidelines and will continue not to permit pay-per-review.  While this is allowed on some review websites with disclosure, ultimately as a verticalized portal for the hotel industry the rankings and ratings are more critical to maintain accuracy and more importantly elimination of bias to ensure a fair platform that upholds the highest standards of integrity.  Additionally, pay-per-review not only skews/biases consumer ratings, but it also gives larger companies with more resources an unfair advantage.  As a result of these findings and feedback from the community, pay-per-review will continue not to be permitted on HTR under any circumstances as it always has been historically.

Vendors have shared 3 main reasons for the confusion around review compensation rules on the site: (a) HTR allows indirect incentives/giveaways (b) pay-per-review is permitted by other review websites and (c) pay-per-review is common in the B2B reviews space.  

Despite these points, HTR’s current (and historical) policies don’t permit pay-per-review (only randomized giveaways).  After discussing with hoteliers and vendors, we have found the consensus belief that pay-per-review should be permitted if certain conditions are met to disclose incentives to website visitors and hotel tech buyers.

The general governing body for online reviews and issues around consumer affairs is the FTC, which states the following:

• “Knowing that reviewers got the product they reviewed for free would probably affect the weight your customers give to the reviews”
• “reviewers given free products might give the products higher ratings on a scale like the number of stars than reviewers who bought the products.”
• “If you've given these customers a reason to expect a benefit from providing their thoughts about your product, you should disclose that fact in your ads.”
• “If you’re offering them something of value in return for these reviews, tell them in advance that they should disclose what they received from you.”

In light of community feedback and FTC guidelines, HTR will amend our policies after the current year awards competition to allow for direct incentives when there is fair disclosure (effective January 15th, 2022).  Disclosures will be incorporated into the hotel tech buyer user experience on the Hotel Tech Report platform.  So how will this work?

• The write a review form will include a field for hoteliers to indicate whether direct compensation has been offered for their product feedback
• Vendors will have a toggle in their dashboard indicating when they are running a pay per review campaign (on or off platform)
• Vendors found to be running direct incentive campaigns without using the toggle will have all reviews within 6-months of the incident report immediately marked as ‘incentivized’
• Directly incentivized reviews will NOT count towards the quantitative ratings averages.  Their volumes will count towards the average review thresholds and geographic targets, however, ratings like customer support, ease of use, etc. will not be included in overall ratings in order to ensure “apples to apples” comparisons amongst all vendors for buyers without the possibility of potential bias

Conclusion

Ultimately, incentives are a positive and encouraged mechanism to thank customers for their time, effort and expertise but all endorsements must reflect the honest opinions or experiences of the endorser (Source: FTC Endorsement Guides).  

Therefore while HTR may (or may not) in the future expand its incentive guidelines to permit direct incentive reviews, these reviews would need to carry a clear designation to consumers about the nature of the incentive.  Additionally, companies who have been in breach of this rule to date will receive penalties commensurate with their breach to ensure that (a) the behavior is immediately corrected and (b) reviews collected in this manner will not be counted towards the 2022 HotelTechAwards competition.

With the rollout of Premium 3.0 came lots of new benefits included with membership packages ranging from guest posting to review incentive cards, sponsored articles, advertising, lead credit and more.  

One of the requests that we've received from lots of members since is the ability to have a more streamlined and centralized place to track and use their various benefits so today we're excited to rollout the all new ledger and credit system 🧮 🚀

• WHAT: New dashboard home, credits system, ledger and self service guest posting
• WHY: Make it easier for members to track, manage and use their benefits

New Dashboard Home

Along with the new ledger and credits system comes a newly redesigned dashboard home page that brings a simplified view to the ways you can leverage HTR to educate buyers, build your brand and grow your install base.

New Credits System

In order to simplify benefit tracking, benefits can now be tracked according to the type of item that they are (eg. advertising credit, content credit, posting credit, lead credit).  Credits of each type can be used interchangeably for items that require the same credit type (eg. if you purchase 30 ad credits to run a sponsored retargeting campaign, you can instead decide to use those same ad credits for a different advertising product like an eblast).  

Credits will automatically accrue with your membership and be valid for use throughout the duration of your membership the same as they have been.

New Ledger System

If you are currently a member or have purchased ala cart credits off platform before you know how much of a pain this was.  Now, you can view your credit balances for each type of credit (eg. Advertising credit, Content Credit, Lead Credit) etc right from the settings tab of your vendor dashboard.  The new ledger system is also integrated into Membership Plans so when your plan renews, transactions are automatically created logging the benefits that you received with your membership plan and you will see your credit accounts increase respectively in real time.

Self Service Guest Posting

If your company has post credits available on your account you can use them to post guest posts to build your brand as a thought leader and boost the visibility of your content to reach HTR's audience of 100k+ hoteliers each month by submitting guest posts right through the vendor dashboard.

FAQs

How did my company get starting balances?

If your company has starting balances it means that either a) you have purchased items in the past that have been converted 1-to-1 into the new credits system to simplify tracking and usage or (b) you have an active membership plan that is accruing credits automatically according to your plan benefits.

Can I see my company's history retroactively?

Unfortunately no.  The ledger system is setup to track all transactions (credit purchases and usages) on a go forward basis so any past purchases will not be viewable in the ledger.  That said, you will have a starting balance transaction that will include your company's current credit balances as of the launch date of the new ledger system.  If you have questions about your starting balances or past transactions please feel free to reach out via the on-site live chat and a member of the team will be happy to assist.

Has pricing changed with the new credits system?

No, prices haven't changed.  All prices are the same as they were previously, the only difference is that now you will add credits to your account that can be used interchangeably towards various items instead of having to buy a specific item giving you more flexibility.

Have my membership benefits changed?

No, your membership plan is exactly the same and includes the same benefits as always.  The only difference is that you can now use use credits accrued from your benefits on other items as well.  For example, let's say your plan includes 10 press releases/year which is equal to 10 post credits.  If you want, you could now instead choose to use those 10 post credits towards another type of posting like Guest Posting instead.

• 📈 HTR's audience has grown more than 3x!
• 💸 We launched lead generation connecting vendors with thousands of in-market hoteliers looking for new tools to grow their businesses
  
• 🛎 We launched the GCSC Support Certification
• 👑 We launched Premium 2.0 with tons of new features and benefits
• 📝 We launched HTR's sponsored content studio

As our audience continues to grow (3x year-over-year!) and our offerings continue to evolve, we've received lots of requests from companies who participate in multiple HTR initiatives and campaigns throughout the year for custom all-inclusive packages to help plan/budget better for the year ahead (and benefit from additional bundled package discounts).

And that's why we're rolling out all new Premium Membership Packages that include: 💸 lead credit, 🏆 HotelTechAwards, 📝Sponsored content, 📣 Advertising, 🤑 members only discounts and more!

Premium 3.0 Membership Packages

1. Basic: Start out free with basic profiles, pick and choose which initiatives you want to participate in ala carte.
2. Silver: Unlock a suite of members only features, benefits & exclusive discounts to improve your reputation, boost your visibility and enable your sales teams.
3. Gold (NEW): Supplement your membership with advertising and sponsored content to build your brand and boost your visibility and get more leads.
4. Platinum(NEW): Partner with HTR as your outsourced content marketing and PR team to keep your brand top of mind for buyers year round.

New benefits added for existing 2.0 and new 3.0 members: 

If you are currently a Premium Member you are welcome to stay on your current membership for the duration of your membership period and will continue to receive your benefits at the time of signup (either with your 1.0 or 2.0 plan) as well as some new benefits.

• ⚡️Improved lead visibility: Added visibility to generate more leads via the Lead booster update
• 💌 Enhanced review collection: Enhanced functionality for manual verifications, review update requests, internal contests, simultaneous campaigns+campaign analytics
• ⚖️ Upgraded comparison pages: Feature Premium profile content in product comparison pages Learn more
• 🤑 More discounts: Advertising (Learn more), sponsored content, annual content packages (Learn more) and discounted leads (Learn more)
• 📝 New content credit usage alternative: Premium 2.0 Members (join period= 6/1/19-3/1/20) will now be able to use their content credits towards sponsored content or lead credit (2.0 plans only). Learn more

New 3.0 only benefits (included only with 3.0 Membership Packages):

If you would like to gain all of the benefits of the new Membership Packages you are able to upgrade at the difference in price between your current plan and the new plan you would like to upgrade to.  Depending on your plan, new Membership Packages include: 

1. 💸 Lead credit: Pro and plus plans include substantial lead credit to connect with in market buyers year round
2. 👩🏼‍💻Guest posting: Post your thought leadership on HTR to build your brand as a thought leader.
3.  📝 Sponsored articles: Get sponsored articles with pro and plus plans
4. 📣 Advertising: Build your brand through strategic targeted advertising via the largest audience of hotel tech buyers on the web
5. 🛒 Package discounts: New plus and pro membership plans include 30%-40% bundled discounts
6. 🎁 Upfront payment bonus: HotelTechAwards, lead credit and review incentive cards included with 3.0 plans

FAQs

1. Why Premium?
2. What are the changes and new benefits included with membership?
3. Is there a change in pricing for Premium 3.0 membership packages?
4. What options is HTR offering for COVID crisis relief?
5. What do I have to do to take advantage of the renewal offer?
6. How does HTR membership stack up to other marketing investments?
7. If my company is on a Premium 2.0 plan currently, do I have to upgrade to a new 3.0 plan and is there any change in pricing?You are welcome to stay on your current 2.0 plan at the same pricing with your current benefits plus the new free benefits added to your membership at no additional charge (see above)
8. What do I do if my company is a current Premium Member on a 2.0 plan and we want to upgrade to Premium 3.0 Membership Package to take advantage of the additional benefits? Please write in via the live chat on Hotel Tech Report to request an upgrade link.
9. What is the price change from 2.0 Membership to 3.0 Membership? This year we added tons of new features and benefits but pricing stayed the same with no increase.  The only change to pricing is that we no longer offer the 15% discount for upfront payment but instead offer an upfront payment incentive (includes HotelTechAwards entries, lead credit and review incentive cards) none of which were previously included and this incentive is actually worth more than the 15% discount.

HotelTechReport is constantly growing our audience and rolling out new features, benefits and exclusive discounts for Premium Members to constantly increase the value of membership for our members.

About once a year HTR repackages Premium membership plans which occasionally comes with a slight change in pricing to cover the new plan benefits.

For existing members, most new benefits are automatically grandfathered in at no additional charge for the duration of your membership; however, some new benefits do require you to update to the most current version of Premium to access them.

Below shows each version of Premium, any price changes and new benefits that were rolled out (as well as which are included for existing members and which require an upgrade to the current version of premium).

Current version: Premium 3.0

Premium Membership version overview

• 🚀 Premium v1.0 Membership (Oct 2018): The first membership plan ever rolled out on HotelTechReport which included basic functionality like v1 premium profiles, v1 automated review manager and press release posting-- 📈HTR audience/traffic: 14,997 users
• 🚀 Premium v2.0 Membership (June 2019): Updated membership plans with new benefits including hosted report+unlimited downloads, content credits, discounted sponsored content and advertising, new automation features for the automated review manager and more (Price change from previous year: + ~$1,200/year) -- 📈HTR audience/traffic: 20,284 users (⬆+35%)
• 🚀 Premium v3.0 Membership (April 2020): This year we added thousands of dollars in new features, benefits and discounts for members (Price change from prior year: no price increase to help companies struggling during the COVID crisis) -- 📈HTR audience/traffic: 39,278 users (⬆+94%)

👉 Current Audience Stats (updated 11/1/20): 96k (⬆+146%) View audience stats in Media Kit

🚀 Premium 1.0 Membership (Oct 2018)

• 🗓Member registration date: Upgraded between October 2018 - June 2019
• 📈HTR audience/traffic: 14,997 users

Benefits included:

1. Automated review manager (v1) to save time and generate reviews at scale to improve your rankings, reputation and visibility
2. Upgraded premium profiles (v1) to transform your profiles into your best piece of sales collateral
3. Respond to reviews to show prospects you're engaged and color any critiques
4. Press release posting to save hundreds of dollars sharing your companies' latest news, announcements and updates

🚀 Premium 2.0 Membership (June 2019)

• 🗓Member registration date: Upgraded between June 15, 2019 - April 1, 2020
• 📈HTR audience/traffic: 20,284 users (⬆+35%)
• 💸Price change: ~$100/mo (varies by plan)

Includes all benefits of 1.0 PLUS:

1. Update #1: Hosted reports + unlimited downloads
2. Update #2: Content Credits*
3. Update #3: Automated Review Manager (v2)
4. Update #4: Premium profile redesign (v2)
5. Update #5: Exclusive Access & Discounts on Sponsored Content*

*1.0 members are required to upgrade to current version to access benefit, all other benefits are grandfathered in for the duration of your membership at no additional charge

🚀 Premium 3.0 Membership (latest version)

• 🗓 Member registration date: Upgraded between April 1, 2020 - present
• 📈 HTR audience/traffic: 39,278 users (⬆+94%) (April 2020)
• 💸 Price change: No price change.  Upfront payment benefits (see #11 below) replaced previous 15% annual member discount from 1.0 and 2.0 plans

Update (June 2021): HTR audience update (as of June '21) = 140k monthly users up from 39k when Premium 3.0 Membership plans were rolled out. To help companies during COVID Premium 3.0 Membership pricing has not changed since the rollout of 3.0 back in April 2020).

Includes all benefits of 2.0 PLUS:

1. ⚡️Improved lead visibility: Added visibility to generate more leads via the Lead booster update
2. 💌 Enhanced review collection: Enhanced functionality for manual verifications, review update requests, internal contests, simultaneous campaigns+campaign analytics
3. ⚖️ Upgraded comparison pages: Feature Premium profile content in product comparison pages Learn more
4. 🤑 More discounts: Advertising (Learn more), sponsored content, annual content packages (Learn more) and discounted leads (Learn more)
5. 💸 Lead credit: Gold and Platinum plans include substantial lead credit to connect with in market buyers year round*
6. 👩🏼‍💻Guest posting: Post your thought leadership on HTR to build your brand as a thought leader.
7.  📝 Sponsored articles: Get sponsored articles with Gold and Platinum plans*
8. 📣 Advertising: Build your brand through strategic targeted advertising via the largest audience of hotel tech buyers on the web*
9. 🛒 Package discounts: New Gold and Platinum Membership plans that include advertising, sponsored content, buyers guides, lead credit and more plus 30%-40% bundled discounts
10. 🎁 Annual Member Upfront payment bonus: HotelTechAwards, lead credit and review incentive cards included with 3.0 plans*

* Existing Premium 1.0 and 2.0 members are required to upgrade to the current version of Premium to access these benefits, all other benefits are grandfathered in for the duration of your membership at no additional charge140k

Remember in the HotelTechAwards when companies across 6 categories made a mad dash for the finish line and ended up creating ties? The reason for this is that like Google's algorithm, the HT Score evolves over time.  The ways it evolves over time are either (a) old variables become bad or less relevant signals of quality or (b) new more relevant variables are introduced to make the rankings better (aka. make it easier for users to find what they are looking for).

In this case, the improvement to the HT Score is coming in the form of removing an old variable that is no longer relevant and is inflating scores (equally across the board for all vendors) and making the HT Score less helpful to users.  This variable is profile completeness, and profile completeness is what caused the multi-way ties across six categories.

In the early days of Hotel Tech Report when the site served as simple directory of categories and companies one of the most important variables to help hoteliers learn about products was providing helpful content on your profile.  As such, if a vendor completed 80% or more of their profile, they received a profile completeness incentive which increased their HT Score by 10.  The problem is that now that almost all vendors have over 80% profile completion, this 10 point boost is actually making the rankings less effective.  

Let's look at an example:

Company 1:
Raw HT Score = 91 pts
Profile completeness = 80%
Actual HT score with completeness boost = 91+10= 101
....but since max HT Score is 100,their score displayed is 100

Company 2:
Raw HT Score = 99 pts
Profile completeness = 80%
Actual HT score with completeness boost = 99+10= 109
...but since max HT Score is 100,their score displayed is 100

So while company 2 technically has a higher score (99) than company 1's (91), both show as 100 after factoring in the profile completeness incentive.

FAQs

Will my company's score change as a result  of this change?

All companies will be impacted equally with the removal of the 10 point profile completeness incentive as a variable.  Only company's with a perfect 100 point HT Score will maintain this.

What can I do to improve my score?

All other variables of the HT Score remain the same.  To read more about the other variables you can do sohere.  Hotel Tech Report users are looking for vendors who have verified customer feedback so its pretty simple, the HT Score is all about customer feedback.  More and better reviews is the key to attracting more hoteliers and improving your HT Score.