The HTScore Algorithm takes into account over a dozen variables which analyze and recalculate daily based on millions of unique data points.  The HT Score algorithm alone runs more than 3,000+ lines of code which is run daily which runs thousands of calculations that benchmark not only each product within a given category against other products in the respective category, but also over time (since many of the variables account for content freshness and time decay).  Not only does it run this for each product on the site, but for each variable for each product which takes a significant computing power to calculate.

Over the past several years not only has the algorithm become more complex, but simultaneously we have seen tons more products get listed on the site along with substantial growth in the content and data that the algorithm analyzes (ie. reviews, partner recommendations, integrations, etc).

As the HotelTechReport platform and data set has grown, computing the HT Score has become significantly more resource intensive to the point where it has begun impacting application performance.  

In order to increase app performance for Premium Members and site speed for hoteliers-- beginning on July 19, 2023 HotelTechReport will stop calculating an HTScore for products that do not have a trustworthy profile (aka. < than 25 cumulative all-time reviews) as a way to reduce the computational capacity required to run the HT Score.  Products without a trustworthy profile don't have sufficient feedback on the platform for the algorithm to effectively rank them so this was a natural fit to reduce the scope of the dataset that the HT Score analyzes.  

After the update goes live, any product with <25 reviews will show "unranked" on their profiles and default sort after ranked vendors by # of reviews across the site.  As soon as vendors achieve 25 reviews, they will receive a rank within 24-hours.

• Before: All products on the site were factored into the HT Score algorithm and received an HT Score
• After: Only products with a trustworthy profile (>25 reviews) will be factored into the HT Score algorithm.  Prior to a product obtaining 25-reviews, it will be marked on the site as 'unranked' and will not earn an HT Score

How does this improve the experience for hoteliers?

The purpose of this update is to help improve application performance and site speed as well as help hoteliers avoid viewing products as ranked that realistically don't have a trustworthy profile or sufficient data to be ranked effectively by the algorithm.  Products that don't have a trustworthy profile with at least 25-reviews will be clearly marked as 'unranked' so buyers know that there is not sufficient feedback to rank the product based on user feedback from hoteliers in the community.

How will this impact your company?

1. This will only impact companies who aren't engaged on Hotel Tech Report and who don't meet the minimum trustworthiness criteria on their profile
2. When the update goes live on July 19th, products with fewer than 25 reviews may notice a significant change in rank due to the algorithm removing their HT Score
3. Products without trustworthy profiles and who don't meet the minimum review volumes to earn an HT Score (<25 reviews) will not be ranked and this will show on their profiles and index pages as 'Not yet ranked'

How can I prevent any negative impact?

Just make sure you don't have any products with fewer than 25 verified reviews on the platform to make sure all of your product profiles are above the trustworthy profile threshold.  

Need help collecting reviews quickly? 

• Basic Members...check out our free guides.
• Premium Members...run an automated campaign

Several companies in the HTR community have pointed out the frustration that comes with having to list integrations at the product level which is time consuming, difficult to manage and creates lots of duplicative work.  We've taken your feedback and refactored the way integrations work on the site.

What's New:

• Company-level integrations. Integrations have been refactored from product<>product to company<>company
• Data migration. All historical integrations have been migrated
• Easier management. Simpler management of single company<>company integrations.  Now companies only need to verify that they have an integration with another company (instead of verifying each integration from each of your products to each of your partners' products)
• Rankings impact. The HT Score has been refactored to look at company-level verified integrations (instead of product level)
• Verification flow and favorites.  New 2-way verification modal that allows each company to manage (a) which products of their integrate (b) share what you love about the partner's product/s (c) favorite the apps that pair best with yours 
• Redesigned Profile Component.  Full redesign of the integrations component on basic and premium profiles 
• Redesigned Partner Marketplaces.  Your partner marketplaces have gotten a full redesign to help you showcase the top apps that pair best with your solution.

Added Perks for Premium Members: 

• Boosted visibility on the redesigned integration component on profiles (sorted first by Premium then by review count)
• Boosted visibility on the partner marketplace pages (sorted first by Premium then by review count)

Many users who come to Hotel Tech Report are not looking to (or simply cannot) switch out their current PMS which means they start their journey with a fixed variable, their PMS.  That's why we're introducing a new tool and user flow on the site to guide users to be able to find the top products that integrate with their existing PMS.

What's New:

• New navigation option in the  site wide nav bar for PMS App Finders in the 'get advice' dropdown
• Users can quickly navigate to the top rated apps specifically for their PMS

Added Perks for Premium Members: 

• Boosted visibility in PMS App Stores (sorted by Premium then by review count)

Today we rolled out some updates to the vendor dashboard that bring a new look and feel, simplified navigation and some new functionality to launch outbound campaigns.

What's New:

• New home screen. Redesigned and simplified home screen with actionable tips to optimize your presence to drive more visibility and leads
• Nav UI updates.  New sidebar nav UI for simplified navigation along with some reorganization.  Report card is now under reputation and all self-serve posting options can be found under the new 'posting' tab.
• New agency tab.  We added a new tab to be able to order, track and manage outbound campaigns (advertising, demand gen, sponsored content) that you partner with HTR Agency on.

Added Perks for Premium Members: 

• Gold and Platinum Members now have easy access to their 12-month marketing execution plan and HTR success checklist for managing campaigns

We just rolled a new feature on profiles that allows you to share your rave reviews from customers on your social media channels to fill your feed and showcase to prospects what your customers love about your products.

What's New:

• Dedicated Review Pages. Each review now has a dedicated landing page that you can share on social media.
• Dynamic Image Generation.  When you share the dedicated review page link on social the app will dynamically generate an image with the review content on the fly.
• Easy 1-Click Posting to Fill Your Feed. Since each review page has embedded functionality to dynamically generate a social share image with the review's content on the fly,  you no longer have to take manual screenshots or design a share image using the Canva template which means you can quickly and easily schedule posts just by adding links to your social media calendaring tool (ie. Hootsuite, Sprout Social, etc)

In July HTR will be adding a new variable to the HT Score called the trending score.  The purpose of the trending score is to help hoteliers identify products that are trending in the market which is measured by assessing the following questions...

1. Is your product trending with buyers? 👉 Metric: TTM price quote & demo inquiries
2. Is your product trending with customers? 👉 Metric: TTM 4+5 star reviews
3. Is your product trending with partners? 👉 Metric: TTM partner recommendations
4. Is your product trending in the news cycle? 👉 Metric: TTM posts (press releases, success stories and guest posts)

Each product on HTR is analyzed based on real time data in the platform along these four criteria to determine it's trending score within it's category to show which products are trending most in a given month.

Along with the rollout of the new Trending Score, we will be adding another new variable to the HT Score algorithm for Profile Completeness.

Ultimately profiles are only as valuable to users as the content that your team inputs which is why we are implementing this new variable to ensure that companies have added all of the content that buyers need to learn about each product to make more informed decisions.  

The profile completeness score will evaluate each profile along with pieces of key information that buyers look for which include: 

1. Capabilities.  Does the profile have at least 5 capabilities listed? (shown here)
2. Screenshots. Does the profile have at least 3 product screenshots? (shown here)
3. Pricing. Does the profile have pricing information? (shown here)
4. Features.  Has the company added the product's features? (shown here)
5. Profile Freshness. Has the profile been updated in the last quarter (90-days)?

On Tuesday May 31 we are going to be migrating the entire HTR app (website, vendor dashboard and admin panel) to all new infrastructure along with upgrading over a dozen libraries which is a massive project that we have been working on over the last 7-months.

While we've tested the new infrastructure extensively in a staging environment, given the scope of the project it is inevitable for small issues and edge cases to arise which we'll be logging here to keep clients up to date. 

Please let us know if you run into any issues that are not logged below so we can work to reproduce and resolve them as quickly as possible.

🙏 We appreciate your patience and understanding and hope to have all issues resolved by Friday June 2nd

Several clients have requested updates to the room count ranges for leads and we have adjusted them as follows.  Please check your Instant Connect settings to ensure that you are accepting leads in your desired ranges.