Hotel Tech Report consistently improves the HT Score ranking algorithm to incorporate variables and mechanisms that productize the buyer research, vetting, and due diligence criteria considered by savvy hotel technology buyers.

Similar to Google’s algorithm updates, HTR periodically rolls out improvements to build upon and strengthen the scoring methodology over time. These updates are designed to help hoteliers make better decisions, faster, by ensuring that rankings reflect the most accurate, fair, and current view of products in the market.

In a world increasingly shaped by AI, verified reviews and current customer feedback are more critical than ever. Buyers are no longer relying only on traditional search, review sites, and peer recommendations. They are also using AI tools and large language models that synthesize information from across the web - often with the HotelTechReport platform being the most cited data source in hotel tech commercial buyer prompts.

That makes it even more important for HotelTechReport to maintain the most accurate, current, and representative view of the hotel technology market. AI is accelerating how quickly products evolve, how quickly vendors reposition, and how quickly buyers evaluate their options. In this environment, outdated signals can become misleading faster than ever.

The core purpose of the Valhalla update is to ensure HTScore continues to reflect the latest and most relevant information about products in the market. This update is not designed to overhaul the HTScore or change the fundamental role of customer validation in the scoring system. Instead, Valhalla makes several existing scoring inputs more dynamic, consistent, and quality-oriented.

In short: Valhalla helps ensure that HT Score better reflects recent customer trust, representative market validation, and the strength of a vendor’s ecosystem relationships.

Who Will Be Impacted?

Most companies will not be materially impacted by the Valhalla update.

Companies are more likely to see movement if they have:

• Few or no recent reviews
• A large share of reviews from only a small number of hotels
• Older case studies that have not been refreshed
• Category strength based primarily on historical review volume
• Ecosystem signals based more on quantity than quality
• Limited recent validation from customers or partners

Companies with recent, representative customer feedback and strong ecosystem relationships should be well aligned with the direction of the update.

Rollout Notes

Most companies on Hotel Tech Report are not expected to see a material impact from this update.

Companies most likely to see movement are those whose current scores rely heavily on older reputation signals, reviews concentrated across a small number of hotels, outdated verified case studies, or quantity-based ecosystem signals that do not reflect current partner strength.

Vendors can review their current standings in the Reputation Report Card inside the vendor dashboard (which will soon get a major UI overhaul as well - stay tuned).

All Reputation Signals Are Not Created Equal

Generally speaking, this group of updates builds on a simple principle: not all reputation signals are created equal.

Recent reviews are more reflective of the current product experience than reviews from years ago. Recent case studies are more useful to buyers than outdated proof points.  Strong partner relationships are more meaningful than simply having a long list of integrations or recommendations with weak or unpopular partners.

The Valhalla update strengthens HTScore by making these signals more consistent across the scoring model.

Below are additional details about the criteria being updated.

Review Recency and Share of Voice

Share of Voice will now better reflect review recency and representative customer validation.

Historically, some scoring inputs treated all reviews similarly regardless of when they were collected. Valhalla brings greater consistency to how review recency is factored across the algorithm.

As a result, recent reviews will carry more importance than older reviews because they are more reflective of the current product, customer experience, and market position.

This update also helps ensure that Share of Voice better accounts for the breadth of a vendor’s verified customer feedback. A vendor with reviews from many different hotel clients provides a broader market signal than a vendor with a similar number of reviews concentrated across only a small number of hotels.  The Share of Voice variable now dynamically decays quantity the same way that reviews do.

Case Study Recency

Case studies are an important trust signal for hotel buyers because they provide real-world examples of customer success, implementation outcomes, and product impact.

With Valhalla, case studies will become more dynamic as a reputation signal. Recent case studies will better reflect a vendor’s current product capabilities and customer outcomes, while older case studies will become less influential over time.

This helps prevent outdated proof points from carrying the same weight indefinitely and encourages vendors to maintain current, relevant customer stories.

Partner Recommendations Based on Quality

In our 2021 Poseidon Update, HTR introduced an "integration quality score" which valued integrations with popular apps above those with weaker or unpopular ones.

Now partner recommendations will now place emphasis on the strength of the recommending partner rather than the raw number of recommendations.  A partner recommendation from a partner with an HTScore of 100 is more valuable than one from a partner with an HTScore of 60.

This means that recommendations from highly validated, credible partners will be more meaningful than recommendations from partners with limited market validation.

The purpose of this update is to better reflect the quality and credibility of partner relationships rather than simply rewarding quantity.

Customer Advocates Based on Current Category Strength

The Customer Advocates component will now better reflect current category momentum rather than all-time review totals alone.

This ensures that products recognized for customer advocacy are those with strong, recent customer validation in their category.

In practical terms, this update helps distinguish companies that are actively earning customer trust today from companies whose category position is primarily supported by older historical review volume.

Impact on Vendors

As with any algorithm update, it's impossible to predict what the movements will be upon rollout. However, we know who will be impacted positively based on characteristics and who will be impacted negatively. This also has to be scaled at the category level and depends on the competitive movement within each subcategory of software.

Tips to Optimize Your Rankings for the Valhalla Update

💡 Tip #1: Make sure you have recent reviews that are reflective of the current product experience for buyers. / Related to: Review recency and Share of Voice

💡 Tip #2: Diversify review collection across your customer base and avoid concentrating feedback among only a small number of hotels. / Related to: Representative customer validation

💡 Tip #3: Keep case studies fresh and publish current customer stories that reflect your latest product capabilities and outcomes. / Related to: Case study recency

💡 Tip #4: Build high-quality partner relationships and collect recommendations from credible ecosystem partners. / Related to: Partner recommendation quality

💡 Tip #5: Make sure integrations are listed, verified, and connected to meaningful ecosystem relationships. / Related to: Ecosystem quality

💡 Tip #6: Review your Reputation Report Card and Coaching Checklist to identify the most important opportunities to improve your visibility, reputation, and rankings. / Related to: Vendor dashboard optimization.

FAQ

Will my HT Score or ranking be impacted?

Most companies will not see a major change. Companies with older, less representative, or more quantity-driven reputation signals may see movement.

Does this mean older reviews no longer matter?

No. Older reviews still provide useful historical context. However, recent reviews are more reflective of the current product and customer experience, so Valhalla places greater emphasis on current market validation.

Can we still collect multiple reviews from the same hotel?

Yes. Hotel Tech Report recognizes that different users at the same hotel may have different roles, perspectives, and experiences with the same product.

That said, vendors should aim to collect reviews from a broad and representative sample of their customer base. Collecting a large share of reviews from only a small number of hotels may not provide buyers with a complete picture of market adoption or customer satisfaction.

Why are case studies being updated?

Case studies are valuable because they help buyers understand real customer outcomes. However, older case studies may not reflect a vendor’s current product, team, customer experience, or market position. Valhalla ensures that more recent case studies are better reflected as current proof points.

Why is HTR moving away from quantity-based ecosystem signals?

Hotel buyers do not evaluate ecosystem strength based only on the number of integrations or recommendations a vendor has. They also care about the quality, credibility, and relevance of those relationships.

Valhalla better aligns the algorithm with how buyers evaluate technology ecosystems in the real world.

What should we do to improve our score?

The best way to improve your score is to build a healthy, ongoing reputation strategy:

• Collect authentic reviews from a broad set of verified hotel customers
• Maintain recent customer feedback
• Keep case studies current
• Build credible partner and integration relationships
• Use the Reputation Report Card and Coaching Checklist to identify improvement opportunities

Where can we see our current standing?

Vendors can view their current performance in the Reputation Report Card inside the vendor dashboard.

Note

As with Google or any other ranking methodology, HTR’s algorithm is proprietary. Full disclosure of exact calculations, thresholds, and formulas can lead to attempts to game the system, which is why exact scoring mechanics are not shared publicly.

That said, HTR is committed to providing clear documentation, transparent guidance, and actionable tools such as the Reputation Report Card and Coaching Checklist so vendors can understand the key drivers of ranking performance and improve their presence on Hotel Tech Report in an authentic, buyer-centric way.