Removal of profile completion update
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.