In hospitality, review stars are more than just a rating; they represent the guest experience, the quality of service, and the reputation of a hotel. At Secret Pilot, we have a simple, professional approach to calculating review stars for hotels. Employing our mystery shopping operations and business audits, we provide hotel owners and managers with genuine feedback on their performance. In this article, you’ll learn how Secret Pilot evaluates hotels and assigns review stars based on real guest experiences.
Why Review Stars Matter in the Hotel Industry
Hotel review stars educate travelers. High rating results in more reservations, greater trust, and a strong brand image. But not every review is just and genuine. Public sites are typically full of fictitious comments or emotionally charged statements. Secret Pilot’s review system shatters this mythmaking through the assistance of professional secret customers evaluating service objectively and uninterruptedly.
Our Method: Secret Customer + Data + Standards
Central to our methodology is the use of secret customers—trained mystery shoppers who assess every dimension of the guest experience from arrival through departure. The visits are data-driven, based on hospitality industry benchmarks, service quality measures, and customer expectations. We review each hotel objectively on a step-by-step checklist that blends emotional impressions with factual recording.
Key Criteria We Use to Define Review Stars
We first assess the cleanliness and first impression of the hotel. These include the exterior condition, reception, lifts, and communal areas. Spotless, well-maintained facilities leave a strong impression and contribute to a higher score.
We subsequently examine staff attitude and professionalism. Our mystery shoppers engage with reception staff, housekeeping, room service, and other staff to assess friendliness, helpfulness, and problem-solving skills.
We also consider room quality and comfort. This is where we check the bed, lighting, air conditioning, noise, and overall cleanliness. Where any of these aspects is subpar, it will be reflected in the review star rating.
Service time and consistency are also important to us. We measure how quickly employees are in responding to requests and how well they consistently offer high service standards across departments.
For hotels that have restaurants, fitness centers, spas, or conference rooms, we include those as well. Quality of the food, attitude of staff, and cleanliness are all closely examined.
Today’s travelers want technology to help them with their experience. We examine things like online check-in, digital channels of communication, free Wi-Fi, and payment methods.
Finally, we gauge the emotional value of the stay. Was it worth forgetting? Would the visitor return or recommend the hotel to a third party? This is an important driver in the final review star rating.
Our Star Rating Scale Explained
Secret Pilot embraces a straightforward and easy-to-understand five-star scale:
- One star – means poor performance with multiple service failures and low guest satisfaction.
- Two stars – signify basic operations with some areas needing improvement.
- Three stars – signify that the hotel is standard but not consistent.
- Four stars – signify that the hotel has strong service with extremely weak points.
- Five stars – signify best quality in all aspects, with best service and customer satisfaction.
Why Hotels Trust Secret Pilot
Hotels choose Secret Pilot because we provide credible and professional evaluations far more in-depth than public internet comments. We have trained mystery shoppers who go undercover to your hotel and follow a prescribed protocol to ascertain genuine guest experience. That way, you get genuine feedback from actual service interaction—not misleading or biased opinions.
One of the best advantages of Secret Pilot is the degree of insight that we offer. Our reports include detailed, actionable feedback that hotel managers can utilize immediately to train staff, improve processes, and boost guest satisfaction. You’ll know exactly what’s working and where improvements can be made.
Another significant benefit is brand protection. With our confidential audits, you can identify service issues before they manifest as public complaints or poor reviews. This gives you the opportunity to correct problems behind the scenes and protect your hotel’s reputation.
Finally, we empower you to understand how your hotel compares to others. Through our benchmarking tools, you get an idea of how your service stacks up against industry standards and peers. This enables you to set goals, become better each day, and continue improving and staying ahead of the hospitality curve.
Conclusion
Review stars do count when it comes to hotel success—if they’re real, professional views. We at Secret Pilot re-define review star assignment with secret clients, consistent standards, and real-world uses. If you want to know how your hotel truly performs and where it can improve, our mystery shopping audits are the ideal place to start.
Ready to upgrade your hotel’s service and reputation? Partner with Secret Pilot and start turning guest feedback into business growth.