What moves a hotel's rating on Google and TripAdvisor

How Google and TripAdvisor calculate your rating

Google and TripAdvisor explain in their help pages how a hotel's rating is worked out. This is what they say as of 23 October 2026:

The key point: on both sites the rating is an average of everything ever published. A 5-star review does not cancel out a 2-star one; it only dilutes it. And on TripAdvisor your position against other hotels depends mostly on recent reviews, so the next few months matter more than what happened years ago.

Why the rating moves so slowly

Illustrative example. A hotel has 200 Google reviews averaging 4.2. To reach 4.4 it needs about 67 new reviews, every one of them 5 stars. If the new reviews average 4.5, it needs about 400.

That is why asking for more reviews is not enough. If today's guests keep complaining about the same things, new reviews arrive with the same average as the old ones and the rating stays put. What lifts the rating is a stay today that is better than it used to be, and that starts with removing the causes of the complaints.

How to get better reviews on Google and TripAdvisor

1. Read the last 90 days of Google and TripAdvisor reviews together (and Booking.com, if you sell there) and note what each one complains about: cleanliness, breakfast, noise, staff, wifi, beds. Count how many reviews repeat each complaint.
2. Start with the small, cheap fix that solves the most complaints. A complaint in 40 reviews that you can fix this week is worth more than a big refurbishment that takes a year. The guide on what to fix first shows how to rank them.
3. Give every change an owner and a way to see it is done: who does it, from when, and what anyone can check (a signed sheet, a rota on the wall, a check every morning).
4. Ask every guest for a review in the same way. On Google, put the link or QR code from your Business Profile in the post-stay email, on the invoice or at the front desk. On TripAdvisor, use Review Express or its cards and flyer. Same message for everyone, no asking for stars and no telling guests what to write.
5. Reply to reviews, especially the negative ones, and mention what you have changed when it is true. Below is what Google recommends and what one study found.
6. Measure on new reviews, not on the overall rating. An average built over years takes months to move. Compare how many reviews repeat each complaint before the change and at 4 and 8 weeks: if the complaint drops, the change is working even if the rating has not caught up yet.

A real case. In the test report for an all-inclusive beach hotel, 43 of the 204 reviews with text from the last 90 days complained about something a single change solves: rotating the buffet's main dishes on a weekly rota. It costs under $50, the kitchen can do it this week, and anyone can check it by walking past the buffet on consecutive days.

How to reply to reviews on Google and TripAdvisor

Google gives this advice on replying to reviews in its Business Profile help:

• Keep replies polite, short and relevant, and avoid a generic thank-you for every review.
• No promotion or offers in a reply.
• On a negative review, own any genuine mistake, apologise when it is right to, and explain what you can and cannot do.
• Never share the guest's private details or attack them. If the issue is complex, ask them to get in touch privately.
• Reply promptly, address the guest by name and sign off with your name or initials.

To reply on Google your Business Profile must be verified, and you can edit or delete a reply later. On TripAdvisor, replies do not count towards your ranking, but people choosing a hotel read them.

One study with hotels looked at the effect of replying: Proserpio and Zervas (Marketing Science, 2017) estimated that hotels that start replying gain 0.12 stars and 12% more reviews, and that they get fewer negative reviews, though longer and more detailed ones. The guide on how to reply to hotel reviews goes into detail.

What Google and TripAdvisor do not allow

Both sites penalise the same practices. According to their rules as of 23 October 2026:

• Giving anything in return for a review: discounts, gifts, drinks, prize draws or donations in the guest's name, whatever the rating. Google also bans offering anything to change or remove a negative review.
• Asking only happy guests or discouraging negative reviews. An email that says "if you enjoyed your stay, review us on Google; if not, write to us" is exactly that.
• Pressure on the premises: Google says businesses should not require or pressure guests to review while on site, and TripAdvisor bans, for example, holding back a service until the guest writes one.
• Reviews from the hotel itself: TripAdvisor does not accept reviews from anyone who works or has worked at the hotel, and Google removes content based on a conflict of interest.

The consequences: Google removes those reviews. TripAdvisor can lower the hotel's ranking, add a red badge to its listing and exclude it from its awards.

Where PolarPuffin fits

PolarPuffin covers steps 1, 2, 3 and 6 of this guide every week. It brings together the hotel's Google, TripAdvisor and Booking.com reviews, and every Monday it sends a report with up to five small, cheap changes, ranked by how many complaints they solve, each with an owner, a cost and the exact words of the reviews behind it. When you mark a change as done, it checks at 4 and 8 weeks whether that complaint has gone down. Hotel Pro also writes draft replies in the guest's language.

PolarPuffin does not ask guests for reviews or send surveys. For step 4, Google's review link and Review Express are enough, and both are free; if you want surveys or more review sites, the page on hotel review management software sets out who each tool is for. How the report works is on how it works.