It has never been so easy to book accommodation. On internet platforms, travelers can quickly find suitable offers. Personal referrals, star classifications, and online customer reviews are designed to help you choose.

A variety of filters makes it possible to sort the hotel offer in the booking portals according to personal preferences. How the hotels are ultimately listed in the search result, however, depends on numerous criteria - and not all are objective. And the process is certainly not transparent.

For HRS , there are more than 80 factors that affect the placement. A tool that gives hotels in the selection list a better ranking or provides more visibility is called "ranking booster". For hotels pay the booking platform a higher commission. Instead of the usual 15 percent would be paid 18 percent or more, confirms HRS spokeswoman Britta Schumacher.

"This option is used by hoteliers in metropolitan areas, especially during low-load periods or as a promotion," says Schumacher. For a top position in the ranking, however, further criteria would have to be met. Generally, it is worthwhile to take a closer look. Because the corresponding offers are marked with HRS only with a discrete gray line and the remark "Promo". But HRS is still more transparent than the competition, says Schumacher.

Only by mouse-over more information

In fact, Expedia does not have any endorsements in the list of hotels that indicate promotions. Only in the area of ​​customer service is a note on the sorting sequence made: "The compensation that a hotel pays for bookings through our website also plays a role in the relative listing of hotels with similar offers."

At Booking.com , accommodations that are preferred partners and displayed as top tips are marked with a "thumbs up" symbol. When users hover over the icon, they'll find out more: "This accommodation is part of our Preferred Partner Program, which offers great service and great value for money." Accommodations can pay a bit more to Booking.com to be this program. "

The on-line note "highlighted" indicates that the visibility of the hotel has improved by paying a commission. However, this information is readable only by means of a mouse-over effect.

Markus Luthe, General Manager of the Hotel Association Germany (IHA), these notes are not clear enough. Subtle display nuances and above all mouse-over effects were not enough to ensure transparency and reliability for Internet portals in the interest of hoteliers and users.

At the insistence of the association, the European Commission therefore submitted two regulatory proposals in the spring, which impose specific information obligations on portal operators, for example on ranking criteria and on the presentation of offers.

Guest reviews - gefaked or not?

In addition to the classifications made according to their own criteria, customer reviews of accommodation should also provide orientation on the portals. According to information from the IHA, about half of the travelers look for guest opinions on the Internet before booking. Many reliable reviews, however, are also numerous counterfeit or fraud attempts to find. Open portals such as Holidaycheck, Google or Tripadvisor are more vulnerable than Booking.com, HRS and Expedia.

These providers only allow reviews from confirmed hotel guests. "Only those who have booked and actually arrived can rate," explains HRS spokeswoman Britta Schumacher. Also with Expedia is a stay requirement. "This will prevent us from stopping counterfeit hotel reviews," says PR Manager Svetlana Hirth.

In order to make individual evaluations more trustworthy, an international ISO standard was published in June 2018. "The new ISO standard is designed to increase the credibility of platforms," ​​says Markus Luthe, IHA Chief Executive. It is still not clear which portals will be officially certified. But Luthe expects the large accounting and valuation platforms to comply with agreed standards in the future.

Whether stars, quality seals and certifications - for Sabine Fischer-Volk of the consumer center Brandenburg these are not suitable means to create sufficient transparency for consumers. "Partly faking customer reviews is an open secret," she says. "But also stars and certificates describe only a past state and say little about whether the specified standard is always available."

Who puts on special offers special value, should rather inquire directly in the hotel, advises the consumer advocate.