Skift Take

Hotels have long lived or died by professional ratings, and now they realize that TripAdvisor's user-generated content is just as important. When hotels are doing things right, the two reinforce one another.

Jonathan Crellin is proud of the Boston Harbor Hotel’s 5-star status. Awarded by Forbes Travel Guide, the badge of success required years of determination and diligence to achieve — a conscious effort to satisfy the critical eye of an anonymous evaluator who grades more than 550 individual standards in 17 different categories.

Far less objective, although no less impressive, is the Boston Harbor’s No. 3 ranking out of 75 hotels in Boston on TripAdvisor, a position assigned by the aggregate rankings of faceless, often nameless online reviewers.

One formal. The other free-flowing. Asked which is more important, GM Crellin said, both.

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Tags: reviews, tripadvisor

Photo credit: The Boston Harbor Hotel proudly displays its Forbes Travel Guide 5-star status on the hotel website homepage. Boston Harbor Hotel

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