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September 11, 2017

All about your Tripadvisor bubble rating

The majority of customers say Tripadvisor bubble ratings are important when choosing an accommodation, restaurant, or attraction. In fact, 83% believe it’s significant when choosing an accommodation, 70% when choosing a restaurant, and 58% when deciding what attractions to do.1

It’s clear that your Tripadvisor rating is important to potential customers – and to your profitability. What isn’t necessarily clear is: What is a Tripadvisor bubble rating? To help you make the most of your Tripadvisor presence, here are answers to common questions we get about Tripadvisor ratings.

What is a Tripadvisor bubble rating?

Your Tripadvisor bubble rating is a summary of your ratings from guests who reviewed you. In other words, think of your rating as the answer to, “What do guests think of their overall experience with you?”

Your bubble rating is displayed on a 1-5 scale, where 3 is average and 5 is excellent. So when potential customers are researching and booking on Tripadvisor, they can get a quick snapshot of your feedback in search results and on your page.

How is my bubble rating determined?

Whenever guests submit a written review, they can also rate your business based on their overall experience. Your bubble rating is determined by these overall ratings.

What can I do to increase my bubble rating?

There are a few things you can do to raise your Tripadvisor rating. First, use the customer feedback you get in reviews to improve the guest experience. That could mean renovating your hotel’s pool, expanding your restaurant’s menu, or providing more training to your attraction’s staff. The more enjoyable a guest’s time with you is, the better the rating you can get when they write a review.

And that brings us to the second way to increase your bubble rating: collect more reviews. Getting more reviews can increase the potential you have for improving your overall Tripadvisor rating. For an easy way to collect more Tripadvisor reviews, try Review Express – it lets you email a review request to multiple recent customers at once.

Is my bubble rating related to my Tripadvisor Popularity Ranking?

Your bubble rating plays a key part in your Tripadvisor Popularity Ranking, which determines how popular you are compared to other businesses in your area. The three main factors that go into your Tripadvisor Popularity Ranking are:

  • Quality: What your overall bubble rating is (because the wisdom of the crowds helps guide travelers)
  • Quantity: How many reviews you have (because more feedback allows for a more complete picture)
  • Recency: How recent your reviews are (because fresh feedback is more useful for travelers)

Read our guide on “Everything You Need to Know About Your Tripadvisor Popularity Ranking.”

How can I promote my Tripadvisor bubble rating?

Referencing your bubble rating is a great way to promote your property. After all, who wouldn’t want recommendations from other travelers all around the world?

And promoting your reputation on Tripadvisor is as easy as it is important. You can add a personalized Tripadvisor widget to your website for free. Just by copying and pasting a little bit of code, you can display your bubble rating, latest reviews, and more right on your website. It’s a strong vote of confidence to help influence potential customers to choose you.

Accommodations Only: How does my bubble rating differ from my star rating?

Your star rating is determined by a third-party based on your property’s available facilities, staff, and amenities. Meanwhile, your bubble rating is determined by travelers based on feedback regarding their experience with you. While both ratings are useful in giving travelers different views into what to expect, only your bubble rating is based on valuable Tripadvisor traveler feedback. As a reminder, star ratings are hotel specific, meaning restaurants and attractions do not have them on Tripadvisor.


  • 1. Source: Independent Phocuswright study of 14,991 global respondents prepared for Tripadvisor. April 2015.

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