Exclusive Feature: Customer reviews on social sites like TripAdvisor and various OTAs like Expedia and Priceline are nothing new, but they do ignite a certain level of concern.

How real are they? How edited are they? Who is monitoring them and how closely?

In an effort to help streamline the confusion around who's writing what, when and how often, hotels have jumped into the customer review game, offering ways for hotel guests to comment directly on hotel websites following a stay.

The purpose: to avoid confusion for future guests, and give loyal members a chance to Marriott International was the latest hotel group to allow the customer reviews on their hotel sites. But they didn't it a bit differently: the review site is only open to Marriott Rewards members.

To add a bit of momentum to the review pot, Marriott is now offering a sweepstakes for members who submit reviews: write a review about a recent stay, and you'll be automatically entered to win a trip or a few other Marriott prizes.

But why the incentives push?

"Hotels reviews are everywhere," said Laurie Goldstein, Marriott Rewards spokesperson. "Our members have told us that they want to hear from other travelers like them.  Marriott Rewards members are our most frequent guests and often the most knowledgeable.  We want to leverage their expertise to help other guests."

All Marriott Rewards members are encouraged to write their own hotel reviews by visiting marriottrewardsinsiders.com and signing in with their Rewards account. If a MI rewards member publishes a review between June 3 through 30 for stays made between May 1 and June 30, 2013, they'll automatically be entered into the sweeps.

But how do you know the reviews are for real?

We do not suppress reviews based on the review or the rating.  We only review it make sure language is appropriate and that no personal information is divulged," said Goldstein.

What's more, these reviews are readable by anyone, not just Marriott Rewards members.

Could this be the future of user-generated hotel reviews? Is it more reliable if the review is on the hotel's website? Would you write a review for the chance to earn free nights, upgrades, airline tickets and more?

Marriott is placing the bet their loyal members will, and it might encourage others to join the program. What will follow might just be an onset of new loyalty members for this international hotel chain.

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted.

Melanie Nayer is a hotel reviewer and expert on luxury travel around the world. She has covered all aspects of hotels including corporate restructures, re-branding initiatives, historical aspects and the best of the best in luxury hotels around the world.

Melanie writes a weekly exclusive column for 4Hoteliers.com