Travelers across the globe are increasingly turning to the social web for inspiration within different stages of their travel planning.

They read guest reviews to select their accommodation, search user-generated content sites for interesting activities and attractions, and even book their journeys after reading others' experiences.

Founder and CEO of ReviewPro, RJ Friedlander (right) is an expert on the value guest reviews have for organisations. His presentation at ITB Berlin focused on how hoteliers can best capitalise on customers' willingness to trust other customers' opinions.

According to Friedlander, the social web carries three major risks for the hotelier industry. The first is doing too little as a result of insufficient or inefficiently distributed resources. The second risk is beginning to leverage the social web within an organisation, but doing so incorrectly.

"And the third risk is doing nothing," Friedlander said. That is the biggest risk."

Current figures suggest that 93% of hotel guests are highly influenced by online reviews and other user-generated content. "Guests need to know what other guests are saying to make decisions," Friedlander said.

As such, it is important for hoteliers to listen, respond and leverage customer reviews. "In my experience great hoteliers don't see themselves as being in the hotel industry. They see themselves as customer satisfaction managers," Friedlander said.

Friedlander argued hoteliers need to create a remarkable experience within their scope and segment if they want to be successful.

"Of course a hostel is going to be different from a luxury resort," he said. But it is about being memorable in your particular segment to the best of your abilities."

A second key point is listening and responding to customer needs, complaints or opinions. Friedlander termed this "being likeable".

Not every customer need has to be fulfilled, but every guest needs to have the impression he or she is heard, he said. Finally, the internet is fast-paced and entertaining. As such, organisations also need to ensure that their online presence stays fresh and up to date, with plenty of visual content.

Once an online presence has been created, its effect needs to be monitored.

"Marketing is all about setting goals. And you need to do that with the social web too," Friedlander said. An organisation thus needs to track its progress. But in order to be competitive, it also needs to be aware of what its competitors are doing.

Here, Friedlander suggested using a service like ReviewPro, which has a client roster of thousands of hotels in over 90 countries. The company aggregates hundreds of millions of social media mentions in over 35 languages from most relevant online travel agencies social media platforms and review websites to deliver a picture of how a hotel is faring on social media. Recently, ReviewPro published a comprehensive report tracking which luxury brands are earning the best reviews from their guests.

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Louise Osborne is a correspondent and editor based in Berlin, Germany. She began her career working at regional newspapers in the UK and now works with journalists across the globe as part of international journalism organization, Associated Reporters Abroad (ARA). Living abroad for the second time, she continues to be fascinated by places both near and far, and boards a plane eagerly, as often as she can.

Besides the ITB Berlin 2014 live coverage, Louise also writes a weekly exclusive column for 4Hoteliers.com