Millions of travelers use TripAdvisor to plan their vacation, including help selecting a hotel.

In the Caribbean, this may involve choosing between several hotels on the same island or several hotels on different islands. TripAdvisor therefore has the ability to help increase a hotel's occupancy and an island's air arrivals.

At MP&A Digital & Advertising, we regularly mine TripAdvisor data to gain insights and develop more effective marketing programs for our hotel clients.

Our recent analysis on the top travel review site showed interesting findings related to 5-star hotels in the Caribbean. While these hotels may not be delivering traditional Michelin 5-star service, they are providing guests with something even more important today – a 5-star vacation experience.

With TripAdvisor being so critically important to travelers, destinations and hotels, our analysis uncovered:

1. Which Caribbean islands have the greatest number of hotels with 5-star TripAdvisor ratings
2. Which Caribbean hotels have earned  5-star TripAdvisor ratings

In conducting our research on 5-star TripAdvisor hotels in the Caribbean, a number of interesting observations were made about the destinations.

Key findings include:

• TripAdvisor rates a total of 29 countries and nearly 2,500 hotels in the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda.
• There are 18 island nations (including Cuba) with at least one 5-star rated hotel. Conversely, 11 Caribbean countries are without a single 5-star rated property.
• Only 53 hotels in the entire region carry a 5-star TripAdvisor rating. The top-rated hotels account for only 2.2% of total Caribbean hotel inventory and 3.5% of hotels on islands with at least one 5-star property.
• Jamaica is the island destination with the most TripAdvisor 5-star hotels with 10 out of 293 properties.
• Three island nations have six 5-star hotels, including Turks & Caicos, The Bahamas and surprisingly, the tiny and relatively undiscovered island of Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic).
• Dominica also has the highest percentage of hotels with 5-star ratings – a total of 35.3%!  Although relatively new to tourism, Dominica is making quite a splash with visitors by providing genuine island hospitality and an authentic Caribbean experience according to the reviews. St. Kitts and Nevis comes in second with 11.1% of its hotels (2 of 18) rated as 5-star (both are located on Nevis).

As travelers plan a Caribbean vacation, these islands – and the 5-star rated hotels – certainly stand to benefit given the high ratings on TripAdvisor.

Congratulations to the islands with the highest number of hotels and highest percentage of hotels delivering a 5-star TripAdvisor guest experience. It reflects well not only on the property, but also on the tourism industry throughout the island.

So, what Caribbean hotels by island earned 5-star TripAdvisor ratings? Stay tuned to find out. The answer will be posted here later this week.

Note: Analysis based on data gathered the week of July 29, 2013. For the purposes of our research, only hotels with 5-star ratings and at least 90 reviews are included.

MP&A (formerly Madigan Pratt & Associates) is a full-service digital marketing and advertising agency with roots in New York City and now based in Williamsburg, Virginia.

We know what it takes to succeed in today's ever-changing marketplace. Advertising and digital marketing has to stand out from the crowd, speak to an individual, generate a response and get results. That's what sets us apart.  

www.madiganpratt.com