TL;DR
Earn a Trustworthy Profile. The most critical first step on HTR is to collect 25-reviews to earn a trustworthy profile
Become Ranked. Once your product has 25-reviews, it will generate an HT Score and ranking which will drive you more visibility and leads
Unlock Matched Leads. There are two types of leads on HTR, direct and matched. You can accept direct leads regardless of your reputation. To unlock matched leads however, you need a trustworthy profile. HTR guarantees to hoteliers that any matches will have a trustworthy profiles and come highly recommended by other hoteliers in the community
Attract More Visibility & Leads. As you improve your reputation, you'll generate more (and better) leads
Why it's Important to Establish a Trustworthy Profile
As a quick reminder, the entire HTR platform is designed to drive the most value and visibility to the products and companies that come most recommended by hoteliers in the community so the first area to focus on is collecting reviews and improving your reputation (Related: Why Reviews Are So Critical).
Research has shown that when it comes to reviews websites, the average consumer expects a profile to have at least 25-reviews (some research shows up to 40) before trusting the profile and its star rating.
This is the rationale behind this golden number unlocking key benefits in the application including:
Becoming Ranked: Collecting 25-reviews to earn a trustworthy profile also means that you'll start generating an HT Score and ranking on the site which means you'll start generating more visibility and leads per (July '23) Unranked Products Update
Unlocking Matched Leads: The first thing HTR's users are likely to do when matched vendors reach out is lookup the vendor's profiles on HTR and if they don't see a strong reputation they aren't likely to be interested in following up meaning its a bad experience for them, a bad experience for the vendor. This is why we guarantee to hoteliers that request matches that we only vendors with strong reputations on Hotel Tech Report will be able to reach out to them per (May '20) Matched Leads Update
Understanding the Hotelier Guarantee
Why you need to first achieve a trustworthy profile before connecting with matches
As a reminder, matched leads are hoteliers who have asked HTR to recommend products in their category of interest based on what similar hoteliers recommend.
Since matches are made based on reviews in the platform, you likely won't get many (if any) without a strong reputation. That said, even without reviews there is a chance of generating matched leads (if other products in the category don't have a lot of reviews from the user's segment).
It's important to remember that matched leads haven't asked for info from your company specifically, but rather they've opted to connect with top matches to help them in their search.
When they opt-in, HTR guarantees to them that only credible and trustworthy vendors can reach out who have a minimum of 25 verified reviews for their product in the hoteliers category of choice.
"HTR guarantees to hoteliers who opt-in to connect with matches that HTR will only connect them with credible and trustworthy vendors who have a minimum of 25 verified reviews for their respective product in the hoteliers category of interest."
This minimum requirement is in place not only to protect buyers and ensure stronger matches, but also to make sure that vendors are setup for success when you're connected with potential matches since the first thing hoteliers typically do when a match reaches out to them is lookup the vendor's profiles on HTR (aka. if they don't see a strong reputation they likely won't even respond to your outreach).
The good news is that reviews are easy to collect and even early stage startups can easily collect the 25 needed to achieve a trustworthy profile and unlock matched leads.
💡 TIP #1: Need help collecting reviews? Check out our Review Collection Started Kit
💡 TIP #2: Make sure your product has at least 25 reviews to unlock matched leads and be able to connect with in market buyers looking for solutions in your category.