Are the AA's hotel reviewing days numbered?
Independent Internet reviews are on course to make hotel and restaurant star ratings obsolete, according to new research among 5000 travellers by architects Woods Bagot.
Almost 58% of their respondents said they now resort to consumer reviews when looking for a steer on where to stay.
The research challenges the assumption that only web-savvy youngsters head online for hotel feedback. Over two-thirds of people aged between 35 and 54 reported being more inclined to check peer comments about accommodation on tripadvisor.co.uk and other sites.
Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that, the more you travel around the world, the more you appreciate the inconsistencies in regional ratings systems.
Of course, user-generated reviews bring problems of their own, with an emerging trend towards operators planting fake reviews for their own properties.