Study of the Effect of Online Reviews on Hotel Reputation Management in Ibadan, Oyo State, South West Nigeria

This study investigates the effect of online customer reviews on hotel reputation management in Ibadan, Oyo State, South West Nigeria. As the second largest city by population in Nigeria, Ibadan hosts a growing number of hotels catering to business travellers, conference attendees, and transient guests. The proliferation of review platforms such as Google Reviews, TripAdvisor, and Booking.com has made online reputation management a strategic imperative for hotel operators. Using a descriptive survey design, data are collected from 150 hotel guests and 20 hotel marketing managers through structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal that 82 percent of guests consult online reviews before booking a hotel in Ibadan, and properties with average ratings below 3.5 out of 5 are bypassed by 74 percent of review-checking travellers. Hotels with active management responses to reviews report 19 percent higher booking conversion rates than those that do not respond. However, 60 percent of sampled hotel managers acknowledge limited engagement with review platforms due to staff capacity constraints and low digital literacy. The study recommends that Ibadan hotels appoint dedicated digital reputation officers, develop structured response templates for common review themes, and integrate guest satisfaction surveys into the checkout process to capture feedback before it escalates online. Training for frontline staff on service recovery is identified as a priority intervention. Keywords: online reviews, reputation management, hotel marketing, Ibadan, digital hospitality