Rat and mice sightings could be costing each British hospitality business up to £20,000 in lost revenue each year, as new research reveals that rodent sightings drag down hospitality establishments’ Tripadvisor ratings by an average of one full star.
Rentokil Pest Control analysed over 80,000 Tripadvisor reviews of 200 hospitality businesses across the UK, to understand the correlation between negative reviews that mentioned pest sightings, particularly rats and mice, and the overall star rating provided.
Lower ratings due to pest sightings, with rats and mice being the most common pests mentioned in reviews, could see British hospitality businesses missing out on significant income with an additional one star rating leading to an average of a 2.2-3% increase in monthly revenue.
This equates to a potential loss of £2.8 billion per year to the UK hospitality industry, which overall contributes £93bn a year to the UK economy. For the 143,000 hospitality businesses across the UK, this breaks down to an average of £20,000 a year in additional revenue that an extra star rating could bring in.
Of the cities analysed for Tripadvisor reviews, those which saw local hospitality businesses’ ratings dip most significantly following a pest sighting were London, Belfast and Bournemouth, all with an average drop of 1.8 stars.
Paul Blackhurst, head of Technical Academy at Rentokil Pest Control, said: “A pest sighting in an establishment can have a huge impact on the impression it leaves on a customer and can quickly become a problem for business reputation and resulting profitability.
“Prevention is better than a cure, so taking measures to mitigate pest issues is important, and if pests are detected, acting quickly can help prevent a larger infestation from developing.”