Out of more than 9,000 travel destinations in Oregon, Florence’s The Old Town Inn and The River House Inn made Oregon Business magazine’s “100 Best Fan Favorite Destinations in Oregon” for the second year in a row.

The list shows that The River House Inn is number one, and The Old Town Inn is number two in Florence. The inns rank number two and three among hotels in Lane County, behind the Eugene’s prestigious Inn at the 5th. The inns placed at 65th and 89th respectively over all.

“The quality and quantity of our reviews demonstrates the commitment of our staff and management to offer a sparkling clean, exquisitely maintained property with a friendly and helpful staff who are knowledgeable about all the fun things to do in and around Florence,” says Craig Sanders, president of Hoagland Properties, owners of the two inns. “Attention to detail, and the dedicated work of an enthusiastic housekeeping staff, help make the difference.”

In its announcement, Portland-based MEDIAmerica, publishers of Oregon Business Magazine said researchers studied 38,000 reviews, a 72% increase over last year’s reviews, on the most widely-used online review sites Google, TripAdvisor, and Yelp. Destinations were ranked based on a ratio of their four and five-star reviews. Scores were tallied and combined to determine the level of travelers’ overall satisfaction. The scores were then ranked to create the 100 Best Fan-Favorites Destinations list. In many cases, the margin of difference in scores was minimal.

“Travelers rely more than ever on third party reviews. The participation increase in this important research shows that more destinations are paying attention as well,” says Andrew Insinga, CEO of MEDIAmerica. He explained that because more destinations are paying attention, and more reviews were analyzed, the competition was much more stringent this year, making it more difficult to make the list.

Craig Peebles, events manager at MEDIAmerica, adds, “A ranking based purely on customer satisfaction is a true measure of what makes a great destination.” The full list is available at OregonBusiness.com.

“This is a total validation of what we do every day, a testament to our corporate values, and the evidence of the hard work of our management and staff,” says Sanders. “But what makes this especially rewarding is that the scores were determined by consumers, people who actually experienced some of those 9,000 destinations.”

“Our philosophy is all customer oriented. In fact, our mission statement states ‘To exceed customer expectations with spotless, reasonably-priced, well-appointed rooms and exceptional customer service,’” explains Sanders. “This prestigious designation is validation of what we strive for every single day.

”The quality and quantity of our online reviews demonstrates the commitment of our staff and management to offer a sparkling clean, exquisitely maintained property with a friendly and helpful staff who are knowledgeable about all the fun things to do in and around Florence,” added Sanders. “We couldn’t be more proud of Ashley Young and Cord Kravitz who manage the River House Inn, and Kelsi Snook and Aaron Stone who manage Old Town Inn.”

Both inns achieved TripAdvisor’s prestigious Certificate of Excellence award again last year—the fifth consecutive time for The Old Town Inn and the sixth for The River House Inn. Hoagland Properties also won the Florence Area Chamber of Commerce’s “Excellence in Customer Service Award” for the second consecutive year in 2017.

The award comes with statewide media exposure in 2018 including coverage in Oregon Business magazine, Oregon Home magazine, the Discover Portland Hotel Book, and the “100 Best Map” distributed through visitor information locations around the state. In January, MEDIAmerica—a company that publishes travel guides for Travel Lane County, Travel Oregon, and the Oregon Coast Visitors’ Association—will publish and distribute throughout Oregon 75,000 copies of a map of the “100 Best Fan-Favorite Destinations in Oregon” at points-of-entry and visitor information centers.