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It actually could be the opposite: since the OTA guest can leave a bad review, hotels may treat them better.

Anyone can leave a review on Google Maps and TripAdvisor and the hotel brands’ website, I assume a review on an OTA would not be any more valuable.

As a side note, I wonder if many people pay attention to reviews outside of extremely low rated places.

I do. One bad review doesn't make much difference to me but if I see a few mentioning the same issue I usually trust them.