Why is Hotel Online Reputation Management Important?
Hotel Online Reputation Management is the most important element of preserving your hotel’s image. Knowing what is being said about your business, and where it is being said is crucial to your hotel’s success. It takes dedication and appropriate response to show the market that you are a proactive business owner who cares about the guests’ experience.
According to the latest TripBarometer study by TripAdvisor, 9 out of 10 travelers said that reviews were important in their purchasing decision. With the majority of reservations still occurring on OTAs and TripAdvisor reviews feeding directly into many OTAs, negative hotel reviews can literally be broadcast across the world within a matter of days. Mismanaged negative reviews have the potential to ruin the reputation of your hotel and discourage future guests from booking with you, leading to lost revenue.
Responding to Positive and Negative Reviews
In the realm of hotel reviews, a little acknowledgement goes a long way, which means that hotel managers and owners should take the time to respond to both positive and negative reviews. Let your guests know they are heard and that their opinion matters.
It is best to be proactive with feedback from sources like Facebook, TripAdvisor and Twitter; respond in a timely manner using a consistent, positive tone. Negative reviews on your website or TripAdvisor, as well as negative media coverage can be particularly damaging due to their sheer visibility. While your gut response as a hotel owner may be to remove the negative reviews on your website, this often has unintended backlash and makes it appear as if you have something to hide.
In deciding when to remove reviews, ask yourself these things:
Does it contain inappropriate language?
Does it contain misinformation?
Is it a direct attack on the organization’s reputation?
If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes’ it is customary to remove the comment. Otherwise, simply respond directly to the comment on your website in a positive manner, apologizing for the mistake and stating your plan of action to correct the mistake. Never get in a battle of words in the comments section with an angry guest.
Steps to responding to those tricky negative reviews:
Graciously accept the feedback,
Focus on whatever positive aspects there are within the review,
Make it known that this is not a typical experience at your hotel,
Apologize and address legitimate complaints,
Communicate your plan of action/ correction,
Take the conversation offline to your personal email address or phone number.
Tools for Managing Your Reputation
The good news is that there are a number of tools that make it easy to monitor your online presence. Google Alerts is a free tool that reports back on search results and mentions across the web (this does require a Google email account which is free and simple to set up). SocialMention and Who’s Talkin report back from social media and blogging platforms on your hotel name as well. If you’re looking for a centralized service with greater functionality, HootSuite is a reasonably-priced Online Reputation Manager suite including campaign functionality, geo-targeting and customized reporting.
Steps for Maintaining Your Positive Reputation
If your hotel has a good reputation, congratulations, you’ve mastered reputation management! A good hotel reputation leads to better reviews, guest referrals, returning guests, and best of all, attracting new guests.
I suggest following these simple steps to maintain your reputation:
Be proactive. Use the above tools to monitor the conversations happening about your hotel.
Be active in the online community and share positive information.
Ask for reviews from happy guests and give them a forum to do so (perhaps on your website, or also encourage them to review you on TripAdvisor).
Conduct an online search for your business on Google and Bing every month or so to make sure you’re not missing anything.