Getting Control of Online Travel Reviews

Today, consumers have a greater voice and impact on your property than ever before. Online reviews have the potential to dramatically boost or slash your online revenue. Now more than ever, travelers are using the Internet to research properties, including reading your guests' reviews, and book rooms. A recent Nielsen study found that 81% of online shoppers read product or retailer reviews by other customers when shopping, and that 71% agreed that consumer reviews make them more comfortable that they're buying the right product.

Unfortunately, most hotels are not prepared to manage online reviews, as the majority has no system in place to check or respond to them. The downfall of this lack of attention is that very few negative reviews are ever addressed by hotels, which could result in unrecoverable revenue. With a little planning and technology, this can be prevented.

Hotels need to become proactive and take the correct steps to remedy this situation. Research shows that appropriately addressing guests' negative reviews can increase the likelihood of a repeat guest or referral by at least 20 percent. That's critical, considering referrals make up such a large part of a property's reservation base. By not responding, hotel management runs a major risk of losing a large share of their potential guest pool. Hotels can also miss out on a valuable measurement and monitoring that allows them to get feedback and improve their guest services.

Thanks to review sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp, consumers are educated and able to do homework when it comes to travel accommodations. They now have higher standards and expectations, especially after reading positive reviews. So besides responding with apologies, legit explanations and offers to negative reviewers, it's also beneficial to thank positive reviewers. It's important to learn from the negative feedback and improve guests' experiences, but it's just as vital to keep in touch with happy guests to maximize referrals and repeat stays.

So what are the best ways for hoteliers to handle reviews? The following tips will help you effectively manage your property's online reviews:

Check it Out - Establish whether or not the review is legitimate. If you feel it's not, dispute it as quickly as possible with the site, which may decide to remove it.

Act Fast - Try and respond to all reviews within a 24-hour timeframe with personal communication. Timeliness is particularly imperative with negative reviews.

Say Thank You - Always respond by first thanking the customer for submitting a review. Pass positive comments to the parties responsible for the good feedback so that it may be shared within the department that earned the praise. Don't miss this opportunity to recognize those dedicated employees! At some point, you may want to think about basing some type of employee compensation system on positive guest comments.

Develop a Tracking Method - Monitor reviews, and designate one individual to track reviews as they come in, using a tool like VIZERGY's My Web World. This person will be trained to respond to positive and negative reviews.

Keep Your Image up to Date - On the review sites, be certain that your hotel is profiled with current photos, videos and copy.

Communicate on a Property Level - As necessary, pass negative reviews to the person who heads up the specific area involved, to inform that individual of a potential problem. Set up guidelines to help determine when a GM should be informed of specific situations.

Make a List - Keep a record of your responses as they are sent to your guests. Maintain a database of all review results with a reporting feature to analyze patterns, trends, comparisons to key competition and information that impacts investment choices. This can help provide a quick snapshot of your hotel's performance.

Share the Knowledge - The analysis data should be shared with the appropriate managers. Use this information to create an action plan for the departments that focuses on correcting issues. Then develop measurable criteria to monitor the improvements.


Say You're Sorry, Never be Defensive - For valid negative reviews, the response should include an apology with a description of the action you plan to take or have already taken to correct the situation.


Accentuate the Positive - Play up favorable reviews by featuring them on your Website. Ask your guests to write reviews at various communication points, whether it's your front desk or online. Enough positive comments may deter your site visitors from looking elsewhere for reviews of your property.

All in all, these tips can help you quickly respond to online reviews in a positive, professional manner, and show that you care what guests think. These responses are a key ingredient in any hotel Internet marketing plan, and can ultimately help take your hotel's performance to a new level.


This article is brought to you by VIZERGY, an Internet marketing company that empowers hotels and resorts to drive revenue through the Internet. VIZERGY offers Internet marketing, search engine optimization, Web site design, email marketing, reservation services and e-commerce strategy development to help hotels aggressively compete online.

For more information on VIZERGY and its services, please visit www.vizergy.com, call Amakeda Ponds at 904.389.1130 Ext. 179 or email Amakeda.p@vizergy.com.

Reader Comments:

Reply to or add comment