Everyone’s got an image to protect. As the hotel industry becomes increasingly subjected to the world of customer reviews, hoteliers have developed a term for protecting that image which is called “online reputation management.”
According to the following article, a 2011 TripAdvisor survey revealed 99% of hotels plan to respond to customer reviews on the various review channels available today. But Daniel Edward Craig, former GM of the Opus Hotel Vancouver and now an independent hotel consultant, doesn’t buy it.
In the age of social media, it’s all about transparency. Be completely transparent about it so they know what to expect. Keep complaints on property and prevent them from becoming an online complaint.
A few examples:
- When reviews single out a staff member, responses should be managed with the utmost sensitivity. Don’t single out the staff member, but at the same time don’t defend the staff member or assume the guest was mistaken, definitely don’t suggest the guest was the source of the problem.”
- Sometimes negative reviews can be centered on pricing. If guests feel they didn’t get value, the hotel should apologize for that, regardless of the guest.
- Hoteliers are going to get a bad review every now and then that they deserved. Hotels should swallow it and move on and focus on the positive.
Responses should be posted as soon as possible, definitely within 48 hours. Responses should be brief and thanking the guest for taking time to post a review whether it’s positive or negative.
If the claims are particularly harmful, hoteliers can refute the post with the host site, but that process could take a long time and could end up futile.
I totally agree with you. Hoteliers should answer to reviews and especially negative reviews. It helps the hoteliers and the customers to understand the philosophy of each other.
RépondreSupprimerIt definitely helps the hoteliers to improve the quality of services and help also to solve several problems that they could have within their hotels.
Online reputation is also about managing your reputation in general by sharing more information with the customers and also the future ones - it is also about joining conversations and understand what the customers need and what are they expected. You can not control everything and each review but you can manage your reputation by inviting customers to share their reviews on your website or on your blog. It can be a first step of managing your online reputation.