Social media, Online reviews, and Search Engines have drastically changed Hotel Business Marketing in the last 5 years.
Countless websites exist for the sole purpose of consumers sharing their opinions and experiences with other consumers, in 2011 according to a recent study from Olery they listed 100 Hotel Review Web Sites.
Social Networking takes the phenomena of “word of mouth” marketing to an unprecedented magnitude as we can share with hundreds of friends instantly.
Mobile devices put all of these capabilities in the palm of customers hands where there is no limit to when and where they can blurt whatever comes to their minds on Tripadvisors, Yelp or even sharing pictures on Flickr, Pinterest and videos on You Tube of their real-life situtations as they happened in the last Hotel they stayed.
Hotel Manager’s Opportunities
Hotels Managers have less control of their Property image than ever before, and it’s what is difficult to accept for most of them. But the Web 2.0 is there, they don’t have the choice, they must accept it.
Hoteliers, Reviews offer you a fantastic opportunity to make your Hotel business seem real to the public, no matter whether they are positive or negative. By responding quickly to a review, the whole world has the chance to see, “wow, this Hotel Manager cares about his clients’s opinions.”
Managers should always promote dialogue, and reinforce good reviews, while strategically addressing the bad.
Hotel Managers are showing customers what to expect when they stay in their Property, and this is the biggest voice to gain potential customers. Hotel Managers should always remember this sentence from Benjamin Franklin
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad to loose it.”
Nowadays it’s always true, it’s why your Hotel E Reputation is extremely important. The main question is why do you need to monitor E Reputation? It’s simple, if you don’t control your E reputation, someone else will.
E Reputation or OnLine Reputation is part of Revenue Management, if you don’t take care of it you get an important risk to miss revenue opportunities.
In the Ninety’s we said one unhappy customers spread his bad experience to 7 persons. According to a recent study at Forrester Customer Experience Forum, a single negative comment using a social media platform like Twitter Facebook, Yelp etc… can equate to a loss of 30 potential customers.
Can your Hotel business afford such a loss? I’am definitely sure your answer will be NO.
It’s always important to encourage your customers to be honest, and to not sound too “sales orientated” when writing their reviews. Simply tell them that you value their opinion, and want to share their experiences with the public. Asking reviews from your guests is one thing, but nowadays Hotels Management wants to know what is said about their Property, whenever is the time, whatever is the channel.
My 17 Tips
In order to help you to monitor and increase your E Reputation I have listed 17 tips you need to be aware.
What to define and handle with different types of dialogue for your Hotel business.
- What will you do when someone talks about bad service from your hotel business?
- What will you do when your fans are raving?
- What will you do if a competitor bashes your business?
- How will you do to handle critism?
How to handle Criticism
- Handle the situation or issue immediately
- Listen with an open mind and use the ‘criticism’ as a way to improve
- Thank the person for his/her feedback
- Apologize… and apologize again
- Explain how hotel will rectify the situation or issue
How to encourage customers to Review Your Hotel
- Send direct mail, email, or Social Media message to your top customers with a link to Google Places (or other review site) where they can directly write a review.
- Send mails to your customers (even if they booked thru an OTA) asking to review your Hotel after their check out.
- Offer a coupon, discount, VIP experience, or other incentive for their time.
- Have an iPad or laptop setup at your Front Desk where you can have customers log in and write about you on the spot
- Ask customers to log in and comment about your business on their mobile phones
- Ask for the “follow” or the “like” on your social media channels while they are at the Reception.
How to Track and Measure
- Use tracking tools like BlogPulse, Social Mention or Board Tracker
- Use a Semantic Analysis Tools, like Reviewpro, Revinate or Trust You
Being proactive about managing your E-Reputation and knowing what’s being said online is a key component of good Hospitality business.
What do you think about these Tips? Let me know! Please leave your comments below.
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Posted by Alain Classe
Related Post : The 4 Steps to manage your E reputation
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