Handling Online Feedback

Why do guests post online reviews?

Guests write online reviews to feel empowered and to influence other travelers. They also write reviews because they genuinely want to improve a product or service. When a guest writes a review they often have both good and bad things to say about their experiences.

Should we respond to online reviews?

Responding to online reviews shows that the hotel actively reads and cares about the feedback their guests provide.

Pho Cus Wright reports that 57% of guests who read reviews say that those responses generally make them more likely to book that hotel, as opposed to a comparable hotel that does not respond to travelers.

Pho Cus Wright found that 84% of users agree that an appropriate management response to a bad review improves their impression of the hotel.

At the same time, 64% of users agree that an aggressive or defensive management response to a bad review will make them less likely to book that hotel.

Which reviews should we respond to?

Experts generally agree that hoteliers should respond to all one- and two-star reviews, assuming there is actionable feedback, and some people recommend responding to all five-star reviews as well.

Three and four[1]star reviews should be responded to as needed to address any bad experiences and to reassure the reviewer that management is serious about improvement.

How should we respond to positive or mixed reviews?

1.???????Thank the guest for their feedback. Acknowledging positive feedback encourages other happy guests to also write reviews.

2.???????Be specific and personal. Allude to any details (such as the purpose of the trip, specific employees mentioned, etc.) in your reply to demonstrate that your response is customized.

3.???????Acknowledge any constructive criticism if it is a big part of a positive review and will affect other guests. Sometimes four- and five-star reviews will contain positive and negative issues, so be sure to acknowledge any concerns the guest had.

4.???????Assure the reviewer that you will pass along their feedback to your staff, but there’s usually no need to mention the specific issues again in your response.

5.???????End on a positive note, saying that you look forward to seeing the guest again and thanking them for their feedback.

How should we respond to negative reviews?

1.???????Similar to positive reviews, the first step when responding to a negative review is to thank the reviewer for their feedback.

2.???????Apologize for the poor experience, remembering that an apology is not necessarily an admission of guilt or wrongdoing.

3.???????Consider the type of negative review. Are you learning about a service issue that you might not have been aware of?

Acknowledge the problem, thank the guest for bringing the issue to your attention, and describe the actions that have been taken to resolve the problem. If the guest is bringing up a problem that is something you cannot easily change, communicate any future plans to remedy the problem. Online reviews can help hotel managers analyze operational strengths and weaknesses and are the best source of free, readily accessible, nearly real-time data about your hotel.

What about issues that occur due to unusual circumstances?

Some issues may be unfounded or not likely to be repeated and just require appeasement. A strange confluence of circumstances may have caused something to happen, but it is unlikely to happen again.

The best response here is to acknowledge the problem, offer an apology, thank them for bringing the issue to your attention, and request to speak with them offline to further address the issue.

While appeasement problems may be remedied with a form of compensation, it is important that this is discussed offline to prevent a precedent being set.

What does the research say about online reviews?

In “Hotel Performance Impact of Socially Engaging with Consumers,” Professor Chris Anderson shows that hotels that encouraged and responded to guest reviews saw increases in their ratings, as compared to their competitors. Even better, when management responded to reviews their sales and revenue improved. But Anderson also notes that there is a limitation on revenue improvements from review responses. After about a 40-percent response rate, hotels seem to reach a point of diminishing returns, and making too many responses is worse than offering no response at all.

That said, consumers seem to be most appreciative of responses to negative reviews. Hotel ratings improve more in connection with constructive responses to negative reviews than simple acknowledgment of positive comments.

What tools are available to help us manage a hotel’s reputation online?

With multiple places online that guests can leave feedback about a hotel, it can seem like a daunting task to read it all and respond. Reputation management software can help by aggregating reviews from hundreds of sites and presenting them in an easy-to-use dashboard so hotel managers can read and respond to online reviews through a single interface. These platforms use sentiment analysis and natural language processing to determine if reviews are positive, neutral, or negative, and help you quickly understand your customers' opinions and experiences across multiple channels. Examples of companies offering hotel reputation management tools include TrustYou, Revinate, GuestRevu, and ReviewPro, to name a few. Visit their websites for more information.

How can we get maximum benefit from online feedback?

If your hotel is simply responding to reviews and not sharing the reviews with management and staff, you are missing a huge opportunity.

Online reviews can help hotel managers analyze operational strengths and weaknesses, and they are a great source of free, nearly realtime data about your hotel.

To get the most from listening to your guests, capture the guest review data and share the results with your management team and staff.

Recover from the negative feedback, determine the root cause of the issues identified by your guests, and use this information to improve your operations.

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