In today’s digital era, travelers are solely influenced by a Hotel’s Online Reputation while choosing their holiday home. The very first thing a traveler does is to search for a hotel near the desired location and then compares the multiple choices he finds according to the Hotel’s Online Presence and Reputation. This makes the hospitality industry highly dependable and vulnerable to the impact of reputation management. Having ‘ A Functional Guide To Hotel Online Reputation Management’ in such a situation is essential.
This blog states some of the most important tactics that will help a hotelier to improve his Reputation Management skills.
1. Online Reviews And Purchase Behaviour
Before the digital era was born, travelers would rely on expert reviews or experienced travel enthusiasts for hotel recommendations. Publications like Lonely Planet or Rough Guide would keep a hotel’s reputation going for several years. Later, posting reviews was introduced by the internet although the frequency was low or very unlikely.
Today, almost every guest that stays at a hotel, posts an online review describing his experience, hoping it may help future travelers. Sites like Google MyBusiness, Booking.com, Tripadvisor, Yelp, and social media channels have made it very easy to post reviews as well as to refer to some. These sites are an integral part of Online Reputation Management for hotels.
2. Competitor Analysis
Keeping up with a competitor’s strategies and offerings is mandatory for the hotel industry. And, if you own multiple properties or a chain of hotels, managing the reviews of all the sites gets challenging. There are many Hotel Review Management Softwares like Djubo and many others that will ease out the process of managing these reviews.
Hoteliers must always keep a detailed record of the competitor’s feedbacks or reviews and compare them with their own. This will give a hotelier an insight into where they stand in the competition and improve the scope of growth and new strategies.
Constant improvement and updates in strategies help a hotelier stand strong in competition, as there is a sea of choices in the hospitality industry. The guest will never hesitate to choose a higher rated or inexpensive option.
Suggested Read- How To Start Earning From Your Own Homestay Business?
3. Prioritize Review Sites
It is true that a Hotel’s Website is a game-changer when it comes to its online presence and bookings. Although, we would recommend prioritizing the optimization of your review sites regularly as compared to the official website.
When a potential guest is searching for a hotel on the web, he will trust the reviews more than what the website says. It is believed that business bend the truth when it comes to marketing, and the patrons rather do not have a reason to lie while writing a hotel review. Let’s consider some of the reviews are biased, but all?
Choosing a hotel is a very important decision as a guest invests a huge amount and is traveling to a completely unknown location. It is sure that a guest will trust the hotel’s online reviews on all platforms including social media before confirming the booking.
4. Managing Negative Reviews
It is very common for hotels to receive negative comments once in a while. If your hotel has earned a good online reputation with several good reviews, even a single negative review can be harmful. The review placement on these platforms is always in reverse chronological order, the newest being shown first.
This makes the negative reviews easily visible to the potential guest, and a hotel is likely to lose a booking or hampers its online reputation. Make sure you regularly check all review platforms and reply to every feedback, prioritizing the negative ones.
5. Social Media Reputation Management
Social Media has earned the spotlight in today’s time. And when it comes to reputation management, it is an important tool. A Hotelier must keep a close eye on the complaints, reviews, recommendations, feedbacks, conversations, and images that the audience upload on social media platforms about his property.
This is unmissable, as valuable feedbacks will boost your online presence; and negative feedback will be harmful to your online reputation.
Compared to other online marketing efforts, hoteliers sometimes tend to ignore Hotel Review Management. All of the above efforts may take time investment but will prove to be fruitful over the months. If you’re looking for professional assistance in Hotel Marketing, Bigfoot Hospitality is here to build your Hotel Brand for long-term growth.
"Take Good Care Of Your Guests, And They’ll Take Good Care Of Your Online Reputation; They’ll Come Back With The Others!"