While making accommodation decisions a guest opts for a hotel with a good reputation because he tends to believe that a reputed hotel will offer him a pleasant and comfortable stay .
And now that we have entered into the stage of digitalization online hospitality reputation management has picked up pace. One’s experience has become the deciding factor for another. Hence, the hotels have fastened their belts to provide their customers best experience to maintain their reputation .
There are quite a few digital marketing elements like review monitoring, SEO, SMO, online advertising and more that can substantially contribute to the entire process of online hotel reputation management .
IMPORTANCE OF REVIEWS FOR HOTEL REPUTATION
Reputation acts as an asset in every business. Hence, hotel reputation management becomes a necessity. For a guest to invest in your services and plan a stay at your premises, a hotel reputation management system comes handy. It persuades the customer to look at your achievements and guides them to your online booking portal .
It accentuates the idea of you being a brand within your industry and that you are a hotel of high values and high regards, providing not just a comfortable stay for your guests, but a memorable experience to them .
Reputation management basically helps in establishing faith for your hotel amongst different hoteliers and the guests looking for a hotel to plan their stay. Obviously better ratings would mean more bookings .
It is a statistically proven fact that about 85% of customers read reviews before booking a hotel or any accommodation. While it is also states that about 71% customers don’t take any chances and go ahead to book a hotel with high online ratings .
TIPS FOR HOTEL REPUTATION MANAGEMENT
Now that you have understood the gravity of how important reputation management is for your business. This is the time to immerse yourself in some useful tricks or tactics that can help you in strengthening your hotel reputation management .
- CATER TO ALL THE REVIEWS
Responding to the reviews of the customers is as important as collecting these reviews in the first place. A hotel when actively tends to the views of their customers moves one step further towards establishing a personal connection with them. A survey by TripAdviser says that 65% of the total customers choose a hotel which has decent reviews and a antive reply by the hotel on these reviews .
While catering reviews it is essentially important to reply to the negative reviews. This shows your responsible behaviour as a hotel And also reflects how considerate you are towards the opinions of your customers. Your willingness to to improve as per the feedback received will work the best for you .
Negative feedback can generally create a ruckus and spoil your brand’s name and reputation. In these situations catering to negative reviews smartly and politely neutralises its impact on your business and rather works in your favour . - SEND AUTOMATED FEEDBACK SURVEYS
We just mentioned that collecting and tending to the feedback is beyond important to the reputation of your business. But, how do you increase the number of feedback received ?
To deal with this situation technology is your best friend. As a hotel you have an advantage of recording guest’s information including emails and phone numbers. Therefore, establish a system to send automated feedback forms to your customers during checkout .
The timing of immediate feedback would substantially increase the amount of feedback received. With huge sample data you can easily analyse your feedbacks and come up with future strategies and remedial plans . - PRE-STAY COMMUNICATION WITH THE GUESTS
As soon as a customer makes his booking to stay at your facility, they become your guest. It is always better to mention all your policies and services along with booking details to the customer on your website as well as on a confirmation email/ message .
It is advisable to get in touch with the guests beforehand to know about their needs and expectations so that they can have a smooth experience right from checkin- checkout. Communicate to them the kind of room that they have booked along with services included with that room .
If your customer is arriving late in the night, ensure him a hassle free check-in. Inform them well in advance of state tax applicable if any, payment methods, standard hotel timings, any applicable additional charges, and similar details for clarity and comfort . - ADD A REVIEW PAGE ON YOUR WEBSITE
Needless to say reviews are indispensable to reputation management and can have a huge impact on your business. Make it as a priority to add a reviews page on your hotel website for your customers to conveniently share their feedback and opinions .
Needless to say reviews are indispensable to reputation management and can have a huge impact on your business. Make it as a priority to add a reviews page on your hotel website for your customers to conveniently share their feedback and opinions .
To monitor and moderate these reviews, set a news alert on your website. Simply go to Google Alerts and enter your hotel’s name . - TECHNOLOGICALLY AUTOMATE YOUR OPERATIONS
A tech driven operated hotel business is easy to scale and manage. And also easy to analyse and moderate. You can simply add hotel reputation management software into your cloud-based PMS .
With just one good software you can manage anything and everything. Right from booking, review, special arrangements, inventory management, guest list and what not. A good reputation management software can be a total game changer for you . - HIRE PROFESSIONAL HOTEL REPUTATION MANAGEMENT SERVICES
Managing staff, guests, operations, marketing, reputation by yourself can get a little overwhelming and can hamper your efficiency and productivity. To save your sanity from a comprehensive work load. You can simply hire a digital marketing agency or hotel reputation management agency to take care of your brand and buzz around it online while you can ace smoothly at the operational level .
There are great digital marketing agencies like Digilink Ads who offer excellent hotel reputation management services and handle reviews, website and social media branding for you .
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