Although no-one doubts that they are a critical part of the feedback process, there are many conflicting opinions on how hotels should handle online reviews.
Tourismus Partner, an Austria-based hospitality and reputation management agency, surveyed asked executives from major hotel chains in Germany, Switzerland and its home country to try and understand how hoteliers evaluate and respond to online reviews that are left by travellers on websites.
There were three interesting elements that came out of the research which may or may not be mirrored elsewhere, but they still give an important overview of how those at the sharp end of dealing with online reviews are doing.
1. Responsibility
Despite having some autonomy in other areas of running a property, responses to online reviews are more often than not written with back-up from a chain's headquarters.
Still, some 37% of hotels are responding to reviews individually.
When it comes to overall responsibility for the strategy around online reputation management strategy, eight out of ten of hoteliers act independently but do so on occasion in consultation with HQ.
2. Management responses
Although almost all (95%) of chains say they respond to online reviews, just under half of all feedback (46%) shared by guests is eventually ignored.
Interesting to note from a language standpoint, most chains in Germany, Switzerland and Austria say they will write responses in both German and English, often with an additional language thrown in if it is required (such as Italian or French).
Certainly many chains have a policy around how quickly they should respond to online reviews, with 60% claiming they will reply with 24 and 72 hours.
3. Internal guidelines
With or without leaning of headquarters for support, 80% of chains have internal guidelines that they will use for responding to online reviews.
In particular, most have a policy on style and wording, whilst 70% often use key phrases in a response.
NB: Online reviews image via Shutterstock.