NB: This is a guest article by Margaret Ady, director of marketing at TrustYou.
Responding to online reviews from guests is crucial. It makes them feel heard, and it is one of the best ways to improve customer satisfaction and guest loyalty post-stay.
Seeing management responses also improves perceptions of a hotel and impacts purchasing decisions of future guests.
Yet most hotels still don’t make it a priority. Perhaps online reviews seem less important, or the reasons to respond seem abstract and immeasurable. Regardless, only 32% of hotels worldwide have responded to a review so far in 2012. Only 32%!
The other 68% are leaving money on the table (or in the pockets of responsive competitors).
The minority of hotels that do respond to their online reviews are reaping in the benefits. Hotels that respond to online guest reviews – regardless of if the reviews are positive or negative – average 6% higher review scores than hotels that don't (study).
Better reviews equate to revenue
6% is significant. It directly impacts a hotel’s revenues. Higher-rated hotels enjoy more visibility on review sites and are more appealing to travelers, which ultimately leads to more bookings.
Why the higher scores?
1. Happier guests, even before setting foot in the hotel
As travelers perform their pre-purchase research, they enjoy seeing hotels whose management responds to its guests. A study from Forrester and TripAdvisor reveals that 71% of travelers think that management responses are important.
In fact, seeing management responses is so important that it also has the ability to sway travelers’ booking decisions: 68% say they would choose a hotel with management responses over a comparable hotel without them.
Management responses give travelers confidence that they are booking at a hotel that will take care of their needs. Even seeing responses to negative reviews written about a hotel makes 79% of travelers feel reassured.
Guests who arrive at a hotel feeling confident in their booking decision and assured that the hotel will take care of their needs start at a higher satisfaction level.
Think of management responses as the precursor to the crucial first 15 minutes of a guests’ stay. The hotel has already begun to win the guest over, long before their arrival.
2. Responses = More reviews
Hotels that respond to guests indirectly encourage other guests to write reviews following their stays. Seeing a management response is positive reinforcement that guests’ opinions are being heard, which is the reason that travelers write reviews to begin with.
As a result, hotels that respond to guests rack up an average of 147% more reviews.
More reviews help hotels in many ways –rankings and visibility improve on review sites and the hotel’s site benefits from improved SEO and more traffic.
More reviews also improve scores because with each additional review, one negative score carries less and less weight. With an average of 147% more reviews, responsive hotels are bound to notice a bump in scores.
Responding seems rather important now, doesn’t it? Many hoteliers choose not to respond because writing a response feels awkward, or hoteliers aren’t sure what to write. Here are some tips to get started.
Guide to crafting a response
1. Remain kind, professional and genuine. If responding to a negative review, do NOT get defensive.
2. Respond in a timely fashion. Responding months later is almost as bad as not responding at all. Using reputation management software can help streamline the process.
3. Key ingredients to a response to a negative review:
- Thank the guest for their stay
- Apologize for their problem or complaint
- Address the specific problem mentioned and offer a solution/explain how the hotel is taking action
- Invite the guest back to the hotel
4. Key ingredients to a response to a positive review:
- Thank the guest for their stay
- Let the guest know that the hotel is delighted to hear about the positive experience
- Ensure that the hotel strives for this sort of excellence with all its guests
- Invite the guest back to the hotel
The key point is to start responding. Let guests know that their opinions are important and give future guests a reason to choose you over your competitor.
Or don’t, and watch travelers book elsewhere.
NB: This is a guest article by Margaret Ady, director of marketing at TrustYou.
NB2:Hotel reception image via Shutterstock.