TripAdvisor hired its first customer care director, who says his first priority will be steamlining the way hotel owners and managers respond to consumer reviews.
John Dila, who formerly oversaw customer experience teams at eBay, say although the new customer care team intends to handle both owners and consumers, the needs of hotel owners and managers will get addressed initially.
"The priority at the outset for the customer care team will be owners and one example of what we'll be looking at is Management Responses," Dila told TripAdvisor for Business in an interview about his appointment. "The benefit of Management Responses to building positive relations with guests and future guests are undeniable, but it can take awhile for these to be posted."
"As such," Dila adds, "this spring we'll be looking at streamlining the Management Response system to make it quicker and easier for owners to post reples to reviews."
The Management Response system has been a flash point for some hotel managers and owners, who have complained about the seeming unwieldy process.
Dila's hiring is part of TripAdvisor's push to build a global customer care unit and to respond to sometimes pitched criticism from hotel managers and owners about user reviews.
The customer care unit will also address consumers' needs, but owners and managers will be the initial priority, Dila says.