The review score of your hotel is the key of your financial success. Your customers’ feedback is crucial to improving your hotel’s online presence.
A study, conducted by Phocuswright with over 12,225 respondents, reveals that more than half of respondents (53%) won’t even bother making a reservation until they’ve at least checked out one review for a property. In fact, 80% of respondents said they read between six and twelve reviews before booking an accommodation!
In this article you will find tips that will help you improve your reviews and customer satisfaction.
During the stay you must pay attention to these steps:
1. Interaction with Guests
In conversations with guests, ask them for a small favor. Have them share their experiences with other travelers on TripAdvisor. Ask them to share pictures and comments.
2. Wi-fi Landing Page
When guests use the free Wi-fi of your hotel, direct them to a landing page asking them for their feedback. Offering good quality Wi-fi connection, it is what travelers expect, and helps your overall score.
3. Notes and signs
Think outside-the-box. You may want to try adding pamphlets and message boards in hallway or reception. Try to put a big smile on your guests.
4. Free Postcards & Maps
Your hotel can provide postcards with the local destination, with a small line of text, mentioning it would be appreciated if they share their feedback on TripAdvisor. You could also make a special local area map with the tourist attractions for your guests.
After they leave the hotel you may follow these steps:
1. Post stay Emails
Set-up a post stay emailing system asking that if they enjoyed their stay to share their experiences with other travelers. Provide a link to your TripAdvisor property profile, but don’t SPAM your guests inboxes. By the way, our tool HoteloPro allows you to send post stay emails.
2. Social Media
Make sure you add to your hotel’s Facebook page a button for reviews. Right on your Facebook page, you have a clear call-to-action to add a button, as you can see in the image.
3. On Site Reviews
Allow reviews on your website, here’s an example from Sheraton hotel, they included a TripAdvisor widget on their website and they’re asking people to review them.
4. Your Newsletter
Some weeks ago we discussed about how you can create a killer email newsletter. You may take in consideration adding a review button in the newsletter as well to request feedback.
TripAdvisor also shared on their website some tips & tricks on how to improve your hotel ranking & reviews. Here it is what they said:
“Your TripAdvisor popularity ranking is based on traveler reviews and reflects your standing against other businesses within your geographical location. Popularity is important because the closer you are to #1, the more likely it is that travelers will see your property when they search your area. Here are the three primary factors that have an impact on your popularity, and how you can improve:
- Quality of Reviews
Set guest expectations before they arrive by making sure any information about your property, amenities and services is up to date and photos accurately reflect your business. Fulfill or exceed those expectations during their stay, and keep those positive reviews rolling in!
- Quantity of Reviews
Encourage guests to write reviews! Your Management Center offers a number of different solutions to encourage feedback, and they’re all free. Use Review Express to create and send customized emails to past guests encouraging them to leave reviews, choose from a library of widgets or print out reminder cards & flyers. Remember, asking is a great idea, but offering incentives is against our policy.
- Age of Reviews
Recent reviews carry more weight in your ranking, while older reviews have less impact over time; so make sure to keep encouraging guests to share their feedback online.
Hotel class (star ratings) and commercial relationships with TripAdvisor do not have an impact on your popularity ranking.
TripAdvisor takes content integrity seriously. All reviews must be the authentic opinions of travelers; do not write reviews yourself or ask friends or employees to do it. Check our guidelines to see what is and isn’t acceptable. Properties that break the rules will be penalized and their popularity ranking will suffer.
It all comes down to great hospitality. Give your guests a memorable experience, encourage reviews and learn from them and watch all of your hard work pay off!
How to Improve Your Hotel’s Performance on TripAdvisor?
So, what does it take to be a highly engaged hotel?
1. Claim & Update Your Listing
The first step to becoming a highly engaged hotel is to claim your TripAdvisor listing. Claiming your listing allows you to update your business details, access free marketing tools, add photos and more.
2. Optimize Your Photos
Hotels with ten or more Management Photos receive twice as many traveler page views over those with nine or fewer.
- Post a minimum of ten Management Photos to TripAdvisor
- Add meaningful captions to help travelers easily search and identify your photos
- Suggest a primary photo that will be used as the main image for your business on TripAdvisor
- Add an array of photos and update them regularly to reflect the latest and greatest views of your property
3. Respond to Reviews
Properties that respond to at least one out of every two reviews are 24% more likely to receive booking inquiries.
- Sign up to receive email notifications every time a new review is published for your property
- Make sure that at least one out of every four reviews has a Management Response
- Set simple guidelines to rely on when writing your Management Responses.
4. Evaluate Your Performance
Continuously tracking results, and making improvements based on them, is an important way to optimize your TripAdvisor performance. These improvements can lead to more satisfied guests, better reviews, more visibility on TripAdvisor and, ultimately, more traveler bookings.”
Don’t forget a great overall experience is what drives this. So make sure you provide amazing guest services, and be original. Your guests are looking for something special.
Back to you now. How was your experience with your guests online reviews? Let us know in the comments section bellow.