hotel reviews

How to Respond Properly to Online Hotel Reviews

Kacey Bradley | September 16, 2019

By Kacey Bradley In today’s digitally-inclined world, online reviews are a significant part of the hotel booking process. According to one study, more than 50% of travelers don’t want to book until they read reviews — typically between six and 12. They want first-hand accounts of a stay on your property, whether good or bad. The newer the feedback, the more helpful. You can’t prevent bad reviews — no matter how stellar your guest experience. What you can control is how you respond. The majority of travelers — 87% — say an appropriate response to a bad review improves their impression of the hotel. On the flip-side, a...

“Heart Failure”: The Leading Cause of Bad Reviews

Doug Kennedy | March 20, 2019

By Doug Kennedy When you read a cross-section of negative comments from online reviews and guest surveys, it's easy to recognize a common theme across all lodging operations: "Heart failure." More specifically, I am referring to the failure to understand the true heart of hospitality, which is "caring about as well as caring for others." When we care "for" others, we provide the minimal requirements of a positive guest stay, the foundation of which is a clean, well maintained "physical product," (the accommodation and public facilities), delivered promptly and efficiently. Yet when we care "about" others, we understand the hospitality b...

The Ultimate Guide to TripAdvisor for Hotels

Vikram Singh | September 4, 2018

By Vikram Singh When TripAdvisor was founded in February 2000 in a small office above Kostas Pizza on 315 Chestnut Street in Needham, Massachusetts, I don't think anyone could have predicted the amount of time and energy it would consume, and the strong emotions it would conjure. Since I started my blog in 2013, I have consistently fielded questions about TripAdvisor. Looking back at the sheer volume of time I spent answering these complex emails, I think it's time to for me aggregate my knowledge, experience and advice in one place. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions, along with my responses. Is my competition trying ...

Your Hotel Has a Score or Ranking So Why Shouldn’t Your Guest?

Terri Miller | January 25, 2018

By Terri Miller, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Concilio Labs The hotel industry dramatically changed with the launch of TripAdvisor in 2000. Today, the site is one of the largest recognizable brands in the world, with more than 315 million members and over 500 million reviews. While initially reviews were just a small part of their rollout – the site debuted with a button that asked travelers to add their own reviews. Guests embraced the concept and TripAdvisor is now one of the key instruments in measuring guest experiences within the industry. Today, the notion of soliciting user generated content, specifically for t...

How to Encourage Guests to Write Hotel Reviews on TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google and Facebook

Nancy Huang | December 22, 2017

by Nancy Huang Online guest reviews are more important than ever. In researching hotels, potential customers are proactively seeking information about the experiences of previous guests. Reviews and star ratings on websites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google, and Facebook all play an extremely important role in getting new customers to book. The more reviews available, the more trustworthy a hotel will appear. Today's traveler arrives well-informed, with a huge 95% reading online reviews before they book their accommodation. Furthermore, younger generations are more communicative than their predecessors, so building a strong online reputati...

Reinvigorate Your Guest Satisfaction Surveys

Larry Mogelonsky | October 11, 2017

By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) Does any hotel still offer customer satisfaction surveys? Do you, as a hotelier, rely upon comment cards as a quality control for your operations? A decade ago, the answer would undoubtedly be yes, but now it isn't so black-and-white. Let's reflect on what's happened, specifically related to the advent of internet-born travel websites. With the success of online review sites, including the behemoth that is TripAdvisor, it's all too easy to surmise that their growth was primarily because of how they aggregated hotels and cross-linked to OTA booking engines. However, we must also stom...

How to Manage Your Hotel’s Online Reputation

Magnuson Worldwide | October 2, 2017

London UK/Spokane WA - October 2, 2017 - Online reputation has become vitally important across all industries and for those operating in the hospitality sector it's an essential area to manage. Today when booking a hotel, googling and reading reviews is one of the most common steps travellers will take – it has a huge impact on your bottom line. Those hotels that fail to manage their online reputation can seriously harm the number of reservations they're achieving. It's not an area that you can afford to skip on. The sheer number of holidays and reservations made online should give you an indication of why your digital reputation ...

3 Ways Your Independent Hotel Can Go From Good to Great

Hotelogix | March 8, 2017

The rise of millennial travelers has had drastic implications of the landscape of hospitality. No longer do the evolved chains hold all the aces when it comes to attracting guests from around the world – millennials are after experiences, and will choose even an independent property if it can guarantee them a great stay. However, they still do expect a minimum standard of service. The writing is on the wall – make sure your independent hotel can meet these modest requirements and you're on your way to establishing your property's long term future. Fortunately for hoteliers, the onset of cloud computing has opened the floodga...