How to Generate More Reviews
- May 17, 2017
- 3 min read
TripAdvisor’s Popularity Index takes review scores in addition to both freshness of reviews and quantity of reviews into account when determining a hotel’s ranking. As a result, plentiful positive reviews have gone from being a ‘nice to have outcome’ to a primary reputation management objective.
So how do you go about generating more positive reviews for your venue? Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way…
Deliver exemplary customer service.
Surprise-and-delight your guests immediately upon arrival, whether that means offering a complimentary welcome amenity with a hand written note or just a friendly thank you for their pre-stay social media mention. Paying attention to the smallest details will motivate your customers to contribute to a review site, as guests typically share their experience with others if it was memorable or extraordinary. Yes, you may encounter guests that, no matter how hard you try to impress them, will leave dissatisfied due to elements out of your control. The key here is to focus on the circumstances you can control and empower your staff to go above and beyond by delivering personal, attentive service to your customers.
Pay attention to customer feedback
Revinate allows each property to access all consumer sentiment about their venue, through this you can immediately see ways to improve guest experience and operationalise changes where required. As a result of these changes, guests will notice the improvements and author more positive reviews. New potential guests see these reviews and, as a result, your venue will achieve a higher review rank and more business.
Ask guests for reviews
Above all, asking a guest for a review needs to be done politely, non-invasively and an appropriate time. All hotel colleagues, from front desk managers to housekeepers, should be encouraged to ask guests to write reviews, but only when guidelines have been introduced and some training provided. This training should include role – playing exercises that cover a wide variety of guest interaction scenarios. You may also consider drafting a script, tailored to each department. Grovelling and harassing guests to write on your behalf will only damage customer perception, but asking guests to write reviews after expressing positive sentiment will reap big rewards.
Recognise and reward staff
We see Human Resource departments at hotels, bars and restaurants frequently offering incentives and/or recognition of individual colleagues or departments that have been mentioned in customer reviews. This creates a hotel- wide culture of listening to guest feedback, a key component of proactive online reputation management. Paying attention to, and analysing, guest reviews is not a one person job and should not be a tasked solely to PR and marketing roles or the hotel GM. Rather, by creating awareness of this consumer feedback and rewarding staff for delivering exemplary performance, you’re creating a positive work environment that your guests will notice.
Always remember, better guest service leads to more positive reviews!
Respond immediately to negative reviews.
78% of travellers agree that seeing a hotel management response to a review makes them believe that the company really cares about its guests and the same importance applies to bars and restaurants. Given the importance of responding quickly, create templates in Revinate that you can use to make the review response process more efficient. Faster response times will subdue the fears of potential bookers and will make immediate positive impressions even before they visit.
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