Am I tired, or does Trip Advisor really have some majour problems?

TRIP ADVISOR isn’t always making inn owners happy.

I had posted this link before.  I think it is interesting that an inert marketing piece on how to deal with online CRM issues garnered responses that were relatively off topic (not about responding) by focusing on how much these 3 innkeepers dislike Trip Advisor.

I think of the situation where an innkeeper is angry, confused, and beleagured by these reviews, feeling zero recourse, searching the web for a chance to connect, lash out, or vent steam.  They find this helpful little blog and whammo… unleash their frustration against trip advisor.  I know it is a small sampling, and I know it is errant linking to a source that is “internet-y” at best.

But I cannot help but think many other innkeepers are frustrated or confounded by the inaccessibility or lack of connection they have with customers.

Someone on that blog said Trip Advisor does more harm than good.  Of course, that was spoken by an angry owner… so we recognize their humble opinion.  But I do think there are some fundemental flaws with Trip Advisor, to the point of being long term killers.

1) There is no way to verify the reviewer’s content as being true.  In fact, without getting myself in trouble, I can guarantee a couple of reviews to be fake.  There is zero oversight or process of veracity for these things.

2)  Ownership, management group, or property level employees understand part of the client population are disturbed, OCD, or any number of different traumatic offerings.  Hotels are public buildings, and they draw every sort of client: from domestic violence victims, suicide attempts, illicit affairs, dementia victims, medical conditions, etc.  Not saying this is a large part of the client base, but they exist.  The point is that emotional, fallible humans are the clients, and humans are sometimes impossible beasts.

We have all encountered the guests that were unwinnable, miserable, and downright bitter.  Sometimes, when you take into consideration all the emotional, mental, or physical conditions people can have, a hotel will not be able to please everyone, let alone accomodate them.

3) The real clincher:  It is in the best interests of the property manager or owner to have happy guests.  Hell, it is in the interest of the ownership to have great management, so the employees are genuinely happy.  That all goes back to the guest experience and bolsters the property’s brand image.

IE:  It is absolutely in the self interest of the hotel to be responsive and reactive to guest issues, complaints, and needs. I am not sure of the hotel that prides itself on arrogant non communication and total lack of willingness to listen to guests… but they won’t need Trip Advisor to help them shut down.  So what’s it good for then?

TripAdvisor negates the ability for the ownership to react on behalf of the property in lieu of a negative review.  It actually encourages ranting and raving rather than limits it.  The only ownership presence is a rather caddy, argumentative, and defensive arena of countering reviews (rather than being able to respond directly to reviewers).

In the end, I am starting to see deeply problematic Trip Advisor flaws; from lack of ownership accessibility who desire communication and positive brand building, to counter-intuitive response management theory.  The hotel not only wants a happy guest, they want a chance to resolve the situation as it happens.

Which brings me to my grudge:  What sort of human being takes time to drag a brand through the mud in revenge, retalitation or retribution?  Wouldn’t one prefer to be a happier person and acheive resolution as an issue happens, than wait for it to end and deal with it after nothing can be resolved?

The answer is no…. no they don’t.  Often, these are simply unhappy people, that feel locked into their mundane lives… feel powerfless and out of control.

They are miserable people, and nothing will change that.  If they were interested in less misery, they would deal with the issue at the time of the problem.

But not these people.  They want misery.  They court and hone it.  In fact, they are just waiting, from the moment of check in…. to get home and ease their meanigless existence with a joyful moment of glorious power…. as they click that single bubble on their …online… hotel…. review.

Maddening isn’t it?  And no recourse for ownership.  There needs to be a mediator or at least someone to approach.  I know most TA reviewers are kind people, just like every hotel owner isn’t a perfect guest loving altruist.

But most hotel owners want happy guests, and would like to be able to effectively resolve the situation as it happens.  It is my assumption that many of these negative one time or multiple negative reviewers are just those kind of people, and if it wasn’t your hotel it would be some other property.

So then…. how does a passive TA reader of reviews filter these shill or unfairly negative reviews?  And how to owners reach the guest individually without seeming defensive or rude?

These are some of the problems.  I could, obviously, ramble about these forever.  I will take the advice of my wall clock and realize it’s late.  =)