Mon 30 Mar 2009
So which TripAdvisor reviews should you respond to?
Posted by Michael Hraba under hotel management, Social Media
1,930 views | [15] Comments
The answer is simple. It is, unfortunately, all of them.
You need to respond to every single review that goes up in regards to your property.
You can’t reply to just one, because you will look defensive. You can’t reply to negative ones only, because you will look more defensive and possibly just imbue a dower, negative image.
So the only real answer is that you reply to all of them. Don’t think of them as some task, or problem. The Trip Advisor ones are a fantastic opportunity to speak to *potential* guests. We are of course mitigating the experience with our less than pleased guests, but it is truly about creating a personality and existence online. For one, by existing online you create empathy for your business as an obvious human is reading and responding to the reviews, instead of it being a faceless brick and mortar business to hurl anger at. It also helps you to learn, grow, and change management or service. It is vital as a real time temperature gauge of your services and offerings, and if you look closely you can spot trends and react to them before they become bigger issues.
But you are also speaking to the voyeurs reading the reviews, and searching for hotels in your specific area. Every word you say, and how you react, is to be scrutinized by future (potential) guests. It is an amazing way to speak about your property, to reinforce your brand, and to really get your hooks into guests.
The happy guest reviews are easiest, because you simply celebrate what they loved about the property… a pastry chef, the Sommelier, the spa director, the property dog… it is a great way to take people’s offhanded comment and help market what you offer, and help prospective guests get a better idea about all the value that they might be missing. The negative guest reviews are great because you simply say “sorry” and then use it as a springboard to talk to potential guests about making sure they are clear about requests, needs, etc. If the room was noisy, remind potential bookers that the cheapest rooms are near a road that trucks come by in the morning. I have been able to sound professional, engaging, and breezy in responding to an unhappy guest, all the while really focusing writing the review for a prospective booker.
There are other tricks you can use that I daren’t get into. I can’t give you all my secrets.
15 Responses to “ So which TripAdvisor reviews should you respond to? ”
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by HHotelConsult: So which Tripadvisor reviews should management respond to? http://ow.ly/1pXXG (yup.. all of them)…
I agree–you need to acknowledge all reviews. Just the fact that you reply to all reviews shows that you care about all guests.
Who do you think is best qualified to respond to the reviews…the general manager? marketing director?
Any experiences with this?
Cheers!
Yes, I have had some experience with this… at a couple different properties. This is a really touchy thing, because everyone is too busy for it, you know? Some people that should respond absolutely don’t see the value in it… yet.
A GM would be great, but you could throw it departmentally, and make sure all department heads are on top of it responding to reviews that are specific to individual departments, with an AGM, Dir of Rooms, or Concierge responding to the overall reviews that cover the whole property.
I think it is a wonderful question, and I am excited to see where this goes.
http://www.hrabaconsulting.com/blog/2009/03/04/the-new-job-description-concierge-20-what-makes-an-excellent-brand-managerhotel-smo/
http://www.hrabaconsulting.com/blog/2009/02/25/the-stress-of-social-media-on-marketing-and-pr-firms-or-did-we-just-create-a-new-position-for-real/
those two posts talk a bit about this, but you need someone that is fairly erudite, savvy with words, and fiercely loyal. I don’t know if a GM would even be a good idea, really… I just hope someday this becomes a property level job. Problem that I am experiencing is that the time invested vs. the money paid is wildly disparate. I don’t know if you could pay someone that intelligent enough, especially when someone could be a travel writer, copy editor or something that they would be better suited to use their skills at.
This is one of the best questions I have been asked… and I think the answer is that is wholly dependent on the property level operations and where they can find someone able to do it. Maybe the GM, maybe the DOS… maybe a front desk agent that is skilled, loyal, and bored.
We are still very young here though, so if you have any thoughts I would love to hear it.
Very interesting thoughts, Michael – thanks!
I try to respond to any review in the extreme, whether good or bad. The rest go unloved.
When I saw this blog entry described on your Twitter feed, I was hoping for a magical explanation of how ownership responses affect our scores vis a vis the TA algorithim. But I’ll settle for having a philosophical service discussion.
Tripadvisor tweeted – “Management responses do not impact rankings; how many reviews, how recent, & how they evaluate property all do have impact”
At this time, interacting with reviewers and their responses has zero weight on your overall ranking. I hope they are starting to understand that it should be a sign of an involved hotel that is listening and learning. But what do I know? =)
Cheers, thanks for the post.
Great article, thanks for posting. Do you have a specific example of a property that has actually replied to all reviews?
The Allison in Newberg, near Portland, Willamette Valley
Wilbur Hot Springs in Williams, CA – Yelp and Tripadvisor
Stanford Terrace Inn in Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, CA
The oldest reviews for this hotel have been replied to – sort of “oldest first”
what should i do with the bad guest comments which is not true at all because we already gave 30% discount and they even broke the celing light in the room .they also asked for the free tea which we willing gave also again they order for the dal and did not pay saying there is a stone in the dal curry ,again they order for 6 plates of cutlet and ate only 2 plates and rest they cancelled by saying it’s not tasty because of the over heated oil.even they did not pay the service charge and sales tax.
Hi Michael – I noticed after your post that the Allison stopped replying to all Tripadvisor reviews recently. Wondering if this is a new policy or simply a time constraint issue for them? Thanks!
Simply time. 9 review in about a month… there is so much to take care of.
If one of them had been horrible, I would have been on it like white on rice. Or – light brown on couscous – the way I have been cooking lately.
But I have one hotel with a website launch, one property with about a billion updates (hyperbole.. you guessed that, yes?), and have been in meetings securing a bid to manage a 22 room eco-B&B on the Presidio in SF. It’s been insane… and I have been constantly interacting on FB and twitter…. one thing about a place like the Allison is that the value proposition makes people flock to it… unlike some of our other portfolio properties that struggle a bit more for interaction, and ends up being more listening and availability than some mega-brand conversation about the hotel.
But in the end, I think TA and Yelp still drive the most revenue. With the Allison… you have the hotel, and the restaurant, both on yelp and tripadvisor.
Each review, if written personally and relevantly, takes some thought, some research, and some time. It’s hard to sit down and do one at a time, and I note that I “batch” process some of these tasks. While a couple reviews sit for a bit, I wait to get back to it and reply to many, many reviews at once, in one day.
Our properties have never replied any reviews before, now if we want to do this, what should we do? As you said, reply all reviews? so should we reply all the reviews from the beginning (for long time ago)or just start with the newest one and onwards?
I think… the idea is to reply to the most pertinent reviews first… good and bad. Regardless of date, anything you can account for (like a bad experience) with operational changes or new supplies… as well as positive reviews that allow you to celebrate the unique offerings or placement of your property. Go to those first… then, as time permits, give necessary thank yous to those who have offered constructive advice or that loved your property. This approach will gaurantee that the impacting issues have been dealt with, both pro and con… and you will then have time for the idle, offhanded thank yous to reviews who were in the middle ground.
GREAT question tho… it isn’t easy. It’s overwhelming for to start the process, and it’s very humbling… because if your organization chooses to listen to the legitimate contructive criticism and positive comments, you are in for a cultural change. What you thought was the main value proposition of your hotel may not be as secure as you thought, and areas where you believed operations to be fruitful will turn up gaps and missteps.
If you are earnest, honest, transparent, and empathetic…. it will only help to drive visitors to your site, and revenue to your hotel.
I know it isn’t the best answer, but I hope it helps?