Hraba Hospitality Consulting

Yet another ambly, rambly post from a caffeine fueled hospitality dork. This is more waxing than anything, and is a state of affairs and insight rather than some exciting insider news. Hopefully, if you actually finish it, it will just make you nod your head and think a bit. This is about how we spend out time…. and however it ebbs, however fast; it’s an issue nowadays.  “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”  Might be easy for Albert Einstein to say that…. but it sort of seems like everything *is* happening at once nowadays.

You know what we do. I know (more…)

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.  =)

This is more of an attempt to get conversation started about tripadvisor.

I think it is obvious to respond and interact with guests on yelp. In fact, I think it is a valuable tool. Beyond dealing with unhappy clients, managing that as well as learning from them… you are allowed to connect with endorsers of your brand… thrilled clients that will help you spread the news about your message.

It is fantastic.

But I am still confused about tripadvisor, and how one might proceed most efficaciously. If I am completely mistaken, I will find out by being helped/schooled/*learned* in this public setting….

If I am not mistaken, instead of a direct correspondence with your previous guest you are actually just posting a public response. It seems dangerous, and could be useful, but feels more like a double edged sword.

I am sure I am missing something, but I would love other people’s thoughts on how to handle your hotel brand within tripadvisor as opposed to something like Yelp.

post here, or simply email me at michael@hrabaconsulting.com

The old marketing model has been flipped upside down, and now people are trying to figure out how to reach consumers that *want* to be reached… branded consumers that want to identify with your brand, rather than ignore it dutifully with the endless visual and aural “spam” that litters every street we walk down, store we walk into, or sites that we surf. And it is in this that we find our best opportunity… consumers no longer want to be advertised to. However, they will endorse your brand in the interest of their personal identity… which is why Yelp has been such an incredible opportunity from a business end. Not only do I like to reach out and talk to the consumers, I like the challenge of rectifying bad situations! It is a personal mission for me to redefine “advertising and marketing” with being real and transparent to the guest. I want them to identify with my quirks, possible (yet unlikely) typos, and my individualistic approach at really responding to each consumer… knowing each consumer is much more amplified than a traditional non social site reviewer. Like it or not, the consumer is now easily tiered into multiple levels of VIPS, not unlike what hotels have done for years.

Initially, very few businesses took advantage of yelp. Then came the terror and panic…. Business owners realizing it was a force, almost a lobby, that they needed to address, which led to an amazing moment in yelp history of business owners lashing out and acting like defensive bullied playground kids. Then things starting calming down a bit. This is the point we rest at… a moment when more and more hotel (business) owners are becoming involved, not because they are worried about customer perception… but because they realize the tool this is, in a violently upset world of dying print media and traditional marketing tactics going awry. Finally, in a world where we are moving further apart and less connected to our clients…. We have a direct and professional way to approach them.

Yelp has gotten me to the point of actually knowing our clients. It has been enjoyable finding out about their families, preferences, suggestions, and complaints. Yelp has helped me to humanize my client base. And because of this…. The angriest yelpers became some of our most branded and loyal customers because we showed that we were engaged, earnest, and interested in improving our relationship, service, and brand.

So Jim wanted a simple testimonial, and I blather on. But the ROI is never easy, and we need a new way to measure things. However, I can speak plainly of unhappy guests that have returned on a comp night from the hotel, that happily spent incremental revenue (outlet revenue like spa or restaurant). I can also speak of positive reviewers that have been given discounted rates and have returned, already branded, to enjoy our hotel yet again, and we await yet another update. What some of you at yelp might not have realized is how much of this is branding… that you are reinforcing your brand as they write a review…. But if the identify with the review they are tapping out because they hold the company/hotel/etc in high esteem…. That review they type out is literally reinforcing the brand as they type it.

Yelp is much more important than a review site. It is on the threshold of being the epicenter of the “new” marketing model. It is no longer about shoving adverts down the throats of consumers who want nothing to do with you. It is time to recognize we can not only talk to branded consumers thirsty for information…. But we can find depth and meaning in the relationships between clients / guests and create a new approach to business that not only has demonstrable ROI, but is a more human, interested, and excited approach to knowing your client base.