HHotelConsult hoping to make sense of his brainpan’s thoughts, rambles, ambles, and more. Hotel Industry banter, social media thoughts, and general blather.
Enjoy the TechCrunch article… and always, always, always enjoy the commentary. I find it interesting if not hilarious. If it isn’t hilarious enough for you, check out the comment section of this blog post, where it basically proves Facebook users are clueless (or 4chan had a blast acting like a mischievous army, once again).
Yelp seems to be taking this situation seriously though; umm….enough to post a Craigslist ad for legal counsel. I would imagine there are better ways to hire lawyers than CL, but hey, just says a lot about the management that got them into this mess.
But these cries of extortion… once again… are more about bad management than out and out unethical behaviour. There is no way these suits will be able to prove the “WE WILL DELETE A REVIEW FOR YOU” concept, because I don’t think it has ever happened; if it has, I doubt anyone has gotten a record of it as fact. Someone would have proof by now… a recorded call, etc. Admittedly, these guys at Yelp are from Paypal, and they know not to be sending privy or damaging info across email, etc…. but I still doubt something like that is going on. It’s more likely confusion on the level of businesses not getting what is happening with the algorithm, as well as the dubious (but not out and out unethical) “move the best review to the top” program, that seems to confuse a lot of people. This is more about business owner’s lack of understanding about social media, and Yelp’s apparent incapacity to clarify just how their algorithm works.
Using the algorithm as an excuse is not a wise move – blaming the foundation of their business opens them up to scrutiny. By blaming the process of your sorting model, there will be more curiosity as to how it works. Until people can trust that algorithm without question, their entire model will be extremely unstable. Regardless of proprietary, privileged information, it jeopardizes their ability to be viable and dealt with as ethical business people. Of course, the bungled Google deal and whatever really happened there (it’s all speculation) might offer a small window into their world. Theories abound that Yelp was lying to Google, leaking information, and fabricating higher offers from unnamed suitors. Yelp walking on this deal doesn’t make as much sense as Google calling their bluff, but logic doesn’t always figure into business dealings. All in all… Google knows how to negotiate, and they were “rattled” by Yelp’s lack of transparency…. seemingly a theme for Yelp.
All they need to do is be open about their algorithm, and it will bolster and gel their business model. I am sure there would be growing pains with being that open, but it would pave the way to have a stronger, vetted business that actually has trust from other people. Until then, their algorithm nonsense will be the blood in the water that keeps the sharks (lawyers & lawsuits) coming back…
As the solution to their issues seem obvious, it starts to beg the question whether Yelp really has something to hide. Without being conspiratorial, it isn’t that much of a logical leap that they are concerned about *something* – whether there are significant flaws in the algorithm, or they have work arounds that allow you to disregard specific aspects of it. Frankly I don’t like conspiracy theories; people are typically not intelligent enough to orchestrate massive lies involving endless people that agree to keep secrets without being morally challenged. Our government can’t, big businesses can’t…. why should a web 2.0 startup be able to get this far? If moralistic heart strings being tugged isn’t enough, money talks… and one of the employees would have blown the whistle for their future book deal and fame, at this point.
However, if they ever get caught jockeying reviews under the guise of their algorithmic mistakes, Yelp will be *decimated*…. but I can’t imagine that ever happening. What might happen is that serious flaws in the algorithm get noted, and short term it will seriously hurt them. Depending on how they handle this fictional problem, it won’t likely be a Yelp killer. However, watching Toyota deal with public fallout, it never ceases to amaze me how business’ often choose to ignore history and good sense. What’s more, Yelp is a leader in flipping the marketing model and giving consumers a voice, taking a business’ ability to control damage with PR and spin. Yelp is acting exactly like the companies that they are helping expose… you can’t be secretive, you can’t market your mistakes away…. if any business should understand this, it’s Yelp. If you aren’t ethical, or don’t operate with the best of intentions… the public has ways of exposing that. It’s humorous, and possibly ironic, that Yelp is caught in a trap of their own making.
I love seeing unethical people getting brought down, but I just don’t see this as mitigated behavior so much as foolish bungling, something I touched on before in this article.
People who don’t understand what Yelp is offering endlessly cry about the review site’s shifty ways… but Yelp’s program for advertising isn’t that nebulous. The $300, $500, $1000 plans get you “impressions”…. those lightly highlighted/colored ads at the top of searches on yelp. You also get a “slideshow” style picture gallery which is pretty meaningless, and you get to pick your favorite review to automatically appear at the top. It says, “this is the company’s favorite review” and it’s fairly obvious when people are sponsors. Most of the worthwhile aspects of managing the business owners accounts on yelp have nothing to do with their advertising options, by the way. It is a valuable tool and can help you listen, learn and grow…. but you don’t need to pay yelp for any real reason. For most businesses I doubt it makes sense at all; I don’t get it for a flower shop or bakery, etc…. there is no return on investment, so those constant calls they must be getting are annoying, to be sure. But I still don’t think there is some devious plot going on…. I have spoken to at least 5 different account managers in different markets who try to get me to advertise, and none have pulled any unethical behavior beyond being ENDLESSLY annoying.
I still prefer google adwords, but if you are already doing those it might not be a bad idea, depending on your business. Think about it from a hotel’s perspective – If I choose to pay $1000 a month from our marketing budget (which has moved online from print media), that means I get something like 4800 impressions (aka a banner ad that a consumer may or may not see due to “banner blindness”… I mean, I don’t see those ads at all, frankly). If our average daily rate is $500, that means I literally have to pluck one person for two nights out of the 4800 impressions to cover the cost of advertising with yelp. It actually is sort of a slam dunk, in that sense.
I just can’t convince old school marketers who are scared of losing the message, and not controlling the brand, due to sites like this. What’s more, Yelp is only successful in SF Bay and a couple other markets.. barely. Boston, LA, Chicago, NY seem to be okay… but even social media savvy Portland and Seattle aren’t that strong a market at all.
Look at open table reviews vs. yelp reviews in other markets…. opentable reviews which are verified and confirmed from a reservation are much more common than yelp reviews outside of the SF market. One of our fine dining restaurants in the Portland area has 2 reviews on yelp, and over 200 on open table. That speaks volumes.
But in the end…. it’s all bad press, and it douses their equity every time this happens. I can’t help but wonder why they allow this to continue unabated?
Social media is supposed to be about transparency and Yelp is failing at that…. massively. Everyone thinks Yelp is some immutable, immovable behemoth, but people moved from Myspace to Facebook in less than a couple months. Youtube is less than 5 years old, and Facebook is less than 3 1/2 years old.. Yelp needs to recognize that their high horse isn’t that high. The basic upshot is that this is all very young. I think it’s interesting tho… all of it… which is why I am rambling here to all of you. This will all be sorted out within a couple years, I am sure.
Do you guys think this is more about confusion from the companies themselves, or do you really think yelp is committing some expertly maintained conspiracy? What are your thoughts on the future of online reviewing?
An impressive LEED Platinum for a hotel, Napa’s Bardessono. I would like to take the time to point out that the incredibly complex reuse project from the NPS and ECB/Fort Baker Retreat Group, Cavallo Point, was just awarded LEED Gold. Being NPS land, historic buildings, and completely “green” presented an interesting array of problems (aka opportunities), and I am happy to say 2 years after opening it’s doors, it has finally received it’s status. It is a shining light for the Bay Area, a stunning addition to the National Parks and GGNRA, and a model for future development being ethical and about sustainability. I applaud both these properties, especially knowing how complex the LEED process can be!
This is sort of scary, but nothing new to our industry: Hotel industry needs flexible graduates. “Skeleton staffs don’t bode well for hospitality students preparing to enter the market today. As if the long hours and weekends shifts in the hospitality industry weren’t unattractive enough, students entering the job world in today’s economy are forced to be more flexible than ever, often taking jobs outside of their geographical preference and much lower on the corporate ladder than they had hoped.” Honestly – if I had known the hours I was going to work prior to starting my career in hospitality, I don’t know if I could have done it. Of all the things I have dealt with in my life, the hours as manager at every property were dehumanizing and exacerbating. Looking back, I don’t know how I did it for over a decade. But that is what our industry is… high pressure, fast paced, grueling grinds, and the self delusion that it is as important as saving lives and that it will all be better tomorrow – oh, and that “lateral promotion” you took to get out of the department you are currently pigeonholed in… was totally worth it. (a little cynical humor, of course – not at all from my career. Riiiiiiiiiiight).
Why do hotels have so much trouble answering emails? This is an epic, well timed, post. It’s a HUGE problem, and not enough companies have corporate policies. It becomes a disaster for communication if people think they can reach you, but have zero real access to you. It makes our industry look bad, and it has to stop. On the up side…. if you make it a priority to reply to emails, and it becomes everyone’s priority, maybe they will slow down with better communication. More phone calls, less emails (including those horrible passive ones hiding the real question of “why haven’t you answered my emails?) – but that might just be wishful thinking.
Hotels converting F&B space into meeting space. A lot of hotels are looking for revenue, and this was an actual conversation we had with a client in the last couple weeks…. nice to see the article agreeing with us. Lounges and comfy spots don’t generate revenue – but meeting space does.
Augmented Reality is buzzed about for a reason… and not just because it is PHENOMENALLY AWESOME. But it may actually create business, even for small businesses.
Is geolocating the future of hotel marketing? I love that hyperbole, I really do… but let’s just leave it at “a really important, impacting development” before waving the white flag at all other types of marketing. I actually think it is… for one, there’s FourSquare. But I don’t like getting *too* carried away. =)
Foursquare does have some strategic growth; First Zagat, then Chicago. Some pretty big stuff happening, and it makes me excited that with all this activity, and other industry people cloning their format in multiple ways, Foursquare seems aware and fluid enough with a solid enough business acumen, to withstand the turbulence in this crowded arena. They seem smart, and I think you need to keep an eye on them. If you haven’t gotten a google alert from them about someone “checking in” to your hotel or business, trust me… you will.
The future of marketing in hotels? This is a tech guy with idealistic notions of what hospitality *COULD* do – with money, foresight, more labor, and planning. It’s a good idea, some luxury brands might try to get there with this as a gimmick, to start….. but interesting and enthusiastic read nonetheless. Beyond that, I liked the idea… and don’t mind plugging him. He has got to be one of the only people out there that I know building Iphone (and I assume Android as well) apps that has even the most rudimentary understanding of the hotel business. A lot of people are yapping about apps in our industry…. we might not be able to afford one, but for those that moved enough of your 2009 marketing budget online, and have a bit to spare…. check him out.
An interesting blog about the development of social media in the Kenyan hotel industry, and can possibly be extrapolated to other small inns and boutique properties that don’t have the monster marketing budget, but know there is an audience to reach.
The UK heats up about online hotel reviews, looking for some sort of validation process for Tripadvisor. Is this another aspect of GPS & Geolocation that could help curtail fraud and shill reviewing? Whatever the case, I think the industry can handle itself…. it’s in their best interests. Getting the government involved to regulate seems a bit much. The only winner when you start legal proceedings are the lawyers. Very few other people actually win besides them.
Social media as customer service for hotels. Thank you for not saying social media as a way “to sell” or “drive revenue”. Social Media may have a valid ROI, but this is more about being a cost of operations than a revenue stream. We can all drive revenue with it…. but it is simply more important to *ENGAGE*. Because in the end, ignoring it will cost you.
Here’s an odd piece – great thoughts… horrible grammar. I didn’t understand this, so I include it to see if you have any thoughts?
That’s it! Just thoughts and links and interesting stuff! A real post is coming soon, I promise!
The rest that is cut off (hey I am a hotel guy, not a HTML guy) says “($42/month), would you?” You can take the survey yourself right here: TripAdvisor Survey for Owners.
I will let the pic speak for itself. I know it’s just a survey, but I assume some people might have a concern in regards to this? How about: mom and pops, small innkeepers, non branded or flagged properties that don’t have a mega-marketing budget to leverage every site, and I could go on. I know it’s only $500, but it adds up…. and if they were to really go through with this I assume it would be irrevocably damaging to their long term credibility. Even Yelp has tiptoed around ethics issues with business owners, review manipulation, etc – but haven’t done something this obvious. Of course, the question is: In their quest to monetize, will TripAdvisor risk their credibility to do so?
Any thoughts? Is it that big a deal? Would it create an unfair gap between “haves” and “have nots”, or is TripAdvisor supplying link and phone info moot, because guests will call the hotel directly anyway?
Once again, I got carried away with a response to a blog post, and decided to expound on it. I am sure this counts as real business right?
Newsweek’s Budget Travel has a great article about TripAdvisor trying to deal with the long coming revelation that many of their users and reviews are not legitimate. This is, frankly, a huge blow to the site, and should pose a happy problem in it’s early adolescence as they deal with all the changes that come along with growing into adulthood. Frankly, I am thrilled that this may provoke User Generated Content sites to seek the same verification model other sites have.
At any rate, this is vital to all of us, and it recalls some of my previous post (which I seem to mention once or twice):
One scotch fueled evening my jocular side protruded a wee bit and I became a prankster. To be honest it wasn’t to learn the lesson I did, rather just good fun. I speak of the Ryan Air Twitter spoof of mine, which got considerable attention in traditional media (namely because Ryan Air claimed @ryanaironline was their account). It helped me realize that there is a grave concern for brands and trademarks, and both the businesses & social media sites should have a vested interest in a verification process of brands. There is a serious risk of hijacking and damaging people and businesses, with inauthentic people (or dim ones not realizing pranks and social media can go viral) damaging a brands reputation.
Social Media is young. FB beat out myspace because it is better at replicating and verifying the real world (although it can’t actually do anything more meaningful than provide a wonderful marketing data gathering opportunity for FB, coupled with a nice phonebook)… but it was verifying that the person was the *reality* based person, which quickly attracted people to it. If you aren’t relevant to any networks, or aren’t genuine… you quickly become invisible.
As user generated review sites follow a similar path, these things will stabilize. It is very young, and still in the myspace period of fake profiles and people… but as twitter adds verification services & FB starts considering verification due to trademark infringement issues with it’s new URL program: , it will be obvious for User Generated Content Sites to authenticate, across the board. I am not sure if open ID and attaching accounts to mobile phones is the simplest way, but if something doesn’t happen quick the sites will implode through sacrificing the only thing that makes their business model feasible. I am sure Tripadvisor has seen the start of accounts closing due to the breach in ethics.
We will wait until services like Yelp and TripAdvisor grow into the awareness of what they have created. People sardonically jest “the internet is serious business” when it comes to this sort of stuff. But it is. It isn’t just 2.0. It’s a massively powerful tool that completely reorients the consumer model, putting control into the hands of the people, and out of marketing and PR companies, possibly for the first time in capitalism’s history. The message can no longer be managed, and PR doesn’t work the same way anymore. You are only as strong as the advocates and endorsers that believe in your brand. Ethics is paramount.
The only way for these sites to continue their validity is by echoing the sentiment of their own taglines: Tripadvisor’s “get the truth… and go”, or Yelp’s “real reviews, real people”. If they commit to intelligently policing their own site by being completely transparent, authentic, accountable, and earnest, they should be able to emerge better than before.. They might need to take a huge dip in registered users, as well as delete a lot of existing content. This open and honest method of dealing with this situation will undoubtedly sacrifice trust in the short term, but it is the only way for a social media site to maintain the trust that they leverage for business.
It will hurt… but this is an opportunity for them to re-organize into a leaner and more valid site than ever before. Most people saw this coming. Let’s hope it isn’t something they try to spin away or ignore… instead of doing what is right and being honest, while doing everything they can to curb the problem.
I admit concern about the idea of having to hire non-revenue generating staff to handle the massive clean up project, and the fact the money simply might not be there to handle it. However, it is obvious they are quickly responding, like April Robb from Tripadvisor commenting to Christopher Elliott. I do like the warnings they put on some hotels, but it could be markedly arbitrary?
We’ll have to see.
Not sure what age social media is at right now, but it is certainly hitting a painful growth spurt.
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. =)
Okay calm down and chill out. It really doesn’t help. Actually my mantra is quite lazily swiped from Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “DON’T PANIC”. I can’t tell you how often that phrase helped during bomb threats, broken water mains, or total service meltdowns in opening periods…..
*But* I have your attention. It’s devious to be sure, but you’re here and you might like this.
As you are calming down, I will help raise your eyebrow a bit, and possibly the bar. This isn’t the limbo… so we will hopefully bring it up so that everyone can pass through! No, it is not the kind of bar you wished it to be. You will need to find that later in the day.
We hotel social media people are all over it! The internet that is. We are in a lot of places online. Frankly we are everywhere and it wears us out. Following yellow page sites like citysearch and yellobot, following customer generated reviews on multiple hotel outlet pages with sites like TripAdvisor, Zagat, or Yelp. We have multiple Twitter accounts, facebook pages, blogs, myspace, and more. We have RSS feeds creating feedback loops of brand info!
Simply…. we are doing our job for the company, as rapidly as that is being defined.
But more and more I notice something. Most corporate offices are totally clueless. They are years away from this. Many are catching on, starting to get it, almost there. Even the corporate offices with visionary ownership – far ahead of the game – fall a bit short in that they understand that social media is important, vital, and very much the “here and now” of grassroots word of mouth, but aren’t completely utilizing the tools yet. At times it feel as if there is a self satisfaction in having that “one online guy” managing things, so they can tell their other industry pals, “We’re on it. We are relevant, fresh, and in the know!”
Sipping of Arnold Palmer’s then reverbrates in the lounge air with a smug sense of management being hip (Actually, that is usually me with the Arnold Palmer). I am fairly lucky this isn’t my case and it is hyperbole to be sure, but you catch my drift. The point is that it’s so new a “tool” (for lack of a better term) there is a strong likelihood there will be communication problems at the beginning, the learning curve will be great, and making people aware of it will be very difficult.
If you believe in the brand you work for, it is your cross to bear.
The difficulty is bridging that gap, and helping people grasp it’s importance. What is happening with social media, search indexing, and brand positioning is going to alter *everything* in the next couple years for the internet. Quick article *here* However it so new I am not sure people are fully grasping this “thing”, beyond the hip and organized ones that are currently shuffling their social media guy into a room and praying that that person does a good job (so they no longer have to worry about the “annoying reviewers”)….
It isn’t the “be all and end all”, it isn’t a religion… but it is vitally important, much bigger than one person, and hopefully this ramble will help you will see why.
Ownership, management, and most employees are lost on it, understandably so. Social Media is an overwhelming place of daunting content and endless snide reviews…. but we “SMO” were put here to build a base for the brand’s social media presence, and that is much more than just hiring someone to do the job and ignoring them. It is allowing the SMO to interact with employees and help reinforce what social media is and does. This is a position that will not only be a property level position at some point, but it will be a respected manager training and helping other staff to get on board and help the hotel. Ehhh… possibly (Feynman said fence sitting is an art)
Most hotels with social media campaigns do not alert guests to it, often forgetting to mention it if it comes up. Often it is because employees don’t know about it, or sometimes because it just aggravates them. You have all heard of it, probably been inundated by it and confused by it, which is often times why people just ignore it. But it is vital we talk about the lack of connection between the campaign and employees on property level, and why there needs to be more interaction than “yeah we have a guy doing it”.
How do you start this interaction? My advice is to find any and every employee property level that “gets” social media, is into it, and might have fun with it. In fact, many of your SMO’s already see some employees online while performing their job tasks… you know those employees online a bit more often than they might need to be? That is where you start…. it’s that simple!
People are concerned about their employees talking about them online, but that concern should be obsolete! You shouldn’t worry about it… THEY ALREADY ARE TALKING ABOUT YOU! You couldn’t stop them if you wanted to, so it is wise to reinforce that your brand is online, they are representing it… and anything they can do to help will be appreciated!
Then start talking to those who might be interested in increasing sales leads, contacts, and bookings.. no doubt there is a savvy sales agent already hammering away on facebook all day. Why not extend that into a professional sales page that they link a twitter account to? Then you have networking for the sales agent, and brand presence for the hotel! The more of these sort of interactions, the better!
Your tech guy might already be there, but if I know hotel A/V and IT people… they are way too busy to actually *do* social media. But remind them they could use it to keep informed about current trends and products they can geek out to, as well as ask questions to quickly resolve conundrums. Maintenance could use it in the same way as well. When all your people have accounts up and running, think how convenient it would be for a guest to twitter engineering about a burnt out lightbulb, or a Wireless point that is down?
Starting to wrap up this ramble!
SO – the social media guy can handle a property level account for twitter, a facebook page, a blog, and more… constantly cross posting and getting the word out, but it takes more than that to increase your online footprint. You want sales people talking sales, and tech people talking tech… you want all the employees connecting with other hotels and hospitality employees, as well as to other guests and clients. You want people commenting on blogs about the hotel where applicable, and talking about it on their own. You want people posting their pics and videos. You want your brand to be bolstered by thousands… not just one social media guru locked in a windowless room in a cage.
BUT WHY? WHY ON EARTH IS THIS ACTUALLY A USEFUL BUSINESS TOOL?
Well … this post was so bloody long we will save the meat for the next post. It will make sense. I promise!
Here are some of the links I previously spoke about in regards to social media sites not being profitable. I note, when people find that these sites are not profitable, I am often met with surprise in lieu of all the buzz and media about them. Buzz does not profit make.
YOU READER! You yourself may not have thought of it – but facebook, youtube, yelp, tripadvisor, linkedin, twitter…. none of these powerful sites have proven the social media ad-model, nor been able to turn a profit. I am not sure if I published these links already, but they are good for thought. It is sort of ripped out of a previous yelp conversation, found (yes unfortunately on yelp) HERE. It is a good thread about yelp. I am not going to elucidate, but we might all agree that Fishbits X is one of the most thougthful, prolific yelpers out there (tongue firmly in cheek). The below tracks some of the conversation about monetization and creating web 2.0 to actually be profitable, which it is not.
And I think the AOL Yahoo thing brought out some interesting comments… especially from Randy Falco http://gigaom.com/2008…
“But despite drawing large, engaged audiences, other social networks have not been able to make the experiences relevant to users and marketers alike.”
Curious situation that I have heard some hoteliers remark about:
They believe social reviewers a tight knit group of people that suffer groupthink (IE “Yelp Elite”).
In this, a lot of time reviewers of their own travel networks, say Trip Advisor or someone using LA Times Travel site, are easily and confidently swayed by reviewers within their own network.
In an ideal web 2.0, user generated content such as this is *absolutely* meant to be informative, evaluative, and impacting. They are meant to create a community of honest and trustworthy sources: balanced, honest, real, truthful, and experienced.
As it should be if all reviews on all sites if the reviewers were professional. But… they are not. They are often fickle, misguided or simply wrong. Often spelling is of little concern, and a fair review (or pertinent) is further down the agenda.
These sights are far from objective. Look at Sf.Eater’s ongoing efforts for ontological, anthropological discussion and documenation in their series called “Yelp Wanted“. It is hilarious really…
… until you get to us. The business owners and those involved with the business. Then it becomes sort of frustrating. Sort of depressing. Possibly maddening.
You have business owners suing reviewers, or simply lashing out. You have other ones trying to fight back and sue some of the sites. Merchants angry, or better yet, small innkeepers organizing trying to “convince tripadvisor”.
It is pretty incredible. It attests to the lobby like influence these user sites have.
So why are there no checks and balances? Why oh why isn’t there even a spell check?
Joking aside, there is no way to seek veracity for reviews on most of these sites. Expedia and Travelocity give the opportunity to review only *AFTER* the processed stay has occurred. Of course this was easy for them to do, as proof of stay already existed, and you didn’t have to come up with some arbitrary verification process.
But it is interesting how often (to bring this back to the first line), seemingly, someone will read a review prior to using a business, and will have a self fulfilling expectation, either good or bad, of what to expect.
For example… an important reviewer negatively comments on something, only to start a string of similar comments. There have been cases of yelp reviewers commenting on businesses they haven’t even used, simply because other reviewers had bad experiences. Or a better example might be when a Yelp Elite Party is held at a specific restaurant or event center. It is assured an endless string of glowing reviews will be lobbed towards the provider as a goodwill back scratch. When someone does not write a glowing review, there is a backlash.
(Actually, it seems that Yelp has removed that post because one of their staff continually provides bad PR. Here is another thread where he is duking it out with a non elite member. It sounds drunken, and sophomoric.)
So what’s the moral? Is there one or is this another silly ramble?
No… the moral of the story is that this is an ever involving dynamic between businesses and customers.
What I am starting to get disappointed in is that these sites that aim to be a boon to the consumer is simply making it more complex.
In a day and age where human contact is rare and far between, we are now finding ways to be unprofessional to one another in our business relationship without ever having seen each other.
So… take every review with a grain of salt, be as aware as possible, and do your best to be honest, transparent, excited, and real to reviewers.
However, the most proactive thing is to talk to your guests, and engage them on property while you have the chance. Whereas before you had the one special reviewer from the paper with his picture in the kitchen, every single guest has the potential of being an “amplified consumer” that will be a boon, or bust, for your property.
If they must groupthink, we may find it wise for it to be thunk in your favour.
I know I shouldn’t end with a made up word, but it’s time to play poker.
Yelpers don’t want complexity. They just want lovely free parties where they can be happy. Nothing wrong with that, frankly. Sounds good. Actually.. really, really good.
But happiness does not sustain itself all the time… those parties may be no more if something doesn’t happen… and fairly fast. I did just notice a new feature called “Things I Love” on the yelp profile main page. This is worked in so as to create highly targeted advertising for the members. If they like dogs, they can market dog food. If they like their fiance, they can market wedding vendors. It is a brilliant idea, but I already chatted about how Facebook’s model doesn’t work. Even running a couple tests produced some negligible and even odd results.
So, when JP Morgan suggests that 2009 will be the year that the ad model fails…. my ears perk up and I wonder a couple things. Namely, will there be unexpected opportunities if they are not able to get ROI or make these things profitable?
This is fascinating, and social media is so big right now… ballooning, saturating, and a media darling which has gotten an almost cult of personality like focus in the news.
I cannot imagine that they will make it profitable, nor can I imagine it going away.
What do you think is going to happen? I think that a lot of these sites don’t have strong business leadership, and there is a lot of panicking going on right now. As long as they focus on the business more than the parties….
TripAdvisor responded to me earlier posted questions for the tripadvisor hotel relations team. They did not respond directly to some of the more esoteric questions, pontificating on social media. But they did provide some useful information that I am sure many hoteliers are clamouring for.
The main juxt of my questioning was whether owners use profiles like normal users, and who is allowed to be a management respondent. I am surprised by some of the info. Especially potential ethical violations of hotel owners.. swapping good reviews or shill review for their property, or against a competitor.
Their response to the above link was as follows:
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Dear Michael,
Thank you for your email and questions regarding the site.
Can you please tell me the title and date of the review the management response which you would like to edit is attached to?
Yes, your owner account is the same as a user account. We do not have restrictions for owner features, it is all up to what you want your preferences to be.
Even though you are using your TripAdvisor account to write management responses you are also able to post reviews for other listings under the same user name if you desire.
Anyone representing a property is able to write a management response for a review.
Though I cannot go into great detail about how we sift out questionable material, I can tell you that TripAdvisor invests a great deal of energy and resources into separating out the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.Aside from employing the use of a set of automatic filters to constantly scan both published and incoming reviews for suspicious behavior, we also manually inspect each post before it is published to our site.Beyond that, we respond to every piece of support correspondence that we receive from both hoteliers and our members.If you ever find a piece of content on our site to be fishy, please do not hesitate to drop us a line.I think that you’ll find out support team quite responsive to your concerns.
Unfortunately we are unable to reveal any statical data about reviewer history throughout the site.
In order for us to best serve our community, we like to rely on e-mail correspondence for customer support issues as opposed to phone support.
Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.
