Twelve More Tips for Increasing Your TripAdvisor Scores

By Amy Bair

How to increase TripAdvisor scores is the search engine term of the day. In January 2012, I wrote an article offering tips and tricks for increasing a hotel’s score — not realizing it would be my most popular one. Since new statistics have come out proving that raising scores does affect the bottom line, I thought it was time for an update.

First, some data to impress upon you the importance of focusing on online reviews:

• A hotel that increases its review scores by 1 point on a 5-point scale, can increase its price by 11.2 percent and still maintain the same occupancy or market share¹
• A  1-percent increase in reputation improvement leads up to a 1.42-percent increase in revenue per available room (RevPar)¹
• An improvement in customer experience can increase revenue by $1.3 billion for the hotel industry²
• “TripAdvisor is by far the dominant source for online reviews in the hospitality space, with more than 75 million reviews generated by some 32 million users.”³
• TripAdvisor declares there are 60 new user contributions per minute.⁴

Let’s talk tactics now!

11 ways your hotel can improve its TripAdvisor score:

1. Respond to comments in a timely fashion. In this new world, a speedy response is expected and appreciated. You are showing you care about the guest’s experience-whether they gave you a positive or negative review.
2. Highlight updates and improvements in your responses. Remember, you have 32 million of your closest friends watching your hotel’s every move. Did you buy a toaster that does NOT burn the bread? Announce it.
3. Stop posting the SAME responses!  It screams “I am doing this because I am obligated” versus “I care about your experience.” See this article for more. In fact, consider having more than one person post responses. Different personalities show through and that one staff member who has to respond to every comment does not get burnt out.
4. Exchange comments with reviewers. Per the Distrikt Hotel (which was ranked 4th out of 431 hotels), constant interaction is the key.  “Somebody on TripAdvisor just posted that they feel like they’re talking to a real person when we exchange posts,” she said. “Our GM encourages us to be personal, to use our personal sense of humor and to treat people as friends online.⁶
5. Watch TripAdvisor’s educational webinars for hospitality professionals.
6. Change your pictures and videos up regularly. It shows visitors you are actively engaged.
7. Add the review widget to your website. This keeps the prospect on your site and shows you are confident about your hotel and its fabulous service. Find it here.
8. Reputation management. Consider the task of online reputation management to be a team function. The results can be used as both a motivator and teachable experience. Managers can use the guest feedback to train and/or reward. “The practice of rewarding staff for positive reviews can in-turn help encourage guests to leave reviews.” ⁵
9. Make “sure multiple staff members are signed up to receive feedback alerts.” Track “performance by monitoring TripAdvisor’s customer satisfaction index and comparing that score to hotels in the competitive set.⁵
   Brian Payea, head of industry relations for TripAdvisor recommends “The real game-changer is getting involved in reviews by writing management responses. Research really proves that travelers value that exchange. Properties ignoring that are really missing an opportunity.”⁵
10. Per the GM at the hotel rated 3rd in New York, it is the little things that make the difference. Using the phrase ‘Welcome’ or ‘May I help you’ versus ‘Yes’ and teaching the entire staff to smile and interact with the guests is what they remember and thus comment on.⁶
11. Make sure you hire staff with a winning and positive personality. People like that are trainable and usually eager to learn. The resume means nothing if that new employee turns off your guests.
12. The Library Hotel Group in New York considers TripAdvisor to be their marketing strategy. According to Adele Gutman, the VP of sales, marketing and revenue, “When I was hired, I was not told to make sales calls or buy advertising. I was told to make these hotels as successful as they can be…I have found TripAdvisor a tremendous tool toward achieving that goal. The staff reads the reviews every morning. They have now developed such pride in their rankings that the success builds on itself.” ⁶

By following the preceding steps and with diligence, your score can improve. Look at this from the perspective of the bottom line. By taking the time to pay attention to your hotel guest’s comments, you can potentially increase your price by over 11% AND deposit part of that $1.3 billion in your bank account!

###

About the author

Business Process Excellence partners with hotels to increase revenue, decrease operating costs and improve customer retention. We examine your day to day operations and make recommendations for improvement that enhance productivity and efficiency while maximizing your profit margins. We can help you increase your TripAdvisor scores and get that extra 11.2% price increase! Contact us here and let’s get started!

###

References

1. http://ehotelier.staging.wpengine.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=24527_0_11_0_C
2. http://blogs.forrester.com/megan_burns/12-03-28-our_data_once_again_shows_that_better_customer_experience_yields_millions_in_revenue_benefit
3. http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/reports/abstract-16421.html
4. http://www.brainshark.com/brainshark/brainshark.net/portal/title.aspx?pid=zDPz10TemWz0z0
5. http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/6274/Address-online-guest-feedback-internally
6. http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/8896/Keys-to-a-high-TripAdvisor-ranking