Times are changing. Travelers depend on the Internet to find information on their destination of choice, with review media sites like TripAdvisor gaining popularity. Travelers trust these sites for recommendations and gain insights from other travelers in order to make bookings.
Looking at the statistics, it is quite evident that the Internet has become a dominant factor and review sites have the power to impact the hotel revenue. This can occur not only through bookings, but also in increased search engine rankings. As per Jupiter Research, nearly 30% of web users limit their searches to the first page of search engines so if your hotel has maximum reviews, chances are your hotel will appear on the first page of the search engines.
Reviews: The more the merrier
Reviews are nothing but ‘earned content’ generated by your guests. So, whether you like it or not, you can’t ignore their feedback. Positive reviews can drive more guests to your hotel while negative reviews can help you improve your service level.
People are more likely to submit positive reviews so it’s important for you to consider guest satisfaction earnestly as ‘happy guests have the power to influence millions of travelers online’.
While there is no magical formula to increase reviews, there are automated review collection tools that can help.
How can you make the most of TripAdvisor?
TripAdvisor is a free marketing tool that attracts 200,000 unique visitors each month who come solely to read reviews.
Over 90% of both travelers and hotels feel that reviews posted on TripAdvisor impact booking decisions, so this becomes a powerful platform for small and independent hotels who don’t have a high budget for marketing their property. Having a listing on TripAdvisor and utilizing some of its tools to get reviews can increase a hotel’s recognition.
Having worked with small and independent hotels in more than 85 countries, Hotelogix understands the value of reviews for both hotels and travelers. This is why Hotelogix and TripAdvisor are co-hosting a webinar on 19th August exclusively for independent hotels.
The webinar ‘How to Maximize Reviews on TripAdvisor’ will help independent hoteliers understand how reviews can be effectively used to influence travelers, how to tap into the power of automated review collection tools and learn from examples of successful hotels who have increased reviews using automated technology.
The speakers include speakers – Fernando Oliveira, Senior Manager of Review Express (TripAdvisor) and John Pribble, Owner of German Village Guest House – Ranked #1 B&B/Boutique Hotel in Ohio on TripAdvisor.
Click here to register for the webinar.
