Online reviews give invaluable insight into what guests really think about your property. This, in turn, gives potential clients – tour operators, event planners, corporate travel managers and organisers – a glimpse into what your property will deliver and if it will be a safe choice. Here, six industry insiders tell us how online reputation and guest feedback inform client decisions and boost business.
1. Use online reputation as a seal of quality for your hotel.
“Today, I think all meeting planners and corporate bookers like to ensure that their proposed venues are well run and offer a consistent level of service, so they do not let their clients down or get surprised later on.” James Hewitson, General Manager, Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara.
2. Your hotel’s reputation affects the reputation of your clients.
“Having been with Sony for 15 years, my reputation on which hotels I select in the program is very important… I check on TripAdvisor to see what [travellers] are saying.” Ray Foley, Administrator of Sony Pictures Entertainment Global Program, Sony.
3. Use online ratings as a benchmark of quality for tour operators.
“Increasingly, groups and tour operators first look at the reputation online and then study price. Some tour operators won’t contract a hotel if it doesn’t have an acceptable rating.” Montse González, Sales Director, Aqua Hotels.
4. Ensure consistent quality of conferences with customised surveys.
“Our conferences and incentive staff employ our post-stay survey (specific to conference guests) to review the quality of the services we provide our guests. We put a lot of effort to tease as many clues as we can out of the comments and ratings to improve our services.” Bruno Saragat, Revenue Analyst, Forte Village Resort.
5. Use online reputation as a negotiating tool with potential clients.
“We are in a destination based on tour operators’ business, with over 300 hotels competing on the same market share. Tour operators have started using hotels rankings and reviews when positioning hotels and negotiating rates.” Ghada Amin, Social Media Manager, Orascom Hotel Management.
6. Use guest feedback to identify strengths that can be used in sales pitches.
“With review information, we can highlight our strengths … that we can emphasize in meetings with tour operators and corporate partners.” Bernadett Kosztka, Sales and Financial Assistant, The Three Corners Hotels.
To find out more about how to use guest intelligence to improve the guest experience, improve the quality and quality of reviews, boost sales and support your sales team request a demo today.
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