How engaged is your hotel online?

Internet has changed the way we do business. Today online reviews are written by guests who can either make your business or break it.

Now think, how important it is to look after each and every guest, who adds publicity and revenue to your business. In other words, online reviews have a direct impact on the earning potential of your Hotel.

Today’s truth – you are not known to the potential guest if no one is writing about your hotel online.

Let the ratings & reviews speak about you.

Most of the travellers won’t book a room in a hotel, that has very few or no  reviews.

The question is not about “should you be asking for reviews?”. It is more about how you ask guests for reviews in a “smart way”! It’s a proven fact that the increase of online reviews depends on the quality of your service. But watch what you “deliver” and then ask what you “deserve”.

But sometimes it takes a lot of time and effort to convert the positive feedback from clients into positive online reviews. So, how can you ask ask in a smart way without being pushy?

Here are 8 key success factors to more reviews:

• Explain to each and every guest the process of online reviews – Sometimes people are unaware of the process. Some people may be affluent and widely travelled but not so tech savvy. So it is important to educate and encourage the guest during check out to more reviews.
• Social Media – Keeping in touch through social media like face book helps in more reviews for your hotels.
• Reviews on third-party booking channels – Leisure travellers also rely on reviews written on Online Travel Agency (OTA) websites before they book. So it is important to encourage bookers who come through OTAs to also review your hotel on the OTA site.
• Hotel’s own website – As a hotel owner, a top priority is always to make your website visible and bookable. Guest reviews are a great way to communicate reputation, standards information etc. Surprisingly only 1 in 4 hotels have guest reviews on their website.
• Thank you letter – After the guests check out, send them a personal thank you letter. Along with the thank you letter, ensure that you attach the hotel’s tripadvisor link to encourage more reviews.
• Hotel guest-books – While the guest writes a comment or feedback in the hotels guest-books, ask for permission to publish on the hotel’s website. This helps in increasing the reviews on the website.
• Complimentary gifts — You need to make your guest excited and inspired to return when they leave your hotel. How about giving a complimentary basket of chocolates, or a free dinner voucher for a couple etc? When you do this, they not only remember you but also shows your interest and care for them. People like to do good things for good people. These type of personal actions can encourage more reviews.

As you see there are many ways to work on increasing your guest reviews — and if you don’t you are missing out on a golden opportunity to maximise what you already have.

So what are you doing to increase your hotel reviews?

The post 8 Special Tips to more reviews for your hotel appeared first on Online Revenue Generation Ideas for Independent Hotels.