How can your hotel maximize guest reviews?

Online Reputation Management has become one of the most important tasks for hoteliers. Simply having a website, Facebook page or other social networking handles only guarantee an online presence but not necessarily a positive online reputation.

Among the three types of online content – Paid, Owned and Earned; the one that has the highest influence on your potential bookers is ‘Earned’ due to its credibility. Guest reviews and ratings form a large part of Earned content which can have a direct impact on the traveler’s decision making to convert him into a booker.

Looking to increase reviews?

It’s highly improbable to run behind your guests requesting for reviews every time they stay. Enter a tool that does the requesting for you, while you sit back and watch your rankings increase on the world’s most trusted review media site, TripAdvisor.

Review Express by TripAdvisor enables hotels to create and send customized, professional emails that include your hotel’s branding, requesting guests for reviews which are then published on TripAdvisor.

Regular Review Express users see an increase of 33% in reviews (Source: TripAdvisor)

Customizable to your Requirements

The email is sent from your property’s id which is customizable. Your hotel name will appear in the ‘From’ field and you can add your hotel logo or photo in the body of the email. You can change the content of the email as you desire, in 23 different languages! A link to your TripAdvisor page will be automatically included in the email.

But, the Review Express tool alone is incomplete without a connectivity solution that automates the process of seeking reviews from your guests.

That’s where a hotel management software like Hotelogix fits in. Integrating Review Express with Hotelogix can result in effective communication and will help build a positive online relationship with the guests that have stayed in your hotel.

Automating review collection using Hotelogix

Once the guest has completed his stay and the Night Audit has been performed by the system, Hotelogix sends a mailing list of checked-out guests to TripAdvisor. Hotelogix offers you the option to include or exclude a guest from the list with a single click. This can be especially useful if you’ve had a particularly dissatisfied guest.

Once TripAdvisor receives the guest list, an email with a review request is automatically sent to them on your hotel’s behalf within 72 hours of check-out. The guest can then click the link in the e-mail to complete a review of your property. This review collection email has a “Write a review” link which if not clicked within a week, triggers another automated follow-up email.

Once a guest reviews your hotel, it not only reflects on your TripAdvisor page but also on Hotelogix Front Desk and in the Admin Console. Hoteliers can then address any issues raised by guests in a timely manner. The guests’ feedback can also be used for quick reference in case of returning guests at the check-in, check-out and during various guest service interactions at the front desk. This encouraging way of getting reviews, monitoring feedback and using the feedback for continued improvement in guest service will go a long way in creating a good online reputation for hotels.

Try Review Express with Hotelogix

The guest that has recently checked-out has more probability of sharing feedback rather than the ones who may have stayed with your hotel months or even years before.

The automation of review collection using Hotelogix is very useful because it makes sure that you have an opportunity to collect reviews from your most recent guests in the quickest way.

With Hotelogix and Review Express, hoteliers will have a way of building their online reputation in a highly systematic way.