4 Ways to Generate More Hotel Reviews on TripAdvisor

One of the hottest KPI's for hotels across the world right now is the number of online reviews

on TripAdvisor. Hotel Managers are feverishly trying to generate online reviews through a multitude of

tactics ranging from asking people flat out, to sliding in a mention in post-stay emails. TripAdvisor's

Popularity Index makes having an ongoing review strategy a MUST since their algorithms are based off of

number of new reviews, review score and overall quantity of reviews. As a result, having dozens or

hundreds of positive reviews has gone from nice to a MUST have as a main marketing objective in 2014.

So how does a hotel get more positive reviews on TripAdvisor and other review sites? Read these tips

below and you and your hotel will be well on your way to not only getting a higher occupancy rate but

improving your overall review score:

Awesome Guest Service both Online and Offline

This is an obvious tactic to generate more positive reviews on TripAdvisor but it's often overlooked when

trying to raise one's hotel rankings. Your guests are social powerhouses armed with more technology than

Apollo's computer system that launched the astronauts to the moon. Remember that you're not only

impressing your guest, but you're making a lasting impression on that guest's online social network that

could range in the tens of thousands. Do you have someone monitoring mentions of your hotel online

in real-time? Not only are your guests checking in at your front desk when they arrive, they are most likely

checking in on FourSquare / Swarm, Facebook, Yelp, talking about their experience on Twitter, etc. You

should be as welcoming online as you are offline. In the physical world, empowering your staff to be able

to go above and beyond is immensely important. For example, writing handwritten thank you notes or

giving out complimentary welcome amenities means to world to most guests and cost you almost nothing.

We know that many guests will find the negative in some situations...and yes, some people are NEVER

satisfied.... but 99.9% of the time, you have a chance to create a raving fan of your hotel or brand each

time someone books their stay.

Pay Attention to Your Guest's Feedback

Having a feedback system in place is needed. Gaining real-time or post stay feedback will allow you to

make operational changes on the fly needed to improve the stay of other guest's experience. Guests will

notice the positive changes you make and will ultimately leave more reviews on TripAdvisor with positive

sentiment. Your rising review score average is directly correlated with the TripAdvisor's Popularity Index

that ranks your hotel property in their search results. Market Loyal hotel customers receive higher than

average quality and quantity online reviews. We focus on getting feedback from hotels

guests during and after their stay but also help the hotel property "push" the positive internal feedback

to turn into online reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google and social media channels. Any negative

feedback is kept close to internal processes and monitoring tools are setup to catch any feedback that goes

around the Reputation Loyal™ system.

Reward Your Staff

We see many hotel properties offering incentives for individual employees or areas of the business

mentioned in reviews. This creates a culture of exceptional guest service and an understanding of how

important online reputation for the hotel brand really is. Make sure to have the tools in place to be able to

track your customer's feedback on specific employees and specific areas of your hotel like housekeeping,

front desk, restaurant, bar, etc. We suggest that you make the feedback and online reviews very visible to

your hotel employees in the back of the house so they may feel involved in the process and see their hard

work (or lack thereof) publicly recognized. We have even seen some great examples of hotels staging

feedback and review contests that have really amped up the feedback scores.

Respond to Negative Feedback or Reviews Immediately

Negative mentions, feedback or reviews on TripAdvisor are going to happen. How you respond or if you

respond at all is very important. Recent studies have shown that 84% of travelers agree that a response to

a bad review from the hotel management, "improves their impression" of the hotel. 78% of those same

travelers also agree that seeing responses from hotel management makes them feel that the "hotel actually

cares" about their customers. Having the correct systems and strategies in place will allow you to respond

in real-time and gain more control of the way potential hotel bookers perceive your online brand. Utilizing

technology and review generation best practices are easy if you have the right partner and staff that totally

understands the value.

What tactics has your hotel taken to improve your online review scores on TripAdvisor?

For more info on Market Loyal, call 877-959-1260 or visit MarketLoyal.com