Technology

The importance of responding to reviews

Today, many property managers ignore or perceive responding to guest reviews as a low priority. In other words, property managers do not realise the importance or how crucial responding to reviews really is.

By responding to customer reviews, it provides the customer a voice which makes them feel heard, giving properties an opportunity to improve customer satisfaction levels and increase customer loyalty. Also, by seeing management responses, it can improve guests’ perception of a hotel which can ultimately help guests with the decision making process and book with hotels who value customer reviews.

Studies show, only 32% of hotels respond to reviews, which means a staggering 68% of hotels simply ignore responding to customer reviews. The 32% of hotels that do respond to their online reviews whether it’s positive or negative, usually are the ones that perform higher, than the 68% that do not respond at all.

Studies also indicate, hotels who respond to reviews are more likely to increase their revenue as well as be more visible on review sites such as TripAdvisor as oppose to hotels who don’t engage in responding to reviews.

Now that you realise the importance of responding to reviews, here is a few tips to help get started with responding to customer reviews:

1. Respond promptly: By responding to a customer review in a timely manner, it indicates to the guest that you pay attention and value feedback. By showing that you care about their experience, it will leave a lasting impression on them.

2. Thank them: Whether the feedback received by the guest is negative or positive, always start by stating your appreciation to the guest who has taken the time to write a review and share their experience online. An example can be ‘ Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience online’ or ‘Thank you for your comments, we appreciate your time’

3. Address complaints: By addressing any complaints, this reassures the reviewer their review/feedback is taken seriously and shows you are willing to resolve their complaint. You can address a complaint by saying ‘Thank you for taking the time to offer your feedback, it is important to us and we will use it to look at areas for improvement in our hotel/resort’. You then continue to state the steps you will take to resolve the issue.

4. Be professional and polite: When responding to reviews, it is extremely important to be professional and polite with your response as it is visible to everyone and keeping in mind you are representing your property.

Remember, if you are not interacting with online guests’ reviews, you are at a risk of damaging your online reputation. Make sure responding to reviews is a top priority otherwise your competition who do respond will be the ones benefiting.

 

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