It is increasingly common for tourists and users who want to make a decision about a product or service to consult internet. The increase in the information available to us makes evident the need of having a strong digital presence, well planned and managed. In this way, we must put in value a complete and transparent information that includes the possible problems that we can face in a hotel everyday. When we work with social platforms in a digital environment, users can exchange their opinions, so criticism and negative comments are inevitable.
The way we respond to a comment can destroy the relationship with a client, but it can also influence the vision of our potential clients because we not only respond to the person who wrote the review, we do to thousands of users who visit the platform where it has been written. We must bear in mind that the tourism sector is one of the most sensitive to opinions and comments from customers. Properly address the online reputation of our hotel can become a key factor for our sales.
According to the barometer of shopping data and publications of TripAdvisor for 2017, hotel consumers take, on average, 89 days to make a purchase decision, visiting 34 websites and 182 different pages. In addition, 74% of those users visit TripAdvisor first before completing a booking process. Therefore, it is evident that, whether we want it or not, they will find useful information about our accommodation that encourages to stay with us or with our competitors. Also, 73% of users confirm that the main source of influence making their travel plan is this social network.
The main factors identified by tourists when they are booking an accommodation are two: prices and comments, as shown in the graphic below.
Some tips to answer comments in online reputation for hotels
- Begin your answer by thanking the user for the positive or negative comment.
- We must apologize for any inconvenience they may have had during their stay at our hotel.
- Expose the measures that you propose to solve the problem or improve the service.
- It is important to personalize the answer for our client to feel that their opinion counts.
- Try to speak with knowledge in a complaint. We must go to the department involved and try to find out what the problem has been, in every story there are at least two points of view.
- Try to always respond with a positive and optimistic language.
- In case that comments are positive, try to involve the employees that made it possible.
- We can also mention other services of our hotel to give them greater visibility.
- If you think you can help resolve a complaint, especially if he/she is a loyal customer, you can invite him/her to contact with the hotel to talk about the problem.
- When customers have visited our accommodation for the first time, we must try to build loyalty by inviting them to visit us again.
- Identify our position within the company so that the person feels comfortable knowing who he/she is talking to. Empath is a quality appreciated by users and the warmth of a humane treatment.
- Finally, we suggest that you should follow up the problem because our work does not end with responding to opinions. We have to make sure that it does not become a recurring complaint, if the department has tried to find a solution, if a second response has not appeared on the subject, etc.
One of the best advice we can give to you is to share feedback with your staff. In this way, you will not only find comments that help you to improve your service, it also can be an strong points that you can use in your marketing strategy. It is important that the perception that tourists have of your accommodation is not only based on the feedback you receive on your hotel but also the one that is generated online.
