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In a democracy, elections give citizens the ability to provide feedback to politicians.  In school, students receive grades on their academic performance. And in most companies, employees are given some type of performance review.

Aside from watching key metrics, how do you measure your success as a hotel? As a hotel marketer?

First, let’s remember why feedback is important.  You may be thinking, “I don’t want someone else grading my performance!” But successful hoteliers understand guest feedback tells you…

• What you’re doing right
• What you’re doing wrong
• How you can improve
• Opportunities to attract more business and improve your reputation

…and this input comes from the only group that matters: your guests.

Now, chances are you already have some type of guest satisfaction survey in place at your hotel.  That’s a great start, but here are some ways to use the web to better listen to your guests:

Build a feedback-friendly website. Provide direct contact information for all managers at your hotel. Prominently display a feedback form (or link to it) on every page of your website.  You may even want to use a live chat tool, such as LivePerson, on your website.

Use email to gather feedback. Have management send brief, personal emails to your best guests. Set up a system to collect guests’ email addresses, and send a followup message asking how you could improve their next stay. Email is fast, direct, and effective. Plus a lot of email followup can be automated, making it the ideal relationship building tool for the hotel internet marketer.

Monitor conversations around the web. Set up Google Alerts. Use Twitter search or How Sociable.  Many people won’t say something negative to your face, but they’ll share their feelings freely online.

To manage your brand reputation, you need to know what guests are thinking about you.  Setting up systems that allow you to listen to your guests is essential.

Let me ask you this: How do you use the internet to encourage and gather guest feedback at your hotel?

New York’s Pod Hotel has started using an online forum that allows guests to meet each other before arriving.

The budget hotel, which caters to the young, hip crowd, offers many high-tech amenities: iPod docking stations, free WiFi, and flat-screen TVs.  But its PodCulture forum is most innovative.

After registering, guests are sent an email with a code that allows them to register on the forum. Once there, they can begin communicating with other guests under categories such as “Eat With Me” and “Shop With Me.”

The full story from The Globe and Mail contains even more information on the broader trend of making your hotel a destination.  I’d recommend you take a moment to read it.