While planning for a recent trip, I found myself conducting dozens of web searches to find information on my destination. These included:

• Flight information (Kayak.com)
• Airport transportation options (WikiTravel)
• The city’s best design hotels
• Guest reviews & photos of those hotels
• Best ways to get around the city (taxi, public transport, etc)
• Can’t-miss boutiques &  galleries
• Places to eat (Yelp)
• Special events going on
• Typical climate for that time of year (clothes to bring, etc)
• Best places with WiFi I can work from (bonus points if I can drink something caffeinated)
• Running paths for my marathon training (Google Maps & MapMyRun.com)
• Best places to photograph (Flickr is my favorite tool here)
• Interesting day-trips from the city

Keyword research tools confirmed my travel planning behavior is very typical. Every day, hundreds of questions are being typed into search engines to find this type of information about the city you’re in.

Your potential guests are turning to the web for information

Many online travel planning resources aren’t direct competitors, but relying on them to educate your guests is risky.  I see a huge opportunity for hotels to build their own destination information portals with a concierge mindset.

Are your potential guests going to find what they need from you or another website?

The web makes providing information easier

Before the web, it was difficult – if not impossible – for an individual hotel to publish a substantial amount of local information. Production costs would have been prohibitive, and distribution very difficult.

Now with just a simple website, you can share useful information very efficiently.

An example of proactive service

The Witt Istanbul Suites publishes detailed information on transportation options for getting around Istanbul:

Witt Istanbul Taxi Information

Since many of this hotel’s guests come from the UK and other English-speaking countries, the owner wanted to ensure the guests feel as comfortable as possible. To help overcome any language barrier, they offer printable directions in Turkish for the taxi driver:

Printable directions in Turkish

Providing this type of information is brilliant for two reasons:

• It helps guests to feel comfortable before they arrive
• It reduces the workload for your hotel service staff

Customer service 2.0

Instead of calling you directly with questions, tech-savvy travelers may prefer to communicate using the web. Twitter provides one opportunity to answer questions in real time. On the corporate level, we see Hyatt offering concierge services through a dedicated Twitter account.

HyattConcierge on Twitter

With just 131 updates, I assume many of their support requests take place via direct message (for privacy reasons). It’s not a bad start.

Actively engaging potential guests

My only complaint with @HyattConcierge? In my opinion, it’s not a huge improvement over phone or email support.

The real power of Twitter is in offering real-time service to people who aren’t aware of you (yet). Twitter search allows you to reach out to people needing help, and provide useful advice and information.

Independent hotels can do this successfully. A poster child of hotel social media success – New York’s Roger Smith Hotel – actively participates with guests to build their online fanbase.

@RSHotel Twitter Stream

Since this is a relatively new medium for customer service, little things like this gain a lot of attention and build a great reputation.

The best approach: Useful information + Real time support

Ultimately, hotels that want to use this ‘concierge approach’ to their marketing should use both approaches:

1. Build an accessible database of useful, insider information on their destination
2. Monitor real-time communications channels for opportunities to serve

It’s time to throw away the silver bullet

As marketers, we can fall for the trap of thinking all that’s needed is just one more tactic. One little trick that will cause sales to climb dramatically and eliminate our competition.

There is no secret

Great reputations are built around helping other people. It drives positive word of mouth – online and off – which ultimately brings you more guests.

It’s not unique or even particularly clever. But it works, and that’s what matters.

All the clever marketing in the world is useless if potential guests abandon you out of frustration. Hotels that figure out how to combine excellent customer service with new technology are the ones that will succeed online.

3 questions to ask yourself

• “What questions do I have when planning my own trips?”
• “What content could we publish that answers these questions for our destination?”
• “How can we get this information in front of the people that are looking for it?”

A negative online reputation can severely limit a hotel’s ability to succeed today. With more and more people using the internet to make their travel plans, reviews by other travelers are playing an increasingly large role.

If your hotel has received negative reviews, you need a solid action plan to work around them. And that’s exactly what I intend to do in this post. Let’s get started…

Step 1: Listen to the feedback

What are people saying about you? Set up tracking tools to be aware of both praise and criticism.

• For Google: Google Alerts (email or RSS updates of the latest Google search results)
• For Blog posts: Technorati (the largest blog search engine)
• For Blog comments: Backtype (what people say about you in response to blog posts)
• For Twitter: Twitter Search (monitor real time feedback)
• For other social media: FriendFeed search, a social aggregator that combines YouTube, Delicious, Flickr and more
• If you’re willing to spend a little money, tools such as Radian6 and Trackur allow you to monitor everything from one dashboard

Knowing exactly what your guests are saying helps you take appropriate action. Many times negative reviews require action at an operational level, so it helps to have a system for sharing this information with the management team.

It’s useful to note that not all reviews are created equal. As any hotel marketing manager will attest, negative reviews typically come in two forms:

Step 2: Respond to the reviews

TripAdvisor allows management responses. So does Qype in Europe, and more recently, Yelp.

When you see a negative review of your property, it can be tempting to fire back with a nasty response. But be careful – doing that can damage your reputation even further. Instead, follow these best practices for responding to negative reviews:

1. Thank the reviewer for their feedback
2. Respond to any positive comments
3. Apologize for any legitimate negative experience
4. Explain the steps you’ll take to prevent that from happening again
5. Allow the guest to contact you offline if followup discussion is needed

Avoid:

• Angry, abusive responses…or any type of personal attack
• Questioning the reviewer’s legitimacy (yes, fake reviews do happen from time to time, but they can be very difficult to prove and it’s better to avoid this accusation)
• Only replying with a discount or coupon (which indirectly encourages abuse)
• Corporate babble with no substantial change – such as

“We are sorry to hear about your inconvenience, and appreciate your comments here. We are happy that you have spoken up so that we may better our property. We will be working diligently to make your stays much more enjoyable in the future.”

If I had a poor experience at a hotel, this type of management response would do absolutely nothing for me. I want specifics! It’s unlikely I would return in the future to see if my stay is “much more enjoyable.”

Step 3: Fix what’s broken

There’s no getting around this. Fundamental flaws that repeatedly leave guests unsatisfied cannot be glossed over with a slick marketing campaign. That’s denial at best and borders on unethical.

Train or change your staff. Bring in a consultant. Hire a designer…or maybe just a plumber for that leaky sink! Do whatever it takes with the resources you have.

Step 4: Tell people you’ve listened and fixed the problem

Now that changes have been made, you need to go back to the audience and let them know you listened and acted on their suggestions.

• Tell the guests directly – in your replies on TripAdvisor and other guest review websites
• Tell the story of how you did it – through videos posted to YouTube…or interviews published on your hotel blog
• Tell the media – with a press release or full-scale PR campaign (depending on the changes you made, of course)

Step 5: Start building your new positive reputation

Effective online reputation management is more than just playing defense – it’s all about proactively building a positive buzz. This is pretty straightforward stuff, but is an essential ingredient of this action plan.

Ask satisfied guests for reviews. Specifically, ask them to review your hotel on sites where you’re struggling the most. If you’re not sure, start with most popular: TripAdvisor.

Launch a special blogger’s campaign. As Malcolm Gladwell taught us in The Tipping Point, obtaining the help of a few influential people is essential to spreading a message. In the online travel community, bloggers often act as Gladwell’s Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen – playing a big role in shaping perceptions. Take advantage of this by finding authors of the most influential blogs, and inviting them to review your hotel.

Begin an aggressive content publishing effort. Content is the key to staying relevant in today’s web. It’s also the best way to build a loyal fanbase. Publishing a large amount of very useful content in multiple media channels is the only way to make sure your voice is heard. It takes a lot of work, but there’s no better way to build a positive web presence.

Dealing with Negative Reviews FAQs

Can I remove negative reviews?

Yes and no. TripAdvisor lets you start over with a clean slate if there was a change in management, but not if you did a renovation.

Can I get in touch with a guest to resolve a problem?

Usually you can only use a website’s management response function to publish a reply. You may try leaving a customer service phone number to encourage offline resolution.

I think a competitor is writing negative reviews.

I recommend you contact the review site directly, and explain your reason for concern.

Can I ask someone to remove their negative review?

Most sites do not allow this. You’ll need to follow the steps above to improve your reputation.

Recommended resources for further research

• Basics of Online Reputation Management by Lee Odden
• 10 Reputations All Hotels, Resorts & Inns Should Monitor Online by Andy Beal
• Which TripAdvisor Reviews Should You Respond To? by Micheal Hraba
• How Companies Should Respond to Negative Reviews by Lisa Barone
• How to Promote an Unpopular Hotel by Alicia Sheber

As I said earlier, cutting price should not be your first reaction to an economic slowdown.  Instead, you should maximize profit by reaching out to your best guests.

Of course, you’ll need a guest intelligence system that tells you who these people are.

But assuming that is already in place, how can you reward your best guests?  Here are some ideas that have worked for others:

• Idea 1: Develop special birthday and anniversary packages.  Send them to your guests on their special day using email or direct mail.  This has proven very cost effective for many hotels.
• Idea 2: Create seasonal specials packages.  Partner with local businesses to offer a specially-priced package on an area attraction.  Send this to guests that have stayed at your hotel in the past.  With joint ventures like this, everyone involved benefits.
• Idea 3: Send “We haven’t seen you in a while” followup messages.  For guests that used to stay regularly, but haven’t for a while, send them an email or postcard with a special offer to come again.  Offer a free breakfast or glass of wine at your hotel bar.  Tell them you miss their business, and look forward to seeing them again.

Again, to execute these ideas, you’ll need an intelligent database like we described earlier.  As you can see, the creative freedom you have to develop truly unique promotions is directly proportional to the quality of information you have to work with.

Let me ask you this: How do you reward your best guests?

Your guest database is the best tool you have during hard times.

Why?

It’s simple: marketing to existing customers is the most cost-effective way to maximize profits.  But in order to do this, you must first have an information gathering system that enables relationship building.

Most hotels have some type of guest database already. You probably keep some information on the people who have stayed at your hotel in the past.

The difference between average and great hotel service lies in the kind of information you collect.

Establishments that provide a high level of service are famous for remembering the little details about their guests.  Catering to small preferences can provide an extraordinary experience months or years after their first stay.

I encourage you to let you use the current economic environment as a motivation to upgrade your guest intelligence system.

As you plan your database upgrade, keep this question before you:

What information do I need to build a more meaningful relationship with our guests?

• How did they find out about you?
• What did they like best about your hotel?
• What did they not like?
• When did they first stay with you?
• When did they last stay with you?
• What was the average length of their stay?
• What is the average value of their stay?
• How much revenue do they provide annually?
• Do we have sufficient contact information for followup?

When you have this level of insight, you can make smart marketing decisions.  You can focus on building relationships with profitable guests, and maximize potential profits.

Let me ask you this: What information are you collecting from guests to enhance their experience – and your profits?