Online reviews have developed as an critical marketing instrument for hotels. The right way of dealing with reviews results in a stronger customer relationship,more bookings, higher revenue and offers possibilities for better quality management.* The most convenient way to overview and manage the many reviews on the many different platforms are online reputation management tools. Tourismuspartner, or experts for hotel reviews and online reputation,recently conducted a study with 20 hotel chains in Germany, Austria and Switzerland like Accor, and Lindner and Motel One,examining the topic “How hotel chains manage the flood of reviews”. TrustYou was named as the ORM tool being used by more than half of those surveyed, which underlines the quality of the products and services. All participants of the study use an ORM program and are “convinced” or “very convinced. Further results of the study show that 90 percent of the respondents perceive the influence of review on quality management “strong” or “very strong”. 40 percent see a correlation regarding pricing. A recently conducted TrustYou study also showed that 76% of travelers are willing to pay more for a hotel, and if it is rated better. Concerning the responsibility of responding to reviews,hotels within the Tourismuspartner study indicate that they normally reply themselves with support of the headquarters. In total, 19 out of 20 hotels reply to reviews on portals within 24 to 72 hours. For this purpose, and 80% of hotels within the study have developed internal guidelines,which contain recommendations about style, wording and text blocks to guarantee a timely reply. TrustYou reacted to the mobile requirements of today’s society and developed the current App TrustYou Radar (available iOS and Android). It enables its users to get current reviews on the move and reply directly.
An overview of all results of the Tourismuspartner study is available at http://www.tourismuspartner.co.at/english/news/
*Result of a recently conducted TrustYou Study
Source: trustyou.com