SureShot Ways To Get More Hotel Reviews

What's in it for me?

Constantly flowing reviews are ideal for every property, big or small! To ensure that you receive an influx of reviews consistently, there are several areas you need to focus on to lure your guests adequately and naturally to leave you a review. Right from knowing how they like their coffee or are they into scuba to designing personalized surveys for them and making it easier for them to leave you a review- you got to focus on all. By the end of this post, curated specifically for property owners to increase their review count, you'd have learned the ways in which you can ramp up efforts in this area!

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If your reviews have reached a state of stagnancy, it's time to rethink your review-seeking strategy!!!

Hotel reviews have the potential to make or break any business! Hotels have delved into seeking the most appropriate ways to get more hotel reviews since time immemorial. From feedback forms and comment cards to the most modern surveys, hotels have done it all and seem to be doing it to date.

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Yet, “something” seems to be missing!

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Current guest expectations primarily involve getting more personalized services such as ease of booking hotels with the help of modern technology, contactless booking, minimum human contact, cost-effectiveness, and so on. Also, modern-day travelers increasingly turn to peer reviews while deciding to spend their hard-earned money. These peer reviews can be in the form of direct experience sharing from friends and family or from online hotel reviews. 

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A total of 92 percent of leisure travelers in the U.S. consider online hotel reviews “somewhat important” or “very important” when choosing a hotel. 

79% will read between 6 and 12 reviews before making a purchase decision and 81% of travelers frequently or always read reviews before booking a hotel. 

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Therefore, hoteliers must emphasize the current and upcoming trends that are going to dominate the post-Covid hospitality sector, in order to get more hotel reviews and remain at the top of the game. In addition, the post-Covid world is expected to heavily rely on technological tools such as online reviews, guest messaging, express check-in, and check-out among others to provide a quality, unforgettable guest experience. 

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Technological Trends That Are Set To Dominate The Post-Covid Hospitality Sector

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The COVID19 pandemic has sent the hospitality sector into a tailspin, along with many other industries. The aspect of customer experience is perhaps one of the most severely impacted areas as hotels scramble to improve efficiency and increase revenue. However, keeping in mind the several concerns related to health, the industry has struggled to spur confidence among the consumers. The nature of the disease has necessitated a contactless hospitality service and expectations of the travelers can be met through the introduction of the various ongoing technology trends. 

The pandemic in a way has accelerated and forced hotels to adopt and implement new technologies. New technological trends and innovative features that were earlier regarded as additional conveniences have turned into prerequisites. To get more hotel reviews, the majority of the ‘connected experiences’ need not be ‘one size fits all!’ This implies that travelers or guests with unique preferences don’t derive the same level of satisfaction if the experience is not customized as per their choices and inclinations.

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The best approach to provide an enhanced guest experience is by embracing technologies that can boost your hotel tech stack and maximize the level of guest satisfaction. These technologies have the potential to provide a top-notch guest experience and turn your guests into loyal customers, Some of the current technological trends that are expected to dominate the post-Covid hospitality sector are as follows:

• PMS Integration

Cloud technologies have been in existence for a while and they can’t be regarded exactly as new and upcoming technology. However, the application of this particular technology has evolved over the years and the ongoing pandemic has resulted in the realization of the other aspects of the technology that were hitherto unknown. Effective integration with a centralized property management system (PMS) gives instant alerts about room ready, improves the rate of service recovery, repairs damages instantly, and keeps all the processes in sync to boost the overall operational efficiency. Many hospitality institutions and hotel businesses have moved their critical applications to the cloud in order to improve or enhance holistic operational capabilities. 

A customer database in the cloud enables hotels to maintain a record of their guests and have a better understanding of their needs and expectations, thereby enabling the potential to deliver a top-notch experience that further increases the potential to get more hotel reviews. Furthermore, the implementation of such integration provides the hotels with better control of day-to-day tasks such as check-in/check-out and reservations management in one single place. 

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• AI and chatbots

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Experiments regarding contactless services have led to the implementation of chatbots to interact with the visitors on the website, right before and during booking the stay. From breakfast to shuttle and even the tiniest detail at the pre-booking and booking stages could be lent by the chatbots with AI-powered WebChats. Guests love a seamless booking process as much as they look forward to having a great stay at an accommodation of their choice. All this combined can result in the most positive reviews online.

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• Contactless Communication

The nature of the ongoing pandemic has necessitated a contactless service resulting in the increasing popularity of contactless communication. Contactless communication enables hotels to remain compliant with the strict health guidelines while simultaneously providing the guests with the most satisfactory experience helping them get more hotel reviews. 

Such end-to-end secured communication also enables the hotel staff to provide better and more efficient service to their guests, without having to request their names or room number. It further allows the guests to pair their mobile devices with the TVs in their respective rooms while using the devices as remote controllers. Furthermore, guests also have the option of ordering room services and accessing online paper digests through a single mobile app.

Tools such as Guest Messaging can also play a critical role in this context due to the wide variety of services it offers. It is the most preferred mode of communication for present-day travelers due to the immediate form of contact it helps establish. It also helps in adding the aspect of personalization with fast and prompt service. You can use guest messaging at every stage of the guest journey to stay ahead in the communication game:

1. Pre-arrival stage: Pre-arrival messages regarding the booking confirmation
2. Check-in Stage: Express check-in form and digital amenity page
3. Mid-Stay: Offering room and other services; seeking a quick, mid-stay review
4. Check-out: Thank you messages, checkout receipts, and personalized surveys along with sharing the URL for platforms on which guests can leave their reviews.

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• Express Check-in 

Also regarded as contactless check-in or mobile check-in, express check-in enables guests to check themselves into their assigned rooms, without visiting the front desk. Offering the option of express check-in might soon be the norm if it’s not already. This is a very useful service in the wake of a sudden rise in demand for contactless check-in and check-out. Without having to wait for a long time leads to creating a positive impression and helps get more hotel reviews. 

Traditional check-ins usually require multiple contact points with the hotel staff. Again, the tedious and rigorous procedure involved in the traditional check-in process makes it anything but appealing. Coupled with the health safety norms that make social distancing a necessity, guests usually opt for solutions such as express check-in/check-out at hotels to avoid crowds. Some of the advantages of the express check-in are as follows:

1. Reduces lobby queuing
2. Reduces the workload of the staff
3. Provides an opportunity to upsell
4. Has no restrictions and time limits
5. Provides multilingual support

Apart from the above-stated technologies, there are various other technologies that are currently being used in the hospitality sector or whose significance is only going to increase from here on. 

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What Makes Guest Reviews For Hotels So Important?

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Tools such as online hotel reviews, guest messaging, express check-in & check-out are already being used in the world of hospitality. These tools are not meant to replace human beings but bring more efficiency into the existing paradigm of hospitality institutions. The application of such tools has the potential to provide your business with a much-needed boost by helping you get more hotel reviews.

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91% of 18-34-year-olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, and 93% of consumers say that online reviews influenced their purchase decisions, which only goes to prove the rising significance of online reviews. 

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In addition, it also allows for a better allocation of resources in the case of smaller hotels as they usually have a limited budget for managing and running the hotel, including providing their guests with a top-notch experience with optimal utilization of resources. 

It is important to understand that online hotel reviews truly hold the potential to make or break your business. This is down to various factors such as the reliability and trustworthiness of online reviews. Even though all the reviews found regarding a hotel might not always be genuine, as cases of fake reviews can’t be completely shunned, the usefulness of such reviews can’t be taken for granted by both the guests and hoteliers alike. The psychology behind trusting hotel guest feedback can’t be pinpointed, however, can just be better understood to get more hotel reviews. 

Guests usually look for properties that are transparent, reflecting both the bad and good experiences. They are usually involved in thorough research prior to staying in a hotel. Before the internet, people had limited options as they were solely dependent on the feedback of family and friends who had already experienced the service. However, the advent of the internet has broadened the horizon significantly as people go for online reviews prior to booking their stay. Hence, reviews can become a vital source of information and your potential guest's first impression of yours. 

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Role Of Online Hotel Reviews For Improving Hotel ORM

Having a positive online reputation not only impacts your brand image but also helps improve the brand’s reputation and reach many more people. This, in turn, increases the possibility to get more hotel reviews. Regardless, the potential for securing a booking amplifies significantly when your hotel has a positive brand image and the majority of the online hotel reviews depict a positive story. Having a proper and effective strategy to manage online reviews has a huge impact on your business’s future prospects. Your online reputation is usually influenced by multiple factors such as the nature of your business, content quality, visibility, and customer service among others. A large part of improving hotel reputation depends on the effective management of hotel reviews. 

Online hotel reviews are usually divided into two broad categories which are positive reviews and negative reviews. Surprisingly, a huge chunk of hotels is yet to realize the massive significance of such reviews. Therefore, by adopting an organized approach, your hotel can reap benefits and avoid pitfalls such as missed opportunities, negative reviews, and wasted time. 

We understand that being unable to control the perception of people regarding your property can be frustrating at times. We are also aware that only one disgruntled guest is more than sufficient sometimes to ruin the reputation of your business. Sometimes, all it takes is a post or a video of bedbugs in one of your hotel rooms to inflict serious damage to your hard-earned reputation forever. Thus, it is important to maintain a strong online presence and manage hotel reviews strategically for improving your online reputation and also tell your side of the story.

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How To Get More Hotel Reviews

It is important to remember that the foundation for positive online reviews and a positive online reputation can only be achieved through providing remarkable service and an unforgettable experience to the guests. Hence the aim should be to gather more reviews for your hotel by using some of the following methods:

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1. Have a concrete strategy in place - The first step in the quest for securing more reviews for your hotel is to have a clear vision regarding your goal and make policies that will help you achieve your goal. Your strategy must take into consideration the resources at your disposal and the alternative to the shortage of any particular resource. Based on the available resources, it is for you to decide what technological tools you might want to implement and what suits you the best. It will help you position your business clearly without confusing people and meeting their expectations. The purpose of your strategy should be to advertise the services offered by you by emphasizing your target audience. 

For instance, if comment cards are working well for your business in gathering effective reviews, continue with that. In addition, keep experimenting with other modern methods like QR code scans, questionnaires, etc. as well to make the review gathering process quicker and easier.

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2. Identify and attract your target audience - A marketing segmentation approach is primarily a customer-oriented approach that matches the offerings and products or services as per the interest of the consumers. These adjustments are usually designed to match the distinctive behaviors and characteristics of the required customer segment. Once the bond with the virtual community is struck by leveraging your guest database, it becomes easier to roll out emails and promos with the potential to entice your audience. For instance, if you are a beach or coastline property offering swimming gear and equipment, your swimmer guests can be sent emails offering discounts on swimming gear or scuba sessions on their next stay.  

Once your target audience is identified, it becomes easier to showcase your service quality and share the positive experiences of guests who have thoroughly enjoyed their time spent at your hotel. This, in turn, increases the possibility of securing more bookings and helps get more hotel reviews.

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3. Enrich your website and online presence with more social proof: Showcasing social proof in the form of client testimonials, reviews, and customer stories is the best way to attract the leads and get the prospects interested in booking with you. Sometimes, seeing other people share their experiences emphatically can psychologically inspire the less-interested-in-giving-a-review kind of guests to write a review for you believing that their words will strike a different chord and get their feedback featured on your website which, in turn, could be shared by them again on their social media.

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4. Ramp up your social media efforts: Having a strong and wide presence across the various social media platforms provides you with the opportunity to connect with your guests in real-time and get more hotel reviews. A dedicated social media marketing team can help you in this endeavor to achieve success and contribute to the growth of your business. Designing campaigns and targeting your selected audience can’t be possible without having a strong and engaging social media team. 

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5. When guests can’t reach you, they can reach Google: Unleash the power of online reviews by harnessing social data analytics through various social listings. This is aimed at providing an insight into the least/most used sources of reviews at your hotel. This is primarily to encourage reviews in larger quantities on various review platforms where keywords have the power to play a miraculous role in showing up in search results.

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6. Catch your guests while they are still at your hotel: Sometimes, you don’t have to wait all the way to the end of the stay to get guests’ insights. Mid-stay reviews or feedback are designed for the purpose of getting guests’ opinions while they are still at your property. Regardless of which method you resort to collect feedback at this stage (in-person or technological), the effort at this touchpoint has the maximum potential to perform some instant service recovery and at the same time, maximize the chances of gaining potential positive feedback at the check-out stage with greater emphasis on instant service and conflict resolution.

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Best Ways To Get More Hotel Reviews

7. Provide your guests with well-designed, captivating surveys-. A Net Promoter Score survey attempts to gain information regarding the impression of your guests by asking them questions related to their experience while staying at your property and how likely they are to recommend you to others. Promoters with higher scores should be tapped in by you to review your strategy. You can also customize the survey questions by designing them in a way so as to cater to the different characteristics of the people. For example, if your guests are fond of beverages such as coffee, tea, cocktails, and so on, you can design the questions keeping this particular fact in mind. A sample question has been provided below:

“Dear Tony, we hope you enjoyed the coffee and made full use of the in-room coffee maker during your stay with us. Please rate your in-room experience and help us get better!”

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8. Explain the process of leaving reviews and make it easier for them - A lot of guests might have trouble with leaving reviews online and depending upon the platform chosen by you. It may seem daunting at times. This holds especially true for people who lack basic technology literacy or are not accustomed to such customs. You can help them by explaining to them the process of leaving reviews online,  making it easier for them to do so. You can do this by either developing an application for your hotel or through tools such as QR codes which when scanned can take them directly to the destination link or review platform without much hassle.

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Effective Ways To Get More Hotel Reviews

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9. Leverage the latest technology - Utilizing technology-based tools can be a great way of dealing with various challenges such as the rising demand for contactless hospitality services and can be deployed to ease the feedback process. These tools have a wide variety of usage and can help provide services such as customer-focused texting to monitoring online reviews. Feedback can be generated in the following ways:

• QR Codes
• WiFi logins
• Automated messages/emails
• Printed URLs
• Reward programs and hotel mobile applications

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10. Verify your business - Verifying your business helps in generating more reviews as it lets your reviews pop up during map searches and provides you with the opportunity to respond to them. Your business can be easily verified on the business page of Google and other platforms. This, in turn, is expected to increase the relevance of your brand and helps gain more visibility.

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11. ALWAYS respond to the existing reviews - Responding to the already existing reviews, irrespective of whether it is negative or positive, is extremely important. This is perhaps the most thoughtful action that can be taken by you to ensure that you get more hotel reviews and continue to do so. Responding to reviews regularly and effectively is significant to improving your reputation and having a positive image of your hotel in the online domain.

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53.3 percent of customers expect businesses to respond to their negative reviews within a week. However, most of them are left disappointed as  63.3 percent of them say they’ve never heard back from a business about their review. 

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Responding to reviews, especially the negative ones, provides you with the opportunity to win the trust of the aggrieved guests and show them that you actually care by responding quickly and addressing the issues highlighted by them. 

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12. Analyze and make the most of your reviews- No matter how many positive reviews you get or how much good quality service is being provided by you, there’s always room for improvement. Analysis of the current reviews can be regarded as a critical step in the process of the much-needed aspect of introspection and identification of areas that might need attention. Making a list of issues being regularly mentioned about your property by guests who have experienced a stay in your hotel can help you deal with them in an organized and effective manner. In addition, going through the positive reviews gives you an idea about the things you’re doing right and how you can make it even better for your guests. Through sentiment analysis technology and NPS surveys, you can gauge and enhance the quality of service provided by you. This will also be helpful for you to get more hotel reviews. 

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Conclusion

Online reviews are considered to be highly reliable and richly informative tools by modern-day consumers. It especially holds true since this is usually the first place for your target audience and potential guests to form an impression about your property. Hence, formulating a review collection strategy is of utmost importance. See which method works the best for you. It is always a good idea to keep both the traditional and modern review collection methods in tandem to give your review management strategy a holistic and diverse approach.

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With Guesttouch, Gather Reviews From A Number Of Online Platforms And Manage Them All In A Single Dashboard With Responses Tailored Specifically For Each Review Provided By Your Guests

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• Say NO to canned responses
• Go beyond the usual “thank you for your valuable feedback” with personalized responses
• Expedia, TripAdvisor, Google- all reviews will reflect on a single platform
• Do not make your guests wait too long to hear from you
• Want to approve a response yourself? We’ll wait for your approval before making it live!

Strengthen your review management strategy to boost your guests’ confidence and trust to get more hotel reviews!

Have doubts? Clear them all through a free demo!