Online reputation management (ORM) refers to monitoring, managing, and improving a business's reputation online. For hotels, ORM has become whimsically essential in today's digital landscape, where reviews and social media greatly influence a hotel's goodwill and bookings.

Online reviews significantly impact a hotel's ability to attract bookings. One report found that a 1% increase in a hotel's online review score can increase booking consideration by 0.54%. Positive reviews also increase click-through rates to hotel sites by 10% on average.

On social media, user-generated content like photos and mentions shape a hotel's image and reach. The demographic similarity between guests and reviewers strengthens the influence of positive and negative reviews on booking intention.

With the high stakes, ORM has become indispensable for hotels seeking to protect and improve their reputations online.

Monitoring Online Reputation

The first critical step for online reputation management is monitoring what guests and the public say about your hotel across various sites and platforms. This allows you to identify any reputational issues early and be proactive. Key areas for hotels to monitor include:

1. Review Sites

A hotel’s standing and reservations are either built or deconstructed by the visitors’ observations on several leading travel websites. On the other hand, one must ensure they frequently go through fresh reviews on sites such as Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Google, Expedia, and Hotels.com. You must be notified of new reviews through alerts you set up.

2. Social Media

Social listening using tools like Hootsuite and Sprout Social allows you to monitor mentions, comments, reviews, and conversations about your hotel on social platforms. This helps address issues and promote positive feedback.

3. Surveys & Direct Feedback

Actively surveying guests and encouraging direct feedback helps you understand reputation sentiment and opportunities. This could include post-stay surveys, feedback forms, or monitoring ratings on OTA sites.

4. Brand Monitoring

Setting up Google Alerts for your hotel name and related keywords can uncover any wider issues, press coverage, or brand impersonation that may impact your reputation.

How to Turn Negative Feedback into Positive Results

Negative feedback and reviews are inevitable in the hotel industry. Nevertheless, with proper planning, hotels can make these problematic moments a source of improvement. The secret is reacting promptly, professionally, and politely, which is helpful in such situations.

Firstly, you need to have a formal service recovery process. This process acts as a manual that guides staff on addressing customers’ complaints immediately, solving issues, and following up. In some instances, guests may receive discounts or upgrades as well as free services just to compensate them for poor encounters. Processing time and guest satisfaction ratings are indicators monitored by hotels so that they can streamline this process.

Negative feedback should also inform training and coaching. Hotels can analyze reviews and complaints to identify common problem areas or staff who need additional training on complaint handling. Role-playing exercises can prepare frontline staff for difficult interactions. By improving training, hotels can directly address the root causes behind negative feedback.

It's equally important to track feedback that has been successfully resolved. Hotels should follow up with dissatisfied guests to confirm that the issue was handled satisfactorily. This feedback loop ensures continuous improvement. It also provides examples of recovery wins that can be highlighted in marketing and social media as proof of the hotel's commitment to service excellence.

With the right systems, negative feedback allows hotels to identify weaknesses and improve their service and operations. Turning these difficult situations into positive outcomes is a key component of online reputation management.

Training Staff for ORM Success

A hotel's staff is on the front lines of managing its online reputation. Proper training is crucial for getting employees aligned with ORM initiatives and priorities. Here are some key areas to focus on:

? Fostering a Guest-Centric Mindset

Customer service training should focus on building a sense of value in guest loyalty. Some ways of becoming guest-centric are proactive feedback collection, quick response to complaints, and appreciation of regular customers. We must train our staff members on the importance of making guests feel valued and heard as a result of customer service training. A guest-centric approach involves proactive feedback collection, prompt complaint resolution, and acknowledgment of loyal clients.

? Handling Complaints and Negative Feedback

Staff need training to deal with upset guests professionally. Empower employees to resolve complaints on the spot when possible through service recovery. Also, ensure they know when to escalate issues to management.

? Promoting Positive Mentions

Ensure staff understand their role in driving positive reviews, social media tags, and referrals. Simple actions like thanking a happy guest or handing out review cards can go a long way.

? Protecting the Brand Online

Finally, train staff to be vigilant about protecting your reputation online. That includes monitoring social media for brand mentions, not engaging with trolls, and reporting fake or harmful reviews.

Strategies to Improve Online Reputation

Hotels can proactively improve their online reputation and increase positive reviews. Some key strategies include:

1. Responding to All Online Reviews

Hotels must respond professionally to every online review - positive or negative. Thank guests for positive feedback and address any concerns in negative reviews. This shows guests the hotel is listening and encourages more reviews. Hotels that respond to 95% of reviews average 30% more bookings.

2. Incentivizing Positive Reviews

Hotels can offer incentives to motivate happy guests to leave positive reviews after their stay. This could include discounts, loyalty points, free amenities, or post-stay review requests. However, incentives should feel organic, not transactional. Hotel Champ notes that the goal is to increase reviews from delighted guests, not buy reviews.

3. Promoting Awards and Press Mentions

Hotels should highlight achievements like awards, press features, and accolades on their website and social media. This builds credibility and shows guests they can expect a high-quality experience. Promotional banners or videos can showcase recent wins.

4. Guest Recovery Programs

Hotels can implement service recovery programs to turn guests with negative experiences into promoters. These programs involve identifying dissatisfied guests, resolving issues, and incentivizing a new stay. This proactive outreach can lead to 50% of complaining guests becoming loyal customers.

5. Reputation Audits

Hotels should conduct regular reputation audits by analyzing review site ratings, social media sentiment, surveys, and brand mentions. This allows them to identify pain points, monitor improvements, and keep reputation management in their minds.

The Future of ORM in Hospitality

As technology evolves, online reputation management in the hotel industry will focus more on leveraging smart solutions to create personalized and seamless guest experiences. Artificial intelligence, IoT sensors, virtual and augmented reality, and more will be integrated to anticipate guest needs and customize stays.

Hotels will also prioritize building emotional connections through technology. Besides, technology will identify guest preferences and enable staff to provide personalized service. This will strengthen the hotel's reputation for high-touch hospitality.

Furthermore, hotels will leverage more user-generated content and social media for reputation management. Guest reviews, photos, and social media posts will provide powerful visual marketing and peer affirmation. Emerging review platforms and data sources will also offer more holistic insights into reputation.

Hotels can proactively monitor and build their reputation using a tech-enabled, guest-centric approach. Online channels will provide the tools to identify issues early, respond quickly, and deliver exceptional stays.

Conclusion

By monitoring review sites, social media, surveys, and other sources, hotels can stay on top of their reputation. Strategies like incentivized reviews, service recovery, and reputation audits can improve sentiment over time. Proper staff training on handling complaints and promoting positive mentions can help hotels create consistent guest experiences. While the future will bring new technologies and platforms, the fundamentals of providing exceptional service and monitoring all guest interactions will continue to be critical.

Monitor your online presence, respond appropriately, recover from missteps, and continue optimizing based on guest feedback. Besides, a proactive and comprehensive approach to online reputation management will enable hotels to provide better guest experiences. This leads to more bookings, repeat visits, positive mentions, and revenue growth. By making ORM a top priority today, hotels can reap the benefits well into the future.