How to respond to guest reviews?

Every hotelier knows that you need to respond to online guest reviews. But how to make sure you are doing it right?

Responding to guest reviews is time-consuming, but essential for your online reputation. To be able to tackle this task better, setting up a good and clear strategy will help you. However, make sure you always prioritize your negative guest reviews to be responded to first.

What to Keep in Mind When Responding to Guest Reviews

1. Speed or quantity? When responding to guest reviews your goal should be to respond within 72 hours, and to negative guest reviews even within 24 hours. Why? When prospective guests are researching their next stay, they will rarely scroll to the bottom of the review section. They will probably only read the first few reviews, which is why it is important those are responded to when they read them.  

2. Set a clear management response strategy – To ensure to respond on time, a clear management response strategy is important. Your staff should always be clear on what guest reviews to prioritize when responding. When setting up a strategy, think about your main review sources, your main markets, and within what timeframe. Set goals and regularly check in on how your team is managing their KPIs.  

3. Be flexible – Having a good strategy is step one, however, you need to be flexible when responding to guest reviews. We have all seen how times change, and your strategy should always be reflecting the current situation. The sources that were important three years ago, might not be so essential anymore, and new big ones might have popped up. Or you are dealing with a reduced workforce, so you will have to adjust your pre-pandemic KPIs to make sure they remain attainable. Regularly assess your strategy to see if it is still relevant.  

A clear and up-to-date management response strategy is essential for every hotelier dealing with guest feedback. An Online Reputation Management tool can assist you in being as efficient as possible and getting the most out of your online guest reviews.