What is online reputation management for hotels?

Online reputation management for hotels is the active practice of monitoring and improving upon what guests are saying about your property in online reviews on OTAs and review websites. Since there are a huge volume of reviews, in multiple languages, the sheer amount of data means that most properties today implement online reputation management software. The hotel then gets to see their data on specific dashboards, with KPIs and a clear idea of which areas they can improve on in order to improve the guest stay, and in turn improve their future online reputation.

Why Is Online Reputation Management Important?

Since guests shopping for their next holiday start the research process by searching online, your online reputation will often be the deciding factor as to whether they choose your property. A good online reputation means that you will get more bookings, be able to increase your ADR and ultimately up your revenue.

Online reputation management is more than just positive reviews, although they are important! The occasional negative review is not such a bad thing, as long as the hotel gives a solid and timely management response. This should include an apology, and state the steps they are taking to improve. Every guest understands that things go wrong from time to time, a solid management response is a hotel’s opportunity to show that it cares about its guests and is putting the correct procedures in place.

How Does an Online Reputation Management Tool Work?

As hotels get reviewed on different websites, each with their own rating scales, it’s difficult to get a clear idea of your online performance. That’s where an online reputation management tool comes into play. It gathers guest feedback from all these different online sources, analyzes it and feeds back the data in an easy-to-read dashboard and busing sentiment analysis you can dig deeper into strengths and weaknesses. From that same platform, you can monitor and respond to online reviews. Having everything in the same place will allow you to set an online reputation strategy for your property.

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