Hotels Special Edition - Have you read the reviews

The rise of social media has placed the power to influence in the hands of consumers. Piers Ford looks at how hoteliers should embrace user-generated reviews and use the concept as a compelling marketing tool

The democratisation of the hotel review has been a major feature of the online travel industry in the past year. User-generated content has given hoteliers and chain owners a new perspective on their success, or otherwise, with guests – and one over which they potentially have little control.

The user-generated review is “Word of mouth writ large,” says Marc Charron, European managing director of the leader in UGC, TripAdvisor. It has the potential to reach a constituency of guests beyond even the most sophisticated marketing plan.

It’s no surprise that hoteliers have initially tended to circle the concept somewhat gingerly. The reports of plain-speaking guests who feel moved to air their experiences in a global forum rather than sticking to the privacy of the traditional comment form are suddenly a force to be reckoned with.

And if that wasn’t enough, tales of hoteliers bumping up their own ratings with bogus reviews or attempting to sabotage the competition’s reputation with false comments have caused many of them to pause for thought.

But there’s no escaping the mighty rise of social media as the communication method of choice between millions of potential guests, who can now influence each other’s purchasing decisions with just a few honest, carefully chosen words.

“This is not about rants and raves,” says Charron. “All the evidence shows aired grievances are not valued, and we encourage people to vote on whether or not a review is useful. We tell hotel owners they have to read the reviews. Hardly anybody fills in a comment card, but with a community site such as TripAdvisor there is a spirit of helping others – and that can create a goldmine of information for a hotelier.”

Charron might have a vested interest in the concept, but all the statistics suggest he is right. The harsh truth is that consumers trust each other more than they will ever trust the glossy blurbs and blue-sky images that hoteliers have always depended upon.

According to research from Nielsen//NetRatings, commissioned by Adviva and online marketing agency Harvest Digital, consumers consider sites posting user reviews to be a valuable resource, with UGC sites recommended by 21% of respondents – well ahead of operator and tourist body sites. Even more telling for the hotel industry, 33% of frequent travellers believe review websites are the most reliable source of information.

Now there are signs hoteliers are waking up to the benefits and challenges that this shift in consumer empowerment has triggered.

“There is a fear of not being in control,” says Charron. “But you can’t control people’s viewpoints. The proactive hoteliers are embracing the concept and encouraging their guests to use websites to provide feedback. And that’s a terrific way to use it as a marketing vehicle. We provide an RSS feed so they can subscribe and be notified when a review has been posted. We publish reviews unedited.”

Charron points out that TripAdvisor reviews are filtered for suspicious – or hoax – content. In fact, one hotelier reports his frustration that half of his good, honest reviews disappeared – an apparent testimony to the filter’s rigour.

“We give the hotelier the chance to respond,” says Charron. “The best ones are responses addressing specific points to a broad audience. This keeps the reviews in context.

“I tell hoteliers not to focus on a single negative review, because I don’t think that’s what customers do. It lends credibility to have the odd one and gives you a chance to show customer service. You can gain greater goodwill through screwing up and fixing something.”

Some commentators think hoteliers have no choice but to embrace social media and carry customer reviews into their own sites, although perhaps inevitably, the emphasis will be on accentuating the positive.

Marc Caudron, director of digital agency Pod1, says: “A proper content management system should have a built-in safety mechanism where reviews are vetted before going live.

“This authorisation procedure means – for the good of the hotelier but the detriment of the consumer – that site owners can pick and choose the reviews that ultimately appear.”

But Caudron also stresses the importance of responding to criticism, quickly and professionally. Many user-generated review sites link the review to a specific booking, helping to reduce the likelihood of sabotage by restricting the chance to post to proven guests. Others, such as Hotelclub.co.uk, work with the hotels to help them integrate reviews with their marketing operations.

“If a review refers to an unfortunate experience, our customer service team will go back to the hotel and discuss how it can be resolved,” says Paul Mulcahy, general manager of Flairview Travel Europe, which owns the Hotelclub site.

“But we’ve prompted the guest for an opinion and it would be disingenuous for us to change something they had written because the hotel didn’t like it. Most guests do understand how hard it is for a hotel to get everything right all the time. This is a great way for hoteliers to see another point of view, without relying on forms or mystery guests.”

Mulcahy suggests that the concept is proving particularly valuable for small hotel owners and independents. Guests who opt for big chains tend to know what they’re going to get and, broadly, will have their expectations met. Independents are an unknown quantity, making the digital equivalent of word of mouth an explosive marketing tool.

Kevin Eyres, UK MD of SideStep, which recently bought UGC site TravelPost.com, says a user review is just like hearing what a friend has to say. TravelPost subscribers are demographically classified to make sure searches are matched as closely as possible.

Tristin Swales, general manager of the London boutique hotel, Myhotel Chelsea, employs user-generated reviews as a key tool at his daily 10am meetings. “User reviews are interesting because someone has taken the time to write them after they’ve left. They really want to make the statement,” he says.

How much further can this democratisation go? Some sites are already incorporating digital images and video content, taking the review even further from the hotelier’s grasp.

Tony Walsh, development director at LateRooms.com, says the advent of YouTube-style reviews means guests will only feel encouraged to be even more vocal and involved. “But it means hoteliers won’t be able to offer substandard service,” he says. “Those that deserve the business are getting it via this type of content. And savvy, small hotel owners are milking it.”

Power to the little guy

The main beneficiaries of the user-generated review revolution have undoubtedly been small, independent hoteliers and bed-and-breakfast owners, with many reporting substantial increases in business as a direct result of guest-written reviews – particularly from the US.

“About 35% of our business now comes through TripAdvisor,” says Lorraine Feel, who runs the Trafford Bank Hotel in Inverness.

“We have a good website of our own, with a three-minute video tour. But once some American guests put a review on TripAdvisor, we suddenly started seeing a lot more from the US.”

Feel does have some concerns about the potential for hoaxes. Last October, a strange one-line review appeared saying that the hotel was “not so nice”. She contacted TripAdvisor, and after much negotiation it was agreed to be of doubtful origin and removed.

In Bath, Tony Peccia, who runs Chestnuts House bed and breakfast, has included a link on his website so that guests can click through to TripAdvisor reviews.

To date, he says the impact has been positive, generating up to three reservations per week and stimulating local competition to be among the top-rated establishments in the area.

“We’re in constant dialogue about how useful these sites are,” he says. “They keep every hotelier and bed-and-breakfast owner on their toes and that has to be good.

“People visit these sites before they come to your own, and they dispel any possibility of appearing to be something that you aren’t. I’m convinced these sites will grow and grow, and we’ll see a lot more of them.”

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