Responding to online negative reviews

Here are some stats for you to consider on why it's important to respond to negative reviews online:

• According to PhoCusWright, 87% of travellers found guest reviews from people they didn’t know influential in their travel decision
• Online reviews are second only to personal advice from a friend as the driver of purchase decisions
• 86% of Australians trust consumer recommendations, while only 14% of people trust advertisements
• 74% agree (including 14% who strongly agree) that they choose companies and brands based on what others say online about their customer service experiences
• 92% of travellers are more likely to book accommodations that post a detailed property description and photos. Travellers want to see the value they are getting for their money

Below are some of our tips on how you can respond to negative reviews and preserve your good online reputation.

DO

1. Get senior management involved in the process and get them to reply directly to the reviewer.
2. Try to respond within 24 hours of the review. This shows that you are listening and you care.
3. Thank the reviewer for their feedback to show that you are listening and you are taking this seriously.
4. Apologize that the stay did not go as planned.
5. Be transparent.
6. Point out to the reviewer that this is a rarity when compared with your regular customer service.
7. Explain what you will be doing based on their feedback. For example, your personal email or phone number so they can contact you directly, you have spoken to the department responsible, you are fixing the leaking sink etc.
8. Highlight any positive aspects that the reviewer left.
9. Offer a direct line of communication (your email, phone number).
10. Fix the problem if there is one.
11. Let the guest know you will share his/her feedback with the relevant staff/department to show you are doing something about it and you care about their feedback.
12. Show some personality. You can be more informal and to the point in your replies, but still always professional.

You can also

• Write an article on your blog to let everyone know how proactive you are being
• Write a press release about any significant changes made to your hotel/rooms due to feedback from customers, eg installation of double-glazed windows because of the noise etc.

DON’T

1. Ignore negative reviews and think they will go away. If you don’t respond in a timely manner, other people will think you don’t care, or the reviews are true, which will impact directly on your profit.
2. Write a response back to the reviewer when you’re angry.
3. Write a robot-like response or standard reply
4. Question the reviewer’s legitimacy.
5. Reply with a discount. This will only encourage other negative reviews.
6. Respond insincerely or sarcastically.
7. Try to remove negative reviews (most websites do not allow this anyway).
8. Forget to respond to positive reviews (only responding to negative ones can make you look defensive).
9. Write fake reviews (you will be found out).
10. Offer compensation as it might only encourage more complaints.
11. Avoid humour and especially sarcasm and never be defensive, petty or condescending.

In summary,

• Respond to the review as quickly as possible (within 24 hours)
• Thank the reviewer for their feedback
• Apologize for any legitimate negative experience
• Address the positive points first, then the negatives
• Maintain a conversational and professional tone - it's ok to be informal. You don't need to write a corporate/robot-like reply
• Explain the steps you’ll take or you have taken to prevent the incident from happening again
• Allow the guest to contact you offline if a follow-up discussion is needed
• Avoid angry, abusive responses – or any type of personal attack
• Try to win over the reviewer and reassure other travellers, eg encourage the reviewer to come back again
• Avoid only replying with a discount or coupon as this may indirectly encourage more complaints
• Avoid corporate speak that contains no meaningful information

Speak to TA Fastrack today if you need assistance with optimising your Tripadvisor listing by calling 1300 659 289 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

Tripadvisor has launched new Management Dashboard

Tripadvisor has launched a new Management Dashboard which provides hotels with information on how they are engaging with their customers online, tips on areas where they can improve on, the countries where the most traffic is coming from and they can even get a list of their competitors who are most viewed by the same customers who viewed their page.

The new Management Dashboard is available for free to all registered business representatives and can be accessed via the Tripadvisor management centre. A more comprehensive version of the Tripadvisor Management Dashboard will be made available in the next few weeks exclusively to accommodations that have a paid business listing with Tripadvisor. The comprehensive version offers additional metrics and information, including graphics which depicts a property's Business Listings performance over time and how they compare to their competitors in the same geographical region.

At a glance, the features of the Management Dashboard include:

Free version

• View your status at a glance: View total reviews, current popularity ranking and TripAdvisor rating
• Reviews and comments summary: View latest review activity and top comments from reviews
• Photos metrics: Total number of traveller and business-submitted photos, photos in the last 30 days and the number of visitors viewing photos
• Most viewed competitors: A list of your competitors most viewed by the same people who view your business' page
• Top visitor locations: View a breakdown of the countries generating the most number of traffic to your page

Features of the paid Business Listings Management Dashboard

• The paid version includes all of the features of the free version
• Trend Graphs: Dynamic graphs showing page-view trends over a period of time
• Performance metrics: How your property's Business Listing compares to other properties
• Top Special Offers by click-through: Special Offer recommendations based on the offers that are receiving the most clicks (this tool is shown when a property is not taking advantage of their Special Offers feature)

The free Management Dashboard is available immediately.

For more information about how you can take advantage of the new features in Tripadvisor, or if you would like to optimise your Tripadvisor listing, speak to TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588

How to respond to an online review in real-time

When customers take to social media to voice their grievances, how you respond to that review is important. Below are some tips on how you can acknowledge and address the issue at hand.

• Be open and honest - you will of course be upset by the comments, but make sure that you address the negative review in a genuine manner. Be upfront and honest with your customers. 
• Respond in a timely manner - be prepared to act fast, preferably within 48 hours. Even if it is to respond and update your customers that you are working on rectifying the situation, your customers will appreciate that you are listening, you care and you are trying to do something about it
• Apologize - take ownership of what happened. Your customers will appreciate this
• Turn a negative into a positive - don't just stop at an apology - take this situation as an opportunity to show everyone that you are listening and you're doing something about it. Take advantage of the situation to engage with customers, build and establish a relationship with them and impress potential customers
• Be professional - don't write your reply angry. Draft your reply, come back to it and relook at it and if need be, send it to someone to view.

How have you responded to a negative review online? What other tips can you add to this list?

How to generate positive reviews online

1. Start by paying attention to the reviews you already have - make sure you resolve any complaints or issues. Following up on existing negative reviews show potential customers that you care and you're listening and you are doing something about it
2. Ask for reviews - Don't be pushy, but at the end of the transaction, ask customers to review you online or to fill out a survey
3. Always respond to negative reviews straight away - thank the customer for the review and apologize for the bad experience. Often, the customer just wants acknowledgement that the hotel understands there is a problem is wants to fix it. If the bad review is unwarranted, it's especially important to resist the urge to get defensive. 
4. Reach out to negative reviewers directly - take it offline and provide your contact details. Alternatively, try to contact the reviewers directly and try to resolve the issue.

For help with social media reputation management, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today.

How to handle negative feedback online

1. Your first priority is to quickly respond. The longer you leave a negative comment go unanswered, the more credibility it will gain with other viewers. If you respond immediately, it will show that you are listening and you care and are willing to do something about the problem.

2. Apologise. Even if it is to acknowledge the problem. Don't go into who is right and who is wrong as this will accomplish little. And most people will see petty complaints for what they are.


3. Move ongoing/difficult conversations offline. Provide an initial response in public and provide contact details for further follow-up. Move on-going discussions with difficult customers to private channels.

4. Thank the customer for their feedback. Treat any negative comments as though it were constructive criticism. Apologise to the customer for their unsatisfactory experience and let them know that their feedback is appreciated and that you will take their comments into consideration for further improvement. Make sure you follow up with your promise.

Top 5 ways of how to manage tripadvisor comments

• During check-out, ask your guests to review your property on social network sites and booking sites, including Tripadvisor, Expedia, Booking.com, facebook etc)
• Send your guests a “Thank you for your stay” email and ask them to review you on Tripadvisor.
• Show your guests that you are listening and you care - monitor the reviews and make sure you answer all negative comments. Use the manager’s response field to reply. Be apologetic, explain what happened and offer an incentive to come back. You don't need to reply to all the positive reviews, but it's a good idea to acknowledge some of them to show you are monitoring the site.
• Make it easy for your guests to find your tripadvisor page on your website. Display a tripadvisor badge on the homepage or on a testimonials page. Include the Tripadvsior badge at the bottom of your email signature.
• Use guests quotes to your advantage. Display the links to your latest tripadvisor reviews prominently on your website or on Facebook. Lift positive experiences and use them as content on different pages on your website.

In addition, there are two important don’ts:

• Don’t ignore tripadvisor. Just because you ignore it, doesn't mean it's not there and it will go away. You may not be managing it, but your competitors are. So, guess who’s getting all the better guests?
• Not answering all comments. Answering all comments makes you look like you have someone whose job is just to use “canned answers” for tripadvisor. This will hurt your credibility when answering negative comments.

Finally, ensure that you use social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr to promote your property and to communicate your special offers. Invite your guests to join your networks. This will improve brand loyalty and ensure that you keep a close relationship with your guests, particularly those that write positive reviews about your hotel. They are your best reference and your best bet, as an independent hotel, to get new business from their social network. 

How to respond to negative reviews on TripAdvisor

Research has found that over 84% of internet users say that online reviews influence their purchasing decisions. Furthermore, research has shown that Internet users trust recommendations from people they know and opinions posted by unknown consumers online more than advertisements on TV, radio,magazines, newspapers or any other traditional media. With the increasing popularity of user-generated reviews on sites like TripAdvisor, many hotels, resorts and motels may be lamenting the loss of control over what is being said about them online, but the fact is that you are still in full control of how you react to these reviews.

Below are just some of our suggestions on how you can respond and use negative reviews to to your advantage.

Speak up
We would never ignore a guest shouting and getting aggressive in your hotel lobby, so why would you not respond back to negative reviews on TripAdvisor? (According to TripAdvisor, only 7% of negative reviews on their site are responded to). This is your chance to show everyone you care and you're listening. Thank the guest for their feedback, apologize and explain what happened and clear up any misconceptions. On TripAdvisor, reviewers can’t reply to hotel responses, so effectively you get the last word.

Engage
Hotels used to hire mystery shoppers to tell them what they were doing wrong, but now your guests are doing this for you. User reviews keep hoteliers in touch with guests. Wherever possible, engage writers of negative reviews and try to make amends. With expert handling, your harshest critics could become your most powerful advocates.

Show leadership
Accept the fact that sometimes, you will be the victim of unfair criticism, and other times you simply screwed up. Don’t let it bring you down. Treat every review as a learning experience to better your hotel and customer service. If need be, discuss the negative feedback with your staff and how it could have been prevented, support them and move on. 

Take the high road
If the review is petty or vindictive, there’s no need to stoop to that level. Travelers are smart enough to read between the lines. If allegations are false and defamatory, dispute the review with the review site and post a diplomatic response to set the record straight. For example, in most cases, if the reviews are false, TripAdvisor will remove the post from the site. 

Make reputation management a priority
Whether your property is a five-star hotel or a three star motel, your guests are evaluating you on how well you communicate and deliver on your brand promise. Subscribe to a social media monitoring tool and start tracking your market share of guest satisfaction. There are many free social media monitoring tools around where you can track when people are talking about your hotel. For example, Google Alerts. Formulate a strategy for optimizing your online reputation, set goals, and meet regularly with staff to review your progress.

Create a cycle of positivity
Use guest feedback to invets in more training for your staff, upgrades to your property etc. Little improvements over time will only help to generate positive reviews, which in turn will attract more travellers and generate incremental revenue for your property. You will find that if you ignore the negative feedback hoping it will go away (which it won't), it will only create a cycle of negativity, with the opposite results.

Prevent escalation
If you listen closely, bad reviews are often less about the issue itself than how staff responded when it was brought to their attention. Train your employees to prevent on-property issues from escalating to online complaints by listening, empathizing, offering solutions and following up to ensure guests are satisfied. Some issues take time and money to fix, but in the meantime, ensure your front staff are minimizing fallout by expertly managing complaints.

Take the good with the bad
In addition to occasional false and malicious reviews, we also receive reviews that overstate our virtues. Exaggerated praise can be just as damaging, setting expectations we can’t meet. And yet nobody is threatening to sue these reviewers. In the end it all balances out, and the wisdom of the crowds prevails over the folly of the few.

For more information about social monitoring or how you can use social media for your business, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today. We also hold Australia-wide workshops and webinars on social media. Stay tuned.

How hotels should respond to negative online reviews

Social media now provides hotels with the opportunity to respond to negative reviews easily and effectively. Below are some ideas on how you can respond to negative reviews to preserve your good online reputation and let potential and past customers know that you're listening and you care.

DO

1. Make sure senior management is involved in the process
2. Be timely - try to respond to the negative review within 24 hours
3. Thank the reviewer for their feedback to show that you are listening
4. Apologize that the stay did not go as planned
5. Be transparent
6. Point out that this is a rarity when compared with your regular service
7. Explain how you will be reacting to their feedback or action you will take. Eg you will follow up with the department involved, fix the problem, give them your personal email or phone number to call etc
8. Highlight any positive aspects that the reviewer left
9. Offer a direct line of communication (e-mail, phone line, etc.)
10. Fix the problem if there is one

You can also write a press release about any significant changes made due to the review.

DON’T

1. Ignore the negative review and think it will go away - if you don't respond, people will think it's true or you don't care
2. Write a response back when you're angry
3. Question the reviewer’s legitimacy
4. Reply with a discount which could only encourage negative reviews
5. Respond insincerely or automatically
6. Remove negative reviews (most sites do not allow this anyway)
7. Forget to respond to positive reviews (only responding to negative ones can make you look defensive)
8. Write fake reviews (you will be found out!)

 For more information about responding to negative reviews, or about social media management, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today.