Effective Management Response Strategies for Reviews & Surveys

Transcription

1 Effective Management Response Strategies for Reviews & Surveys GUIDE Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices

2 Index Introduction 3 Why Respond to Guest Feedback 5 What to Consider When Defining a Policy 8 Recommended Approach & Objectives 17 About Us 24 Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices

3 Introduction Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices

4 Introduction Responding to guest feedback is one of the most challenging and time-consuming tasks that hoteliers face. And it s not getting any easier. In addition to direct feedback via surveys, more feedback than ever is being shared publicly on review sites and social media channels, in multiple languages. In this guide, we ll look at what to consider when defining a policy and suggest possible approaches based on our experience, studies and best practice. Whether you are defining the strategy for a global hotel chain or an independent property, the framework outlined in this guide will help you to find the most effective solution for your brand. How you respond to guest feedback can have a significant impact on guest perceptions, behavior and the overall success of your hotel. If feedback is poorly managed, guests may not return to your hotel and could share their disappointment with others which will in turn affect your property or brand s reputation. Before tackling responding to feedback, it s important to have a clear management response strategy in place. Hotels and hotel brands should set goals and priorities, communicate these to teams, allocate resources and develop the relevant skills across the organization. Managing Guest Satisfaction 4 Surveys: Best Practices

5 Why Respond to Guest Feedback Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices

6 Responding to Guest Feedback Matters Whether it s an online review, a guest survey or a comment at checkout, a guest s experience is impacted by how a hotel reacts. By responding to guest feedback you have the opportunity to: But your hotel s response to feedback can influence not only the satisfaction of the guest leaving the comments, but also the perception of your brand in the eyes of potential future guests. Thank guests Show that you are listening and you care Change perceptions Explain and reassure Clear up misinformation Reinforce the positive Be accountable Say how you re following up Effectively managing direct feedback from surveys or face-to-face exchanges helps to reduce negative reviews and encourages guests to talk positively about their experience online or to friends and relatives. The main reason for responding to online reviews is that it helps to sell the hotel. Public responses are not only for the benefit of the guest who left the original review but also for the potential bookers who are searching online. When feedback is well managed and responded to in a timely and correct manner, guests will feel more positive about your hotel. You wouldn t ignore the phone if you knew a guest was calling to complain. The OTAs are a channel, just like and phone. In the consumer s mind there is little difference. Managing Guest Satisfaction 6 Surveys: Best Practices

7 Higher Ratings & More Booking Inquiries According to research from TripAdvisor, hotels have even more reasons to respond to online reviews: Properties that don t respond to reviews have an average rating of Properties that respond to at least 40% of reviews have average rating of Properties that respond to at least 50% of reviews increase likelihood of a booking inquiry by 24%. Source: Tripadvisor.com/PressCenter Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices 7

8 What to Consider When Defining a Policy Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices

9 Defining a Management Response Policy A management response strategy will differ depending on the size of the hotel / hotel brand and the resources available as well as the nature of the guest feedback. When defining your brand s policy, it is important to first clarify your objectives. What does your hotel want to achieve from responding to guest feedback? Once the overall objectives are clear, there are several components that hotel management should consider : Online Reviews vs Surveys Speed vs Quantity Negative vs Positive Comments Corporate vs Hotel Level Response Multiple Languages Guidelines for Responding to Guest Feedback Whether it s an online review, a guest survey or a comment at checkout, your response to guest feedback is critical. In this webinar, we ll show you how to respond to guest feedback in a way that leaves travelers feeling positive about your hotel, improves reputation, and drives higher room demand. Watch Webinar Competitor Behavior Setting expectations through responding Managing Guest Satisfaction 9 Surveys: Best Practices

10 Online Reviews vs Surveys Public or private? The key difference is that reviews are public (both the guest comment and your response) whereas surveys are private (both the guest feedback and your reply). In many cases responding to reviews should take priority over responding to surveys. Reviews: Responding to online reviews is an opportunity to not only resolve situations with guests who have already checked out, but gives hotels the chance to attract future guests. A good response can act as a marketing tool to convince travelers to choose your hotel so it s important to choose your words carefully to create a positive impression. Avoid standard answers wherever possible since travelers can easily spot when the same management response is being copied and pasted again and again. Surveys: Survey feedback is responded to in a different manner. Since the response is private, using response templates can be particularly helpful to increase efficiency and save time. Even though hotels cannot respond to post-stay surveys until after the guest has checked out, responding quickly to negative survey comments is critical as it allows the hotel to try and find a solution before the guest decides to write a negative review online. Responding to in-stay surveys is more like responding to a phone call. As the guest is still on property, follow-up may need to be more personal such as phoning the guest in their room. The advantage is that the hotel has the opportunity to resolve the issue before the guest checks out. ReviewPro s Case Management solutions enable hotels to efficiently manage service recovery to increase guest satisfaction and reduce negative reviews. Managing Guest Satisfaction 10 Surveys: Best Practices

11 Speed vs Quantity Hotels are frequently responding by the total amount of responses rather than the time taken to respond. An objective of responding to 100% of reviews quickly results in a no win situation. Staff will never see the top of the mountain and risk burning out. The inefficiency of responding to all reviews has been proved (one study by Cornell is summarized on the next page). If managers set objectives to respond to 100% of reviews, then sometimes responses are only published two or three months after the actual review has been written. This is often counter productive as resources are spent on responding to old reviews and the likelihood of these being read is low due to the age of the review. It s time to lift hotel staff out of the drudgery of responding to all reviews and all guest survey feedback. It is likely to be more impactful to focus on responding as quickly as possible to the most relevant comments, rather than trying to respond to all feedback over a long period of time. For in-stay surveys, it is even more obvious that a rapid response time is critical. Most travelers don t look beyond the ten most recent reviews. The faster you respond, the better your chances of converting them. Daniel E. Craig Founder Managing Guest Satisfaction 11 Surveys: Best Practices

12 The Cornell Study Source Cornell University Hotel Performance Impact of Socially Engaging with Consumers The image above taken from the Cornell Study shows how the Dubai market has been responding to a higher percentage of reviews, yet the average score for reviews is lower. The study states that We anticipate the impact of managerial responses not to be strictly linear, that is, responding to some reviews may be beneficial, but perhaps that impact decreases as hotels start to respond to all reviews. Most travelers don t look beyond the ten most recent reviews. The faster you respond, the better your chances of converting them. The graph on the left shows the impact of responding to reviews on TripAdvisor on revenue. The study states that The practical limit for the proportion of review responses seems to be about 40 percent. After this point, incremental increases in review responses become detrimental, and revenue declines. Managing Guest Satisfaction 12 Surveys: Best Practices

13 Negative vs Positive Comments Generally speaking, when considering management response objectives, hotels should focus on any negative feedback first. Responding to negative reviews tend to take priority over neutral or positive reviews as they often call for an apology or clarification. Whether or not you are able to contact the reviewer directly, posting a response to negative feedback shows readers that you regret the situation and have made efforts to resolve it. When your hotel receives negative feedback via surveys, you should take action to limit any damage it may cause to your hotel s reputation. As already mentioned, resolving issues identified through in-stay surveys should be top priority. For post-stay surveys, one way of fixing objectives is based on the Net Promoter Score. For example, an objective could be to reply to all detractors within 48 hours. Negative Reviews Aim to respond quickly. Offer a sincere apology. Address the key issues. Provide an explanation. Managing Guest Satisfaction 13 Surveys: Best Practices Say how you are following up. Be professional. Personalize the response. Positive Reviews Thank them they re your advocates. Share the excitement: We are thrilled Keep responses varied by commenting on specifics. Say you look forward to welcoming them back. No need to respond to all positive reviews!

14 Corporate vs Hotel Level Response Hotel Response Whether a hotel level response is possible ultimately depends on the volume of reviews. There are many benefits of a hotel level response for both the hotelier and guest. Not only is a hotel response from a General Manager more direct and genuine, hotel management knows the property better and can therefore respond faster giving a more precise response. It is important that corporate is involved and supports the hotels where necessary. A key function that corporate is often responsible for is the creation of a strategic response policy including objectives, guidelines and best practices. Some brands find a hybrid solution effective whereby responses are managed by the individual hotels but in high season or when staff are unable to respond on time, the response is escalated to corporate to manage, for example through the group custom service center. Corporate Response The corporate team can also provide valuable support in terms of language coverage. Corporate responses make sense in certain scenarios and it depends on the situation as well as the size of group. Managing Guest Satisfaction 14 Surveys: Best Practices

15 Responding in Multiple Languages It is important to respond in the language that the feedback was written in to ensure a personalized response. The ideal way to manage this is with multi-lingual team members. With ReviewPro s Auto Case Management, cases can be created automatically and alerts sent to the relevant staff member based on the language of the guest comment. If a language is not covered at the hotel level, it could make sense to escalate the response to corporate. Response templates translated into multiple languages can help to some extent (ReviewPro offers this option for both ORM and GSS). It is important to make sure that the team knows how to adapt them where necessary. We recommend not relying on machine translation services for responses. If you can t respond professionally in the same language, it may be better not to respond at all. Managing Guest Satisfaction 15 Surveys: Best Practices

16 What Are Your Competitors Doing? Source: ReviewPro The last crucial part of your management response strategy is to look at your competitive set and how they are responding to guest feedback. Are your competitors replying to a higher percentage of reviews on important channels than you are? How quickly do they respond? How does your average response time compare? Managing Guest Satisfaction 16 Surveys: Best Practices

17 Recommended Approach & Objectives Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices

18 Response Policy for Reviews There is no one policy fits all that will fit every hotel or chain, however the following approach can be used as a base for defining your review response strategy. It can then be tailored to fit your organization and overall brand strategy. Don t feel obliged to respond to all reviews! Prioritize reviews that call for an apology or clarification, are damaging to reputation or highlight positive aspects you wish to draw attention to. Think speed before quantity. Focus on responding as quickly as possible to the most relevant reviews, rather than trying to respond to all reviews over a long period of time. Concentrate on the most influential sites and channels - those that are the most important for your target audience or generate the highest revenue for your hotel. Although it makes sense for corporate to define response strategy, dedicate resources to be able to respond on a hotel level whenever possible. Using a hybrid approach can work well to manage escalations or overflow during peak season. Try to respond in the language of the review. This is typically an area where corporate can provide support. Remember that reviews are public so if you choose to use response templates, make sure the message is adapted so that it does not look like a robotic answer. Responses should provide helpful and meaningful information. Provide staff with training and clear guidelines for responding to reviews. Your review response policy should also include how to deal with false reviews, fictitious claims or a review threat. For more details, see our guide on managing brand attacks. Managing Guest Satisfaction 18 Surveys: Best Practices

19 Example of Objectives for Reviews Remember not all sites offer the option to respond to reviews. Objectives should be based on respondable reviews rather than total review volume. Here is an example of appropriate objectives for responding to reviews: 100% of negative reviews in key languages 25% of neutral reviews with comments 25% of positive reviews with comments Within 72 hours Source: ReviewPro Managing Guest Satisfaction 19 Surveys: Best Practices

20 Tracking Performance for Reviews Another key part of your management response strategy should be around tracking and managing your performance. In the ReviewPro Management Response center, you can monitor the following: - Volume of respondable reviews - Response ratio - Average response time - By review source - By positive/neutral/negative - Relative to the competition Source: ReviewPro It is also useful to create a view (as shown in the screen shot) of negative reviews that have not been responded to. This helps the person responsible for replying to reviews to prioritize responses. Managing Guest Satisfaction 20 Surveys: Best Practices

21 Response Policy for Surveys When defining a survey response strategy, it is important to keep in mind that unlike reviews, survey responses are not public. We recommend the following approach: Once again, don t feel compelled to respond to all surveys. Give priority to those surveys where a response is required such as because the guest had a negative experience. This can be based on NPS detractors or a low overall satisfaction score (the figure will depend on the scale used). Reply as quickly as possible to the surveys with the most relevant feedback. By removing the pressure of reaching a 100% response rate, your responses will be quicker and more likely to have a bigger impact. Many times, your guests may provide feedback in surveys and wait for your response prior to sharing their experience online. A timely and effective response to surveys can therefore still have a positive impact on your Online Reputation. When it comes to in-stay surveys, speed is definitely of the essence and a telephone call is often the fastest and most effective way of following up with the guest. As for reviews, survey response strategy can be defined at corporate level but respond on a hotel level whenever possible, using a hybrid approach when applicable. Again, try to respond in the language of the review, asking corporate for support when necessary. As responses are not public, using templates can be extremely useful and increase efficiency. Use it as an opportunity to encourage customer loyalty. Identify highly satisfied guests or promoters and using a template, send them a thank you with a welcome back discount on future bookings. Provide staff with training and clear guidelines for responding to survey feedback. Managing Guest Satisfaction 21 Surveys: Best Practices

22 Example of Objectives for Surveys Appropriate objectives for responding to post-stay surveys could be: 100% of negative responses in key languages 100% of promoters (using a welcome back template with 10% discount on next booking) Within 72 hours For in-stay surveys the focus should be speed so that issues can be resolved quickly. For example: 100% of responses saying they have an issue Within 2 hours Managing Guest Satisfaction 22 Surveys: Best Practices

23 Tracking Performance for Surveys In the ReviewPro Management Response center, you can monitor the following: - Volume of surveys to respond to - Response ratio - Average response time - By positive/neutral/negative - By NPS (Promoters/Passives/Detractors) It is also possible to track whether guests found the response from the hotel useful or not. Source: ReviewPro Managing Guest Satisfaction 23 Surveys: Best Practices

24 About ReviewPro Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices

25 About Us ReviewPro is the leading provider of Guest Intelligence solutions to independent hotel brands worldwide. The company s suite of cloud-based solutions includes Online Reputation Management (ORM), Guest Satisfaction Surveys (GSS) and Auto Case Management which enable clients to obtain a deeper understanding of reputation performance as well as operational/service strengths and weaknesses. Leveraging Guest Intelligence effectively allows clients to increase guest satisfaction, rankings on review sites/otas and revenue. Visit our Resource Hub The leading source of Guest Intelligence best practices and insights for the hospitality industry The company offers the industry-standard Global Review Index TM (GRI), an online reputation score, which is used by thousands of hotels worldwide as a benchmark for reputation management efforts, based on review data collected from more than 175 online travel agencies (OTAs) and review sites in more than 45 languages. More than 30,000 hotel brands worldwide are currently using ReviewPro s solutions. Learn More Request a Free ReviewPro Demo now Managing Guest Satisfaction 25 Surveys: Best Practices

26 Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices