Chapter 46. negative reviews are good for business. I don't care what business you're in. If you're dealing with the public. There are times when you're going to get negative reviews and there's very little you can do. The choice lies in what you do with them. You can cover your ears, close your eyes, and hope they go away.

But unfortunately, with the internet, this is never going to happen. Take a look at these statistics from statistic brain calm. The number of travel bookings made on the internet each year 148.3 million, and that's going up percentage of all travel reservations made on the internet 57% percentage of same day hotel reservations made from a smartphone 65%. These statistics show that it is vitally important for hospitality to have a strategy in place to find out what guests are saying when leaving a review. I should make it clear right now that a hospitality property owner hoping to monitor every possible review of both their property is in for a difficult time since almost every online travel agency has feedback or comments sections about properties. Instead of driving yourself crazy, you should focus on a couple of the larger sites that have leveraged in the hospitality and travel market.

And they can give you a good idea of of what is being said on other sites. tripadvisor is the largest site in the industry, having over 75 million impartial reviews, photos and advice on hospitality properties, attractions, restaurants and vacations. That makes it the most influential and quite often the first site people look at when looking for travel advice. Other sites that hold influence in the industry are those providing booking services. Orbitz, Travelocity Expedia, they are important because they have a large number of users and a negative review can make a potential customer choose another property Have to monitor social media. A bad review on Facebook or Twitter can take off in no time and within days beyond 10s of thousands of timelines.

The last type of review site that you should stay aware of are the travel guides, folders and Frommer's should be at the top of your list. But as mentioned earlier, more often than not, feedback in these type of publications would be from experienced staff. I have heard a couple of bad reviews won't hurt my business, I can offer discounts. Research has shown that a slowdown in bookings due to bad reviews cannot be countered with discounts, at least not enough to recover the original business. What can you do? encourage your guests to fill out your survey.

Surveys can guide the respondent to consider the entire experience. Not just one thing that stood out when it comes to filling a review or a comment online guests who have had a problem right a reviewable 22% of the time. Guess without a problem. write reviews just 9% of the time. Encourage your guests to leave positive reviews. The simple fact is that customers are much more likely, maybe up to seven times to leave a negative review or opinion.

You need to be proactive and getting people to leave positive reviews and comments. If your customers say something nice about you, ask them to put it online. Don't ignore negative feedback. As I mentioned earlier, you can't be perfect all the time. But you need to have an easy process in place for guests to leave both positive and negative reviews about your property. engaging with the complaint in a clear, polite and positive fashion creates a more favorable impression with potential guests than simply doing nothing.

How can negative reviews be good for business? They give you authenticity. When you check out a business and see nothing but flattering your views and five stars. Do you believe it all the time? Or is there a little voice in the back of your brain saying this might be too good to be be true, it is possible to pay for good reviews or a hospitality property owner could get their family to write them. Nothing is perfect.

And because we are human, we all make mistakes. When I'm looking at a hospitality property reviews and I see the large number of great reviews and a couple of not so great reviews, I will take the time to look further. We all have days when we can miss a hair in the sink or scrambled eggs or too cold. And if I see this type of thing written up under review, I don't get too worried. You can recognize fixable, weak points. As a business owner, this is valuable information so you know what needs to be fixed.

Negative reviews help your business improve by showing you areas where you can do better. Instead of fearing these type of reviews, welcome them as an unfiltered look into your business. Once you know where there's a problem or areas where customers are confused, you can resolve the problem and make the experience better for everyone. Instead of fearing these comments, thank the people who leave them and tell them how you're going to change things for the better. Let your customer service skills shine. If your customer takes the time to let you know what or where you can do better thank them.

This is valuable information. It also gives you a chance to show off your customer service skills, while giving others who are checking out your property, the opportunity to see how much you value your customers. potential customers can tell a lot about a property by how they respond to criticism. If you handle the situation with grace, maturity, and when appropriate humor, it tells them you're a business that is confident in what they have to offer and how you treat people. If you get defensive or argumentative, it tells potential customers you're a business that they may want to avoid. It's important to respond wisely.

You give your loyal guests a chance to respond. If your property has received a negative review and you feel it's unfair or undeserving. Sure to some of your best and most loyal guests and ask what they think. If they feel the review is justified, they'll tell you, and then you can correct the problem. If they don't, they're likely to respond to that comment for you, and help set the record straight. In many cases, if loyal customers feel you were wronged, they will come to your defense and be supportive of your brand.

If treated right, guests can be passionate about the people in the properties they frequent. If they see someone who's talking badly about their hotel, resort, in or bed and breakfast, they're going to jump into the conversation and fight for you. You can change the conversation. As much as no one likes to see negative comments left about their property, they do give you a chance to change the conversation and that person's experience. by responding maturely validating the critique and offering a promise to do better, you can significantly increase someone's impression of your brand and true If someone's not happy with your service, don't you want to improve and make it right? reviews are important.

And the more positive reviews you have, the more likely it is a new customer will feel comfortable taking a chance on your business. negative reviews also have their place and can offer some benefits to any business. I've heard many hospitality property owners and managers tell me they don't have the time to search online for negative reviews about their property. Well, if you're only getting a few soso negative reviews, you can probably live with that. But if you're getting reviews that are damaging your image and not dealing with them, it can have a major impact on your business. You cannot do this yourself.

It is worth taking the time to give the task to a trusted employee or invest in online reputation management. If your property profile is stained with negative reviews, much of the time and money you're investing will go to waste but with patience and caring You can turn these around to your benefit.