The Revinate Blog

3rd Party Reviews Removed from Google Maps and Google Places

Interesting article and comments this morning on Tnooz about Google removing third party hotel reviews from its prominent place on Maps and Places products. Before, when you went to Google Maps or Places, you would be able to see TripAdvisor, Yelp and other 3rd party reviews. Now they're gone. In their place, just reviews written on Google's own platform by people with a Google ID.

Of the changes, the Google Lat Long Blog says, "Rating and review counts reflect only those that’ve been written by fellow Google users, and as part of our continued commitment to helping you find what you want on the web, we’re continuing to provide links to other review sites so you can get a comprehensive view of locations across the globe." The 3rd party reviews can be accessed by scrolling down the page, where plain text links allow you to see reviews from around the world on TripAdvisor, TravelPod and Booking.com, in Hotel Rex's case.

I am seeing a little bit of an outcry from hoteliers because, like TripAdvisor, reviews on Google's platform aren't verified at all. All you have to do is click "write a review," share your thoughts, and your review is published immediately.

Otherwise, most people see it as a sign that Google is looking to create a robust platform, driven by user generated content, and helpful because it knows who you are and who your friends are, thanks to the recently released Google+. Looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.

 

How Much Detail Should You Provide in Responses?

One piece of advice that both Daniel Edward Craig and I give when providing advice to hoteliers about responding to reviews is to keep it brief. While guests might write a mini-tome about their experience at your hotel, you don't have to match them word for word. Your response should send the message that you appreciate the guest's stay, you take guest feedback very seriously and you use it to improve your operations, and that you're sorry if you let the guest down.

Here's an example of an incredibly long review that was posted to TripAdvisor:

"Very Disappointing

I have stayed at many starwood hotels before. But I have NEVER had to pay for extra occupancy in a room. I had 2 hotel rooms with 3 people in a room. I have stayed in many hotels where this has never never been a problem. I come from a family of 5 and we have traveled for years with 2 rooms and never had a problem. At the Sheraton, they said three people were not allowed in a 2 person room and so I had to pay for 2 extra people a night!! On the request of a cot they said first- the room was not big enough (!) and that they had run out!!!! Additionally, If I wanted a room with 2 beds to sleep 3 people- we still had to pay for an extra person! Because the hotel could not accommodate us I had to pay!!!! Huge ripoff. Additionally I am a gold member at Starwood and it got me nowhere. I wasted points and money to stay at a hotel where it almost would have been the same if I had paid the normal rate. The rooms are very small as well.

The concierge was absolutely useless. I had bought a lonely planet guide to get a basic outline. I told her we were in the city for 4 days and inquired about what there was to do. She tried to sell me a tour where I could see the entire city in 4 hours- all major sites. If I had just told you I was going to be in the city for 4 days then why would I want to see everything in 4 hours? Then what would I do for the next 3 days? When I asked her what else there was to do besides the major attractions or what she recommended, she could only tell me the major attractions. One night I asked for a dinner recommendation for a really good local restaurant. In such a touristy city it is easy to go to a restaurant that is average and pay far to much. She handed me a brochure to a restaurant that I am sure she handed to everyone else. Just another tourist trap. The guidebook was a better help.

The hotel is about 10-15 minute from the old city. The surrounding area of the hotel is not great and it gets tiring walking back and forth between the old city and hotel.

I would not stay here again and hope the hotel has spent my money buying more cots or organizing bigger rooms so another person does not have to be robbed as well!"

First off, if I was the GM I would definitely respond to this review because the guest was not only disappointed, but he's loyal to the brand and angry. He deserves a thoughtful and apologetic response. Here's how I would respond:

"I was so sorry to read this review and learn of your frustrating experience at the hotel. There is no excuse for guests leaving us feeling like they had a less than perfect. I will be reviewing your feedback with the front desk and concierge staff to ensure that future guests are not left disappointed. While I am sorry that I couldn't resolve your issues when you were on-site, please feel free to contact me should you want to discuss it in more detail. And, if you plan to visit X city again, please let me know if you would be willing to give us another try as I would love to personally oversee your visit. Thank you for the feedback."

Want more advice or to discuss a troubling review? Attend our next Online Review Clinic on July 28th at 9am Pacific.

 

Should You Respond to Positive Reviews?

Hello from Zihuatenejo. I'm on vacation for a couple days at an incredible boutique hotel, La Casa Que Canta, and as I watch the boats bob in the ocean, I'm thinking about what I'm going to write in my hotel review when I get home. I love writing good reviews when I have a good stay because it's the gift that keeps on giving. But should I expect a response when I only have positive things to say? That's a question that I get a lot from hoteliers.

In fact, one of the reviews that was submitted for the last Online Review Clinic was extremely positive. It was written by a guest of Four Seasons Marrakesh. It reads:

“OMG! It must be a dream....because I felt like a queen.

Literally, my husband and I were the first guests to stay at this brand new property for three nights. Four Seasons does it again by going above and beyond our expectations and continues to make my family and I to stay at Four Seasons properties world wide during our vacations. Every arrangement was handled meticulously from the Four Seasons staff in Marrakech before check in and also during our stay. The true experience starts off by getting off the plane and swept away from private security at immigration and relaxing at a VIP lounge (while our bags and passports were being cleared) and then getting driven by a chauffeur to the hotel. We were then welcomed by VERY hospitable staff members at the property. The decor of the property complements Moroccan architecture and the details could not only be seen in the common areas but also in our suite. After drinking the fresh lemonade and mint drinks ( Moroccan hospitality drink) we were escorted and given details about the property till we reached our gorgeous one bedroom suite. The suite had beautiful floral arrangements, a fruit platter along with delicious dried fruit and assorted nuts platter (all of the above foods were replenished daily during our stay). Our view overlooked the pool courtyard and the private Four Seasons residences. The spa offered an array of treatments and the "1000 and 1 nights"- highly recommended. Our meals were flavorful and and the menus offered a great selection of worldly cuisines that we truly indulged."

When this review was submitted to me for coverage in the review clinic, it was the first TripAdvisor review that the hotel received. As a result, my advice is to respond to the review. It's great to show guests that staff, expecially at a new hotel, is listening for feedback. My general advice to responding to positive reviews is to respond to them as long as you can ensure they sound sincere and are totally tailored to the guest's experience. Here is how I might respond to this one:

"Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experiences at Four Seasons Hotel Marrakesh. As a brand new hotel, we read our reviews closely and use them for both employee recognition and to ensure that any kinks that are reported are worked out immediately. I will be sure to share your feedback with the whole hotel, restaurant and spa team so they can see how their attention to detail and great customer service pays off. As you are now part of our hotel's history, I hope you will return often to celebrate with us."

If you want to learn more about responding to reviews or have a review that's troubling you, please join our next review clinic on July 28th at 9am Pacific. Sign up here.

Study Shows TripAdvisor is Credible Source of Guest Satisfaction

While I rarely hear our customers doubt the validity of TripAdvisor reviews, I have seen articles and comments from people claiming that it's too easy to write a false review on the site and the company should be doing more to validate hotel stays. In an effort to determine whether or not TripAdvisor reviews can be considered a credible source of guest satisfaction, MarketMetrix conducted a study that compared results from TripAdvisor reviews with the Market Metrix Hospitality Index (MMHI).

The conclusion is that "the mean scores of hotels track very consistently and closely between TripAdvisor (CSI) and MMHI. This indicates that, when taken as a whole, the reviews for a particular hotel are a reliable measure of average customer satisfaction of that hotel, given adequate sample size."

As someone who works closely with hoteliers to turn online reviews into opportunities to improve operations and drive loyalty and sales, I can't say that I am surprised. The majority of our clients are already treating reviews as a critical measurement of guest satisfaction and responding to reviews to show how seriously they take the feedback. Some hotels and management groups are taking the next critical step and creating goals that are becoming part of comp packages and bonus plans. Revinate's GS2 Reports are making it easy to track goals and 'operationalize' review feedback. I expect many more will follow.

Read about the study and the results here, on HospitalityNET.

Help Responding to Reviews

This month, Daniel Edward Craig and I launched a Webinar series called the Review Clinic. You can see the recording from our first event in the previous blog post. The next free, online event will be Thursday, July 28th at 9am pacific/12pm eastern. Please sign up here.

We created the event because we know that many hotel professionals are still not comfortable responding publicly to reviews and we wanted to help. We invited hoteliers to submit reviews that they wanted us to discuss during the live event. Since we aren't able to cover every review that was submitted, I thought I would share some runners-up in the blog. Here is one review, copied exactly as it was submitted but with hotel names removed. (In other words, the spelling and grammar errors are not mine.)

"We arrived in the late afternoon. it was nice since the girl behind the desk had our info ready to it was a breeze....they gave us the gov rate - even though it was more expensive then their normal rate...which they changed when asked. We found out at check in that parking was 12 dollar and it was valet. Left the car and grabbed my bags...went to my room to have a shower. Room is nice, nothing special....nothing special....no Flat screen....looks like 1980's happend yesterday....the decor is dated.....and I think we were the only ones in the hotel. When I came back downstairs, my car was still in the drive way..with door open.....the valet being also the bell boy and the concierge....when asked about the car, he said he was busy - talking to the blonde girl behind the front desk. Finally parked the car. When we came back at 21:45 at night, we found the front ready for breakfeast, the staff giglling with some type of a husky dog in front...and we the only people in the hotel. For 175$ a night...and 12$ for parking...200$....WTF!!! .....the X Hotel, which is next door, and is far above this hotel was only 120$......seriously ....what a joke..."

Here is how I would go about writing a response:

First, there are a lot of topics mentioned in the review and you don't need to (and shouldn't) address all of them. Why? If you responded to each critique you would have to explain your policy on rates, parking fees, decor, occupancy, staffing, pets etc. Your response should be brief and to the point. Think of your response as signing a guest book with a thoughtful, genuine note. You want to send the message that you were there and you care, but you don't need to share your whole life story there. Likewise, you don't need to get into a debate on every point mentioned in the review. My advice is to pick one item and address it, without being defensive so it's clear you are not writing a form letter.

Second, this guest is upset and whether or not you did anything wrong, you need to apologize. He chose to spend his money at your hotel and your goal is to meet or exceed his expectations. If he's not happy, you should be sorry. You should also thank him for taking the time to write a review, even if it's not a positive one.

Third, you want to make sure that people that see this review know that you are reading them and using them to improve your operations so let them know that you use reviews to retrain employees, or as a basis for future operational changes.

Finally, let him know that you are in charge and you want to do better next time.

So here is how I would respond:

"Thank you for taking the time to write a review, and I am so sorry that your experience with us in June was disappointing. We take all guest feedback very seriously, and we're constantly improving all aspects of our service and facilities. We even use online reviews to retrain employees, so rest assured that your valet trouble won't happen in the future. I hope you will consider staying with us again so that we can demonstrate the level of service that we are known for. If you do plan to be in the area again, please contact me directly by asking for the general manager and I will personally oversee your stay. Thank you. Jane Doe, General Manager"

As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

 

Review Clinic - Webinar Materials Available for Download

Thanks to everyone that joined us on the Webinar this morning to discuss responding to online reviews. A special thank you to Daniel Edward Craig for his expertise and to everyone that submitted reviews for us to look at.

If you were able to attend the event, please provide your feedback in the comments section. We would love to host these events on a regular basis but we want to ensure we're covering the most important topics. Our next Online Review Clinic will be on July 28th at 9am Pacific/noon Eastern. Sign up here and let us know what reviews to cover.

If you would like a copy of today's presentation, you can download it here. Please feel free to forward it to colleagues as well. And if you would like to view the Webinar in its entirety, please watch it below.

TripAdvisor Highlighting Reviewers' Experience

I received an interesting email from TripAdvisor this morning. The review site is now sharing a 'reviewer badge' next to reviews so readers can see how much review experience the author has. The more reviews that you write, the more impressive your badge will be. For example, with eight reviews under my belt, I am a Senior Reviewer. My goal is to be a Top Contributor.

Badges have become a popular way to encourage participation and share clout. Location-based services, for example, have made acquiring badges part of the fun of checking in. I am looking forward to seeing whether displaying a user's badge on TripAdvisor drives more reviews.

For the hotelier, badges will allow you to see how experienced a reviewer is and whether he/she is writing a one-off review or considers himself/herself a review and travel expert.

Online Reviews are Popping up Everywhere

Many thanks to the client that shared this screenshot from Delta's Sky Miles redemption site. As you can see, third party booking engines like Sky Miles are now putting TripAdvsior results prominently in front of customers.

If you're not already obsessed with your hotel's online reputation, it's time to get control. Need help? Email info@revinate.com.

Questions from the Online Reputation Management Webinar

Last Wednesday Daniel Edward Craig and I hosted a Webinar about integrating online reputation management into hotel operations and culture. During the Webinar, we received a lot of great questions. Here are the questions and our responses.

Q: What is the percentage of bookings through the different travel related channels?

Daniel: TravelClick’s eTRAK Report provides great information about hotel bookings by channel. Check out http://www.travelclick.com/information-center/bookings-by-channel.cfm. There’s also a great article about travel booking channels by Max Starkov in the April 2011 issue of Hotels magazine. (Scroll to the very bottom of the page for the link to the PDF since the link to read the whole article gives me a 404 error.)

Q: Do you know if there exists an overall industry customer experience index that can be used as a (global) benchmark?

Michelle:
I am not aware of an overall customer experience index that exists today. I don't know if this makes sense, as different classes of hotels have different service levels. I can't expect the same level of service at a 2-star hotel that I get at a 5-star hotel. We suggest hotels track the star ratings they receive from their guests against a comp set of 5 properties. If you are using Revinate, we will show you how you are doing against your comp set across many criteria such as overall rating, cleanliness, service, etc.

Daniel: J.D. Power performs guest satisfaction surveys for various industries including travel, and breaks results down by industry and brand. Check out http://www.jdpower.com/travel.

Q: Can you show how people have had physical hotel experiences augmented through the usage of social media by properties?

Michelle:
I hear a lot of stories about hotels 'surprising and delighting' guests that check-in using a location based service. Hyatt Regency Chicago provides a good example here. We also did a Webinar with BCV where we shared examples of how hotels are using social media on site. You can see it here.

Daniel: I too have encountered lots of individual examples and case studies. I recommend doing a Google search for “Case studies hotel social media” and you’ll find all sorts of examples.

Q: Is it just anecdotal evidence that responding to reviews can drive bookings?

Michelle:
No. There is now real evidence that shows that responding to reviews can drive bookings. According to TripAdvisor and Forrester, when deciding between 2 hotels, 65% of people say that seeing a management response would sway them to book with the responding hotel.

Q: How many more hits do the top 10 hotels on TripAdvisor get compared to the rest?

Michelle and Daniel: As far as we know, TripAdvisor has not released this information.

Q: Does reputation management make more money for me and how?

Michelle:
Ten years ago, if I went to hotel and thought the service was remarkable, I might tell my immediate family, a couple of friends and some co-workers that asked about my vacation. Today, I would post about my experience on Facebook and Tweet my followers. I would post a review to TripAdvisor and possibly even blog about the experience. My message would reach thousands of people, who might never have thought about staying at that particular hotel, but now a seed has been planted. Imagine if my stay is disappointing. Think about all the people that might see my message. You need to know what people are saying about your property as reviews are affecting bookings. You also need to engage and respond to bad reviews to show you're listening, looking for feedback, and using guest comments to improve operations.

Daniel: Survey after survey shows there is a direct connection between reviews and bookings. Your reputation affects demand for your property and the prices travelers are willing to pay. Recent PhoCusWright surveys have found: 1) More than three in four active travelers cited traveler reviews and photos as very or moderately influential in choosing what they do (2011); and 2) OTA shoppers who visit hotel review pages are twice as likely to book. (2010)

The dreaded TripAdvisor warning

Take a close look at the image on the left. I hope this is the closest you will ever be to the dreaded TripAdvisor warning message that is splashed across the pages of hotels that TripAdvisor thinks are interfering with hotel reviews.

TripAdvisor's Web site says that it has a team of moderators that examine questionable reviews. They claim to use automated tools to help flag questionable content for review in addition to help from the community, in the form of the 'Report Problem with a Review' link.

So what should you do to avoid the red text of death? According to the TripAdvisor FAQ, avoid these practices:

• Writing a review for your own property
• Asking friends or relatives to write positive reviews
• Submitting a review on behalf of a guest
• Copying comment cards and submitting them as reviews
• Pressuring a TripAdvisor member to remove a negative review
• Offering incentives such as discounts, upgrades, or any special treatment in exchange for reviews
• Hiring an optimization company, third party marketing organization, or anyone to submit false reviews
• Impersonating a competitor or a guest in any way

As much as you want to see a glowing review on your page, it's not worth it at the expense of looking like a business that is willing to lie and cheat to make a sale. As a consumer, it's hard to see that box of text and think that your property is worth my hard-earned money. I would think, "Hm, what else does this hotel do to cut corners?" You should also know that if you're busted, you will drop in the TripAdvisor popularity index and disqualify your hotel from inclusion in the Travelers' Choice Awards.

Any experience with the red text of death? Let me know in the comments, below.