TripAdvisor growth means hotels must be more vigilant than ever, warns expert

Over the past sixty years, the tourism industry sector has become a leader of the global economy. The advance in new technologies changed the way and means of communication and then influences the growth of tourism industry. Tourists are more and more involve and push to share their experiences for following users. This trend also encourages the development of platform where travellers can share and give some good plans about trips but particularly about Hotels themselves. Indeed, a perfect example of review sites like Trip Advisor appeared recently and expands its influence at a rapid rate. Therefore, hotels concerned need to be even more vigilant about delivering the quality their brand promises to deliver, an expert has warned. 

TripAdvisor announced yesterday that it has passed the 150m mark in terms of reviews and opinions posted to its site, and now collects more than 90 user contributions a minute.

“Fourteen years ago, TripAdvisor saw an opportunity to help travellers help each other make informed travel decisions by sharing their first-hand experiences, reviews, and photos,” said Steve Kaufer, co-founder and chief executive of TripAdvisor.

“Now, the internet and user-generated content have completely changed the way we plan changed the way we plan, book and share our trips”. 

Quality and consistency

Steve Tate, chairman of Cristal International Standards and Check Safety First, told BigHospitality that with more people then ever reading and posting reviews, hotels can’t afford to drop the ball when it comes to quality and consistency”.

 “Hotel Brands need to do more to counteract the dangers by being vigilant about delivering the quality that their brand represents,” he said.

“A set of bad reviews can reduce bookings for one hotel, but can also reflect badly against the whole brand.

“Brands are built on a reputation of consistency; if that appears to be consistently bad then the damage can be considerable.”

Importance of reviews

TripAdvisor insists that it is now essential for hotels to have reviews of their properties f they want to attract bookings, pointing to a study conducted by PhoCusWright, which revealed that more than half of respondents will not make a booking until they have read a review of the hotel.

In a bid to help hotels boost reviews numbers, guest relationship management service Guestfolio recently signed a deal with TripAdvisor to help its partner hotels boost the quantity of reviews about their property.

Under the deal Guestfolio, which has 40 UK partner hotels, will integrate a TripAdvisor review into its brand online guests satisfaction surveys, allows guests to post a review without leaving the hotels’ branded survey page.

Countering negative reviews

However, Tate said he was not sure hotels should be seeking to increase the number of review of their property on websites like TripAdvisor.

“What is better is to try and ensure that negative reviews are eliminated or kept to a minimum by having robust quality and brand management systems in place, “ he said.

Tate recommended that hoteliers scan review sites for negative reviews on their hotels.

 “These reviews need to be investigated and once appropriate action have been taken (real action) than a response should be considered,” he explained.

By Carina Perkins on the 26th February 2014. 

Morgane & Amandine

Source: http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Business/TripAdvisor-growth-means-hotels-must-be-more-vigilant-than-ever-warns-expert