Nowadays, reputation management is becoming more and more important for the accommodation industry, where competition is always fierce. Rapid transmission of information, thanks to the digital age we are experiencing today, made it almost mandatory for hotels to pay particular attention to protecting and managing their reputation. Reputation is crucial especially for hotels in close contact with their customers so that they can survive as a successful business.
For properties engaged in the accommodation industry, reputation management requires them to follow not only the popular online hotel comment sites, but also other websites, blogs, forum posts and social media platforms potential guests access through Google and other search engines. It is known that most of the guests make their booking decision under the effect of the comments posted on these channels. This puts reputation management in a different dimension for hotels.
Therefore, reputation management is directly related to customer relations and social media management. Let’s have a closer look in this relation between reputation management and property revenues.
What is online reputation management?
Online reputation management can be defined as a series of efforts carried out for proper management of the reputation and perception of organizations, brands and people in the digital world. For hotels, reputation management first and foremost involves following customer comments in digital channels and developing their strategies accordingly. According to the results of a survey conducted by TripAdvisor, 93 percent of customers attach importance to comments on a property as they decide on which accommodation property to stay at. Also, 53 percent of participants say that they have not booked from hotels that have not received any previous comment. These results point to the direct impact of online reputation on property bookings.
The relation between reputation management and sales
A negative impression developed across digital channels can bring about dramatic losses in the sales concluded by properties. Generally, many business owners put years of efforts to create a positive reputation about their properties. However, these years of efforts might be wasted if you remain indifferent to negative comments, more so they are listed on the first page of search engine results. In this respect, you should assume a proactive approach to manage your property’s reputation and resolve your customers’ problems as soon as possible. However, it is better not to wait for negative comments to appear until you take reputation management actions. It is critical, reputation management-wise, for businesses to create a handling strategy against such cases before causing any negative perception in the digital world.
Analysis and professional support
In our era, reputation management has become more important than ever and has a direct impact on your sales, and thus on your profitability. Therefore, it is critical to analyze it properly, and this should be done by experts in the field. For these efforts, you may employ experts or engage professional companies specialized in reputation management.
HotelRunner provides you with lots of opportunities to maximize your property’s online reputation and increase your sales. You may also create your free account and see what HotelRunner can offer for you.
