by Michelle Conaghan, 25th November 2011

How much revenue is being lost through lack of online reputation management?

In a recent Avvio seminar, guest presenter Josiah Mackenzie, provided compelling insights into the impact online reputation management has on hotel revenue.

Josiah was eager to emphasize that this stems back to the delivery of excellent customer service.

"Wow your guests by creating an exceptional experience for them; considering your product design and experience design. Deliver extraordinary service to everyone and get the conversation started through delivery of that service. People will talk spontaneously after excellent customer service experiences. Encourage your guest to share their positive experience online if they have shared this with you in person." Josiah Mackenzie.

During the seminar, Josiah covered topics including industry trends, best practice and guidelines on how to manage reviews, set up a suitable listening system and develop an exceptional experience culture in your organisation.

Josiah also discussed how reputation is playing an increased role in the sales cycle. Reviews feature towards the end of the buying cycle for your guests. Once potential guests have selected their destination, they will base their final decision on the reviews available online or the social web's opinion of the property.

So how does your property stack up? Do you fulfill the brand promise made online?

If you are still wondering how much reviews and reputation actually affect hotel selection, according to Market Metrix, "Past experience, reputation, recommendations and online reviews[...] are now more important to guests than either hotel location or price."

Even scarier still for those hoteliers who are still not listening to what is being said about their hotel online, is that at last year's WTM it was reported up to 35% of holidaymakers changed their choice of hotel after browsing social media platforms.

Josiah highlighted the direct impact on sales conversion and quoted Expedia's Jennifer Davis, who said, "On Expedia.com, good reviews of 4.0 or 5.0 generate more than double the conversion of a review of 1.0 – 2.9."

Reviews and reputation can also affect the prices you can charge – "Consumers were willing to pay up to 20-90% more for a 5-star rated product than for a 4-star rated product [on review sites]." (comScore/Kelsey, October 2007)

View the slides from Josiah's Presentation, bellow.


More useful resources

- www.reviewpro.com/blog
- www.slideshare.com/avvio
- To request a copy of the recording of this seminar please email training@avvio.com