If managing property comments on TripAdvisor drives you mad, then it is critical that you play a proactive role in influencing how guests interact with the hotel and the brand before, during and after their stay. Friedlander brought HICAP attendees up to speed on Leveraging Guest Intelligence to Drive Revenue Growth during his session.
You know all those things they say about your brand online? It affects brand perceptions and guest expectations. So, manage expectations by claiming your online space, shared RJ Friedlander, founder & CEO of ReviewPro at Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP) 2018 Update, held in Pan Pacific Singapore from March 27-28.
If managing property comments on TripAdvisor drives you mad, then it is critical that you play a proactive role in influencing how guests interact with the hotel and the brand before, during and after their stay. Friedlander brought HICAP attendees up to speed on Leveraging Guest Intelligence to Drive Revenue Growth during his session.
He posited that a company’s online reputation impacts revenue and profitability, showing statistics that reflected increases in direct hotel bookings, occupancy levels and average daily rates (ADR). In his comparative study of two hotels, the one with positive reviews and a score of 9.2 on Bookings.com enjoyed higher popularity, demand and revenue, while the one with negative reviews and a score of 7.4 on Bookings.com suffered from low demand and revenue.
It is crucial that hoteliers understand how reviews affect pricing, and it is necessary to have the data that will allow them to understand future demand more accurately. Analysing reputation scores over time should then be a priority in forecasting and pricing strategies.
Opportunities to increase ADR and RevPAR can similarly be explored when analysing a hotel’s online reputation and its historical pricing performance relative to those of competitors, shared Friedlander.
Managing guest intelligence means keeping tabs on online surveys, post-stay surveys, in-stay surveys, calls or letters, messaging and live requests. Attending to feedback that helps to improve service and operations will positively impact guest experience, online rankings and ADR and RevPAR.
As guest behaviour changes and evolves to embrace the digital space, so too must hoteliers engage them in that space to build up trust and loyalty in their brands. With this fact, it becomes obvious that data-driven decision-making will make a significant difference in carving out meaningful mindshare and brandshare in both online and offline spaces.