3 Reasons Why You Need Online Reviews & Social Media for Your Hotel
March 9, 2012
Travelers today want to have the most bang for their buck. By using rating sites & social media, travelers are able to plan the perfect trip. Whether they post their travel reviews on Facebook, Google+, TripAdvisor, Amazon.com & Yelp, the bottom line is the information is going to get out. As hoteliers, the best possible way to stay aware of that content and control the hotel-to-guest relationship is to listen, quickly response and learn. How is your online presence?
Top Three Reasons Why Online Reviews & Social Media are Beneficial to Your Hotel Business
1. Boost Credibility and Display Trustworthiness.
As travelers are doing more and more of their research online, hotels and resorts are relying on online reviews to entice new guests to stay at their properties. But consumers are getting smart and looking into what others think about your business. These reviews are valuable opportunity for your hotel. Hotels that post replies to both positive and negative reviews will be seen as more credible and trustworthy while demonstrating your customer service ability.
2. Capture Lost Business From Third Party Review Sites.
Having testimonials or reviews on your site can greatly improve credibility and higher onsite conversion. Hotels risk losing website visitors if those potential bookers are forced to leave the website in search of guest reviews on third party websites. Once gone, they may never come back or worse, they may book with the competition or third-party distributor such as Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia or Hotel.com that sell rooms at a considerably lower rate. There are a couple of badges that you can implement on your website that can help you; one being the Yelp badge. If you have a business account, login as an admin and click on the Yelp Badge in lower left.
Studies have shown that 75% of online travel buyers will check at least three review sites before booking online.
3. Expand Social Media Effectiveness Quickly and Effectively.
Since Word-of-Mouth is the most powerful tool, integrating reviews into your social media strategy is key. Through social media, consumers can share their guest reviews on your hotel’s Facebook wall. This has a limited Virality that will display to that users network of friends. When developing your strategy, make sure to set benchmarks and goals for this effort.
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