In the session, entitled “Beyond Reviews: Defining Your Hotel’s Online Reputation,” trivago’s Industry Manager for English-speaking Markets Aly Thompson revealed the root causes of low ratings and damaging reviews, debunking the myths and demystifying the considerable role metasearch plays in reputation management.
Attendees gained insights into how hotels can proactively connect with travelers during the guest journey to encourage bookings and repeat business while building a positive brand image — beyond the reviews.
Reviews are just the tip of the online reputation iceberg
The rise of digital word of mouth has lead to a preoccupation in the hotel industry with reviews: understandable, given the impact they seem to have on travelers’ booking decisions.
The danger of focusing entirely on reviews, however, is that hoteliers end up wasting all their time and energy trying to address just one aspect of their online reputation.
And it’s the aspect they have the least control over.
“Although a vast majority of online users engage with reviews, it doesn’t mean you [the hotelier] should spend the majority of your time on them,” warned Aly. “On the contrary, you should spend the majority of your time taking actions elsewhere, which in turn influence positive reviews from your guests.”
A strong online reputation needs to be built from the ground up
“Your [hotel’s] online reputation is already established well before any guest leaves a single review for your hotel.”
So then what is a hotel’s online reputation made of, if not the reviews?
“It’s the culmination of your entire online presence,” affirmed Aly: The content found on the official hotel website, on booking and travel sites, on metasearch, and on social media. Hoteliers actively contributing accurate and attractive content to these sites are able to show the world their own professional hotel image, to complement, elevate, and in some cases, contradict the content guests contribute.
