Guest satisfaction levels directly impact loyalty and can help turn guests into ambassadors for your brand.
NB: This is an article from Mews
Guests who have had a positive experience are more likely to recommend your hotel, thus contributing to word-of-mouth referrals, which reduces your marketing spend. Also, unhappy guests can have a negative ripple effect because they can lead to negative reviews, which can damage your reputation.
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The good news is that there are ways to embrace negative feedback. Getting feedback from your guests can also help you identify and mitigate any issues before they become big problems, allowing you to save your hotel from negative reviews in the first place.
How to manage guest feedback in your hotel?
Putting into place a system for getting feedback starts by listening to your guests and being sure that you have the right tools to monitor guest satisfaction levels. Once the feedback has been received, you want to make sure your staff knows what to do should there be any action needed. Make sure you have a smooth and quick resolution to the problem to keep it from recurring and turning into a negative review.
Once you’ve gotten a review, whether it be positive or negative, make sure to respond quickly, and let the reviewer know how important their feedback is for you. You may even consider giving them a discount or an incentive to leave a review. Make sure the process is quantifiable, setting objectives across departments, to monitor how well your team is progressing over time. The easiest way to manage the whole process is through software that can help with guest engagement.
Best strategies to get guest feedback
Now that you know why getting feedback is so important and the best way to manage it, let’s look at some strategies that can help increase guest satisfaction and loyalty.
Don’t be afraid to ask
Reviews play an increasingly important role in a customer’s buying decision. Ultimately, what other people think will have a significant impact on whether someone decides to book at your property or not. Therefore, it’s key to have a system in place to ask for feedback.
Whether it’s a quick in-room survey during the stay to ask how you’re performing, or a post-stay request for a review, make sure you’re specific in your request. Being proactive about asking for feedback or reviews will do wonders for guest satisfaction and will create trust in your brand.
Focus on the positive
Be sure to share positive reviews and kudos with your staff. While it’s easy to focus on what went wrong, it’s also important to emphasize what went right. Letting staff know they’re doing a good job and having the reviews to back it up is great for staff satisfaction and encourages them to keep doing what they’re doing.
Diversify your channels
In a perfect world, you would have rave reviews across all your channels, including OTAs, Google, TripAdvisor, and your own site. Get permission from your guests to share reviews on your social channels and encourage them to leave reviews in several places but make it easy to do so. Using a PMS like Mews you will have at your fingertips different tools to make reputation management easy.
Personalize your messages
Respond to all reviews whether they be positive or negative. Even if you have a negative review, by responding and telling the guest how important their feedback is and what you are doing to mitigate the problem, you minimize the chances that the negative review will affect your property. Be sure to thank guests for reviews and personalize each message you respond to; nobody wants a copy and pasted response. Personalization is key.
In-stay surveys are key
There’s never a more important time to ask for feedback than when guests are on-site. Be sure to have your staff keep a careful eye on guest satisfaction levels so that they catch any potential problems. Don’t be afraid to send a quick in-stay questionnaire to ask how you’re doing, watching for negative responses and being sure to have an action plan in place.
When in doubt reach out to guests
When you spot a potentially damaging review, don’t be afraid to reach out to the guest, whether by phone or email. Showing that you care and taking a personal approach to their concerns may help shift their view of their experience.
