Swiftly responding to guest reviews is crucial, but the real impact lies in the quality of your responses.
Responding to guest reviews is a huge challenge for hotels, and often speed is prioritised over quality.
Unfortunately, nothing great happens in a hurry.
The main goals for responding to guest reviews are to:
For travelers considering booking: Highlight strengths and clarify complaints to convince them to book.
For guests who wrote a review: Show appreciation for both positive and negative feedback.
There is so much to deal with in day-to-day hotel operations.
Responding to online reviews is a task for which there is never enough time.
So, speed is often prioritised over the quality of the response.
Multiple Review Platforms
Hotels face big challenges in responding to guest reviews.
They have to manage responses on multiple platforms.
Google, TripAdvisor, and Booking.com to name a few.
Each review deserves a personalised reply.
Managing guest reviews will take a backseat to more immediate concerns.
These include attending to current guests, ensuring staff efficiency, and hotel maintenance.
A study by ReviewPro found that hotels that respond to reviews within 24 hours increase the likelihood of guests returning by 12%.
That's countered by.
A TripAdvisor report stated that hotels that write personal and detailed replies to negative reviews see a 20% increase in guests changing their minds compared to hotels that give standard responses.
Frustratingly, TripAdvisor can take up to 48 hours to publish a response to a review because they check to make sure responses follow their guidelines.
So even for hotels that respond quickly, in some cases, it's not as fast as they think.
Some hotels use copy-paste templates, compromising their reputation by failing to address guest concerns adequately.
A study by Wotif stated that (copy-paste) responses decrease the chance of someone booking your hotel.
In reputation management for the hospitality industry, the importance of how quickly versus how well hotels respond to reviews is often debated.
Quick Replies vs. Good Replies: How They Affect Hotel Reputation.
Quick Responses:
Pros: Fast responses can prevent the spread of negative feedback, show responsiveness, and improve immediate customer satisfaction.
Cons: If the response is rushed and lacks substance, it can appear insincere and might not effectively address the guest’s concerns.
High-Quality Responses:
Pros: High-quality responses can turn negative experiences into positive outcomes by demonstrating genuine care and willingness to improve.
They can enhance the hotel’s reputation for excellent customer service.
Cons: If responses take too long, even well-crafted replies might not salvage the guest’s initial disappointment or frustration.
How big Hotel Brands Respond to guest Reviews.
Marriott Hotels: Marriott combines speed and quality by responding to reviews within 24 hours and ensuring personalised responses that address specific concerns.
This balanced approach has helped Marriott maintain high guest satisfaction and loyalty.
Hilton Hotels: Hilton prioritises high-quality responses, especially for negative reviews.
Detailed and empathetic replies have improved their overall guest satisfaction scores, although they ensure these responses are provided within a reasonable timeframe (usually 48 hours).
Common Mistakes in Responses by Smaller Hotels
Many smaller hotels struggle to strike a balance between speed and quality when replying to reviews on multiple platforms.
Responses are too difficult to read: Many responses are difficult to read due to long sentences, lack of punctuation and not focused on readability or correct language
No Personalisation: Many hotel responses lack personalisation and don't include a personal signature, which makes guests feel unheard. Personal signatures with a name and title are far more effective.
No Relevance: Many responses contain no mention of relevant topics from the original review, frustrating past guests and influencing new guests not to book as key issues are not being addressed.
No SEO: Optimising hotel review responses for SEO can greatly boost your hotel's online visibility. It can attract more potential guests.
No Upselling: Upselling in hotel review responses can improve guest experiences. It can also boost revenue.
For example, if a guest praises your hotel, take the opportunity to mention that bookings are now open for the busy festive season. Encourage them to reserve early for the best rates.
AI is Transforming Online Review Responses For Hotels
AI is changing how hotels handle guest reviews.
It levels the playing field between small hotels and large chains, such as Hilton and Marriott.
AI-powered tools, like BFN-AI, let smaller hotel groups strike a balance between speed and quality.
Hotels can use AI-powered automated response software to respond to specific, real-world reviews across multiple review sites in minutes, using their unique business data and voice.
Consider These Tips When Buying AI Review Response Software For Hotels.
When choosing AI review response tools for replying to hotel reviews, you must consider several key points.
If you're incorporating AI into your guest feedback strategy, ensure your review response tool simplifies (rather than complicates) switching between AI-powered and manual review replies.
When testing different automated response tools, check they include these important features.
- Can you train the AI review response tool?
- Does the tool integrate with review platforms to achieve full automation?
- Does it offer multilingual responses and translations?
- Does it provide administrative controls?
AI Training:
Make sure that your AI review response tool can be trained and customised to your specific instructions.
The quality of the instructions given to AI makes all the difference when it comes to producing a passable review response.
Basic instructions may provide adequate responses, but they lack the personalisation and individualisation required for high-quality responses, such as language, tone, and number of sentences.
It's also useful if your review response assistant can be programmed with instructions for specific scenarios.
For example, the AI could incorporate soft upselling messages into responses, such as encouraging guests to book directly the next time they visit.
This is useful because it will be seen by both the reviewer and potential guests.
With BFN-AI, there's no need to worry. We understand that hotels may not have the time or experience to train the AI themselves.
That's why we handle it for you using your hotel's specific guidelines, brand tone, and nuanced instructions to ensure the most human-like response.
Integration with Review Platforms for Full Automation:
Your automated review response tool must be able to fully integrate directly into your preferred review platforms, such as Google and Trip Advisor.
Multilingual Responses & Translations:
This is crucial for hotels that cater for international guests. Ensure that your review response software supports multiple languages and has translation capabilities built into the dashboard.
This enables staff members who do not speak multiple languages to see translated reviews and responses in their native language in case editing is required.
AI Review Response Hotel Case Study
Discover how db Seabank Hotel used BFN-AI to slash review reply times to just minutes, while delivering responses so natural and personalized, they’re indistinguishable from human-authored reviews. Boost guest satisfaction, protect your online reputation, and drive future bookings with AI-powered review management.
Balance Speed and Quality
Hotels should strike a balance between speed and quality when responding to guest reviews.
Quick replies show that the hotel cares and can stop negative comments from spreading, but they might not seem sincere if they are too rushed.
High-quality responses, even if they take a bit longer, can turn a bad review into a positive experience, showing that the hotel values its guests.
Using AI tools can help hotels reply quickly and with good quality.
The goal is to make sure every guest feels heard and appreciated through fast, well-crafted responses.