Guest reviews are one of the most important booking drivers for hotels, and they have a significant impact on travelers.
However, responding to reviews is difficult and resource-intensive.
Ensuring timely responses is critical, as delayed replies can negatively impact guest satisfaction and the hotel's reputation.
Many hotels struggle to allocate sufficient resources to respond to reviews due to busy departments and staff shortages.
When combined with manually managing guest feedback on multiple review sites such as Google Business Profile, TripAdvisor, and Booking.com, it's easy to see why hotels are turning to automated review response tools to scale guest feedback.
The key challenges are:
- Responding to reviews: The number of reviews that require responses places a significant administrative burden on hotels.
- Multiple review portals: Manually responding is time-consuming.
- Detailed, empathetic responses: Busy hotel staff struggle to write empathetic, detailed, and SEO-optimised responses.
- Multiple languages: Hotels frequently receive reviews in multiple languages.
- Response Times: Responding in 24 hours is becoming increasingly difficult.
What You Should Know About AI-powered Review Responses
Leveraging AI-powered automated review response software for hotels can free up human resources, allowing hotel staff to focus on providing a better guest experience.
These review response tools allow hotels to automatically generate contextually appropriate and brand-specific responses by analysing the tone and sentiment of guest reviews.
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.
We created this comprehensive post to assist you in deciding on the best automated review response tools for hotels and selecting the right vendor.
Note: BFN-AI is a specialised AI-powered, automated review response tool for hotels, delivering instant, SEO-ready, human-like responses to guest reviews.
Some of the vendors listed below provide comprehensive reputation management software, with automated review response management among the many features included.
BFN-AI stands out as a dedicated AI-powered review response software to quickly respond to reviews using review response best practices.
Consider these factors when buying automated review response tools for hotels
Finding the ideal automated review response software can be challenging, but don't worry, we've got you covered.
It is critical to follow best practices when responding to reviews.
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 evaluating tools, consider the following capabilities:
- 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, or you will be forced to keep copying and pasting each response, rendering your time savings ineffective.
Multilingual Responses & Translations:
This is crucial for hotels. 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.
Top Automated Review Response Tools for Hotels
1. BFN-AI (Hotels)
BFN-AI stands out as one of the best automated review response tools for hotels because we are not a copy-and-paste solution.
Our unique difference lies in our ability to train the AI to be customised based on your hotel's brand and specific instructions.
Other providers typically use basic prompts or require you to train the AI yourself.
This approach is often impractical, as your team may lack the experience or be too busy, and it requires additional time for testing to achieve optimal responses.
With BFN-AI, we offer a fully managed setup, training the AI on your brand voice, SEO keyword optimisation, subtle upsells, and any other hotel-specific instructions.
Depending on the number of hotel locations, setup can be completed in as little as three business days.
Features:
- Custom AI Training & Refinements
- Automatically Pulls in Reviews & Posts Responses Across Platforms
- Review & Edit Responses Before Posting
- Instant Responses in Auto-Pilot Mode
- Multilingual Translations & Responses
- Ideal for Small Independent Hotels & Large Chains
Pricing:
- Set-up fee: £500 per location
- £190 per month
BFN-AI offers simple, scalable pricing based on the number of hotels. Our pricing structure includes a setup fee and a monthly fee, both determined by the number of reviews required.
The one-time setup fee covers AI training, during which our team creates precise, hotel-specific instructions to guide the AI in generating responses.
The quality of these instructions is essential, as it determines the effectiveness and relevance of the AI-generated responses.
2. ResponseScribe
ResponseScribe is a personalised review response service with flexible pricing plans tailored to small local businesses.
They provide a hybrid AI and human-authored review response solution.
Features:
- Aggregates reviews from 50+ platforms
- Review and revise responses before publishing
- Fast response time: under 60 minutes (AI) or 24 hours (human)
- Affordable monthly cost for start-ups and emerging brands
- Review generation and removal services available
Pricing:
- AI-Powered Plan - $20 per month (20 Platforms)
- Hybrid Plan - $30 per month (20 Platforms)
3. Mara Solutions
Mara Solutions, like BFN-AI, is an AI-powered review response tool for hotels, but according to their website, it is a copy-and-paste solution able to generate detailed and human-like responses to any type of review.
Features:
- Review inbox
- Review analytics
- AI review reply generator
- Smart snippets
- Brand voice configurable.
Pricing:
- £60.00 per month, per property (Response generator)
- £99.00 per month, per property (Inbox & Analytics)
4. ReviewPro
ReviewPro is not a dedicated review response tool, but rather a full guest experience platform for the hospitality industry that incorporates review response management into its platform functions.
Features:
- Response Management
- Guest Surveys
- Case Management
- Guest Communications
- Global Review Index™ (GRI)
- Competitor Analysis
- AI-hotel Chatbot
- Mobile App
- Semantic Analysis
Pricing:
Pricing is not available on their website.
5. Revinate
Revinate is an excellent hospitality-specific platform with review response management capabilities, but it is not a dedicated review response tool for hotels. Revinate is designed to help hoteliers get the most out of every guest by providing a comprehensive suite of marketing systems for creating personalised guest experiences.
Features:
- Guest Feedback
- Revinate Marketing (email marketing)
- Reservation Sales (capture leads over the phone)
- Revinate Ivy (AI-chat)
- RezForce (call centre)
Pricing:
Pricing is not available on their website.
6. TrustYou
TrustYou is an all-in-one reputation management and guest experience solution for the hospitality industry.
As part of its extensive features, it includes an AI-powered review response feature, but it is a copy and paste solution, so full automation does not appear to be available.
Features:
- Response AI
- Review Marketing
- Live Survey
- Reputation Management
- Post Stay Surveys
Pricing:
Pricing is not available on their website.
7. GuestRevu
GuestRevu is a dedicated reputation management software that includes a built-in response function, offering a one-click respond-at-source button and management response starter templates. However, it is not a dedicated review response software, so it may be limited in terms of response quality and automation.
Features:
- Reputation Management
- Guest Feedback Surveys
- Reporting
Pricing:
- £24.99 per month, per property (Core)
- £45 - £125 per month, depending on number of rooms (Pro)
8. Birdeye
Birdeye is a top review management and messaging platform for all types of organisations. It provides an AI-powered review response function, but it is not specifically designed for hotels, making it less ideal if you're looking to purchase review response software tailored to the hospitality industry.
Features:
AI-powered Review Responses
Guest Messaging Platform
Review Management
Referrals
Custom Pages
Surveys
Pricing:
Pricing is not available on their website.
9. Podium
Podium is a lead conversion platform powered by AI that includes review management and a review response tool among its many features. Like BirdEye, it is neither an automated review response solution designed for hotels nor a stand-alone review response tool.
Features:
- AI Review Replies
- Review Management
- Review Automations
- Review Consolidation
- Review Reporting
- Lead Generation
Pricing:
- $399 per month (Core)
- $599 per month, (Pro)
Using AI to Respond to Guest Reviews.
AI-powered review response tools streamline guest feedback by automating repetitive tasks, freeing guest service teams to focus on providing human-touch customer service.
The core benefits are :
- Personalised Responses: Responding to individual reviews based on context and sentiment.
- Faster Turnaround: Responding to guest feedback immediately.
- High Volume Handling: Managing large numbers of reviews on multiple platforms.
- Improved Guest Satisfaction: Responsiveness shows guests that their feedback is valued and can lead to higher satisfaction and loyalty.
- Operational Efficiency: frees staff to focus on more complex and valuable interactions.
- Consistency and Accuracy: AI ensures that responses to guest reviews are consistent and free of errors.
- Enhanced Personalisation: Personalisation makes guests feel more appreciated.
Real Hotel Review Respones Generated by AI
Positive Review Response ( AI technology: BFN-AI). (No human editing.)
Negative Review Response (AI technology: BFN-AI). ( AI + human editing.)
No Context Negative Review Response) (No human editing.)
Conlusion
In conclusion, automated review response tools, particularly those with AI technology, offer a wide range of advantages for managing guest reviews in the hospitality sector, from boosting guest satisfaction and operational efficiency to ensuring consistency, enhancing personalisation, and offering scalability.