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Hotel chains increasingly realize online reviews play a significant role in customer relations - which ones know how to best use the system?
National and international hotels with hundreds or thousands of locations tend to leave the task of maintaining online profiles to the management teams of individual properties. While there are some standout teams who respond to reviews, decentralizing the responsibility means variation in effectiveness and missed opportunities for chains.
In today's market, service providers that respond to customers online are poised to leave competitors in the dust. While it can be difficult for companies to break through and connect with customers on review sites, it's doubly difficult for companies with multiple locations.
A boutique hotel, for example, need only cover reviews and complaints for its single location. Meanwhile, the chain hotel must devise a strategy for managing the profiles of all its various locations, unless the company decides to channel everything through a central profile.
The majority of big chains have the management teams at individual locations handle online presence for each property. This makes strategy inconsistent across chains: some locations do an exemplary job of responding to customers while others go radio silent, resulting in missed conversions and confused PR.
In this tricky climate, we look at the various hotel chains and the particular locations that set high standards for connecting with clients online.
The Sheraton
Dating back to the 1930's, Sheraton owns and operates hotels and resorts all over the world. The company runs its online presence through the decentralized model, allowing each hotel location to manage its own profile and respond to individual comments and complaints.
One strategy, employed by the management of the Sheraton Atlantic City, was to respond enthusiastically to positive comments. For example, when one commenter rated the hotel four out of five stars – a review accompanied by a luke-warm write-up – the manager replied, “Sounds like you had a great birthday!”, which was a great way to put a positive spin on the comment.
Courtyard by Marriott
The Courtyard by Marriott is one of Marriott’s many sub-properties. As at the Sheraton, the Courtyard’s many property managers maintain their respective profiles online separately. Some of the hotel managers respond to customers occasionally, while others do a good job of responding to all commentary, even when comments are harsh and derisive.
The management of the Courtyard Washington Capitol Hill/Navy Yard responded to a review entitled “Worst Marriott EVER” by insisting the company takes feedback seriously and asking the commenter to “contact me at any time so that I can ensure that the same confusion with the availability of certain rates does not happen again for you.”
Howard Johnson Hotels
Howard Johnson Hotels was founded in 1954, after the company successfully established and operated a series of restaurants. Today, there are over 1,000 “HoJo” locations worldwide. Howard Johnson hotels are individually represented on review sites, and it falls to individual hotel management to respond to reviews.
It's interesting to see what happens when international hotel locations like the Howard Johnson Marinas Sand Pedro, Argentina receive both English and Spanish reviews. This particular location had no noticeable responses to reviews on the first few pages of its TripAdvisor.com commentaries.
However, the hotel manager at the Trenque Lauquen, Argentina location did an excellent job of responding to the various reviews, while they are primarily in Spanish.
Radisson Hotels
The Radisson hotel chain was established in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1909. There are currently over 400 Radisson locations operating in over 70 countries. As is the trend, every hotel's profile seems to be maintained by its own management team.
The Radisson hotels tend to have highly favorable reviews with four to four-and-a-half stars out of five being common, and they teach the importance of responding to negative as well as positive reviews, especially when it comes to recognizing loyal customers.
The Aruba Radisson management team does an excellent job responding to both raves and criticism, highlighted by their response to a positive review by a person who had stayed at the hotel five times over the past two years.
The reviewer commented on the beautiful birds found on the property and their caretaker, Victor. In response, the hotel's management said, "It is great to hear that you have been here multiple times in such a short time frame. Victor is quite popular amongst our guests as he provides his beautiful birds with the best possible care......"
Responding with these personal details gives browsing prospective customers an impression of community.
Extended Stay America
Extended Stay America refers to the American properties of the Extended Stay Hotels company. Founded in 1995, Extended Stay America has 630 properties across the country. Online reviews for Extended Stay America Properties range from three-and-a-half to four stars out of five.
Like the other hotel chains, the Extended Stay hotels leave responding to reviews and comments to the individual management teams of each hotel. The Miami Airport Doral 87th Avenue South property embodies the Extended Stay America strategy.
Though management responses are not given to all reviews, the hotel responds to the vast majority of reviews, including those which are negative. The management takes responsibility for negative customer experiences like the one described in customer review titled, "Never Ever Again!!!"
Due to some confusion regarding the hotel's cleaning policies, the reviewing customer was quite upset. The manager assured the customer that the policies will be more thoroughly explained to customers in the future as a result, but explained that the customer had nevertheless been treated according to company policy.