Social Proof. It’s something no business can do without. The reason for this is simple. Ask yourself – Would you trust a seller that you are buying from or a fellow customer? If your answer is no, then you already know how crucial online reviews are. One bad review is not going to crush your whole reputation, but if you have a handful you might see some effects.
Not all bad reviews are a bad thing. It proves that you aren’t forcing your guests to leave good reviews or bribing them to do so. But if your OTA listing has more than a few bad reviews, your online reputation can be irreversibly damaged. Convincing new guests to visit when your review section is filled with 1-star reviews is nearly impossible. Even if you change the entire infrastructure or staff or your hotel, you will not be able to erase those bad ratings.
So, what is the best way to manage your online reputation? You need to start addressing the core reason that leads to a bad online reputation- guest conflict. Therefore, you need to perfect how to manage guest conflict in order to save your online reputation. Follow the steps given below to learn how to excel at conflict resolution.
A lot of hoteliers suffer because they set unrealistic guest expectations from the very beginning. The photos which grace your hotel website or the OTA should be realistic. If your hotel is 20 years old, make sure the photos aren’t from when the hotel was newly constructed.
The bane of overselling your property is that you set yourself up for nothing but failure. You might get higher occupancy levels, but your reviews could suffer. The key to avoiding bad reviews is proper management of guest expectations.
Everything from the tone of your voice, your body language to your volume matters when speaking with your guests.
Here are three suggestions when you are confronted with a guest conflict:
You should always be empathetic and use positive phrases like “Great suggestion” or “I will suggest that to our team” instead of just saying “No” or “That is something we cannot do”
Every member of your staff has to be well-versed in handling guest conflicts. They should know all of these triggers in order to keep the situation calm..
However, this is more easily said than done. Training your staff requires time, effort, and money. Thankfully, a PMS like StayFlexi can provide you with two solutions to this problem.
You might have a perfectly good explanation for why something has gone wrong. But the majority of guests are not interested in listening to your explanation, what they want is a quick solution.
Solutions are a brilliant way to turn 1 star reviews into 4 star reviews. The guests might still have a problem with what went wrong, but they will appreciate you handling the issue. The best thing about online reviews is that they are not set in stone. You are able to resolve most issues and show how you are there for any feedback.
You should always try and solve any issues with guests while they are still staying with you. This will hopefully help it from spilling over to any online reviews.
StayFlexi makes it easier for guests to get in contact with the hotel staff through their phones. This way any conflict does not get out of hand too quickly since the guest can communicate their frustration. This way The guest does not need to go through multiple staff members to make sure they are heard. This will let you get in front of these issues and turn the guest’s experience around quickly!
Investing in a Property Management System like StayFlexi can help increase the guest experience. It helps create a direct channel of communication between the guests and the hotel. This helps make sure that any issues are resolved before the guest checks out of the hotel.
Want to know more about how StayFlexi can boost your online reputation? Leave a comment below!
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