In 2015, Tripadvisor surveyed over 10,000 hospitality businesses globally to find out how important online reputation management was in terms of investment. Astonishingly, it outranked renovations, marketing, staff development and training as well as new technology. It’s more important than most of us understand. Online reputation management for the hospitality industry is key to understanding your guest’s needs, measuring guest satisfaction, managing your brand and attracting more business through effective online revenue strategies. Are you managing your business’s online reputation?

5 steps to help you successfully manage your businesses online reputation

Start at the beginning – know what strategies you can adopt to set up, manage and monitor your online reputation. Many guests today use review sites to help them plan their next holiday. What people are saying about your brand online (social media sites, websites, TripAdvisor and more) is going to determine whether your business sales increase or not. Do an online audit about what guests are saying about your business and determine which strategies you are going to put in place to change or improve those views.

Be prepared and get the team on board – don’t try and manage your online reputation by yourself. Instead, help your team to understand the scope of how online feedback affects your business. You can also empower your staff to make critical decisions that will shape how your brand is perceived when responses to criticism online are offered. How they respond, how quickly they reply and how they deal with the situation could damage or improve your reputation – so train your staff well. It’s better to have a team that can manage the situation because they have the skills to do so, than to have a team who may make the situation worse because they don’t understand how to respond effectively.

Make your online profile visible – don’t be scared to update your online profiles regularly. Make sure your details are correct and keep adding bits of information to review sites, online booking sites you may belong to, your website and social channels etc. The more Google see’s your information, the better for your online rankings. You don’t have to spend a fortune on online marketing – you simply have to be accurate and consistent in updating and managing company information, images and details.

Set up a monitoring system and access the feedback – there are so many places your business may be mentioned that it’s difficult sometimes to keep track. The answer is simple – use free online tracking tools to help monitor mentions of your business so that you can sift through tons of information quickly. According to www.oursocialtimes.com, here are some great free online tools to help you:

Find out what people are saying about you and access the feedback –it could be good feedback, or concerns or suggestions or downright nasty feedback. Whatever the details, ensure that your team are monitoring the feedback and reporting on what is being said about your brand, as well as where it’s being said. Keep your finger on the pulse and don’t let any feedback go unnoticed or unresolved.

Take action and respond timeously – train your staff to know what to say when feedback is both positive and negative.Negative feedback must be dealt with effectively so that you do not escalate and online argument or discussion which could go viral and destroy your brand. Here are some basic rules for a negative feedback response:

• Act quickly – show you care and respond quickly
• Make sure your tone is friendly
• Apologise if you need to
• Let the guest know that you are dealing with the situation for a positive resolution and take the discussion offline.

These are our top 5 steps to managing your business’s online reputation – if you have any tips you would like to share with our readers, drop us a line in the comments section below, or share this article with your hospitality colleagues on your social networks.