Brand reputation in hospitality
Branding and brand reputation are essential for any company. But does it also apply to a hotel?
Many studies show that effective corporate brand development is inevitable to ensure success. In hospitality too, it emerged that the brand is among the first elements considered by customers in the choice of accommodation. Furthermore, the perception of the brand image and the fairness of the price contribute almost in the same way to create satisfaction for the guest.
This positive perception in the eyes of the customer makes him more inclined to pay a higher price for the stay. The final effect is thus an increase in revenues. The brand reputation is well cared for by hotel chains, but it is valid for any type of accommodation facility. Whether it’s an independent hotel, a b & b or an apartment manager.
But let’s see in detail what this term means.
What is Brand Reputation?
Brand reputation is the set of perceptions, evaluations and expectations towards a brand or a company and its appreciation by consumers.
This set of perceptions is built over time and is the result of several factors. For example, the culture and conduct of the company over time, the public relations, the approach to customers, the level of product quality, and many others.
Brand Reputation in hospitality
We have said that brand reputation is the perception of a company’s image by consumers. For tourism it is the same thing, but the consumers are the guests.
A positive reputation means satisfied guests, that leave a postitive review, recommend it by word of mouth and return.
The final consequence of a favorable brand reputation is so an increase in bookings and greater loyalty. From this, we understand how essential it is to take care and improve one’s image, even for an accommodation facility.
How is reputation managed in the company?
If the brand reputation is the result of several factors and is always in progress, communication is the best way to influence it. It’s essential to give a coherent and uniform image of your company through communication on the various channels.
In particular, any company must communicate its image in an aligned way in the following channels:
- Public relations activities,
- Verbal and non-verbal signs: such as advertising, the logo, the packaging, etc.
- Networks of relationships: through word of mouth and the opinions spread by people who interact with the brand. For example customers, employees, influencers and the press.
How to manage the hotel brand reputation?
All this also applies to an accommodation facility, adapting the interlocutors and channels to the specific market. As in retail, even in hospitality it is necessary to have a homogeneous and reliable brand.
In particular, we can say that the main showcases for an accommodation facility are the OTAs and its website (with integrated Booking Engine), followed by the social pages.
The key thing is thus that communication on all these channels is coherent and aligned.
The hotel must communivate all information relating to the property uniformly:
- Pictures and descriptions
- Prices
- Promotions
- Reviews
Let’s see them in detail.
Pictures and descriptions
It is essential that all the channels the property uses (for example Booking.com, Airbnb, Google Hotel Ads or the booking engine) show the same images. Needless to say, they must be the best, that is, those that present the property in the most captivating but truthful way. Creating false expectations could in fact lead to negative reviews and word of mouth.
Likewise, the descriptions must also be homogeneous on all portals. You also need consistency in presenting your structure, its strengths and uniqueness. Only in this way will the hotel give the perception of an organized and quality brand.
Prices
Even with regard to tariffs, the watchword is homogeneity. Rate parity is the practice of keeping prices equal for all distribution channels. Rate parity across all channels gives customers a perception of consistency. Furthermore, it avoids the confusion of seeing the same room at different prices on different channels. All this generates greater confidence in potential guests.
On the contrary, price disparity poses two main problems.
- Firstly, it can damage the hotel’s brand reputation by giving guests a perception of inconsistency. This affects their trust in the brand and can make them desist from booking.
- On the other hand, selling at lower prices on OTAs discourages direct bookings. As a result, the hotel will sell at a reduced price and will also have to pay commissions.
Promotions
A hotelier might think about creating promotions only on Booking.com or OTAs to increase visibility to generate more bookings. However, forgetting your website entails the risk we mentioned earlier. In other words, promoting your property with special offers only on portals generates bookings at a lower price and commissions to pay.
The solution is to create the same promotions also on the booking engine. Let’s see a practical example. A customer sees an offer on a portal and visits the hotel website to learn more about the facility. Browsing the site the same promotion appears. If there is any extra services added to the offer, he will be encouraged to book directly on the site.
Reviews
The factor that most immediately influences the hotel’s brand reputation are the reviews. TripAdvisor says 72% of travelers look at reviews before booking a property. It is therefore essential to track and respond to reviews across all distribution channels to maintain your excellent reputation. Also in this case, the image of the hotel must be coherent and homogeneous.
A property must reply to all reviews, especially negative ones, with the same tone and register. The tone of the answers depends very much on the identity of the structure (brand image) and will be very different from a 5-star hotel to a youth hostel. In any case, for a positive reputation, he must always be polite and helpful.
Why take care of the hotel brand reputation? Conclusions
To conclude, we can say that when it comes to brand reputation, the logic and practices used in the retail sector also apply to the hospitality world. While in retail the brand is communicated through the points of sale, for a hotel the channels are OTAs and the booking engine. The keywords, however, always remain homogeneity and coherence of the brand.
Maintaining an excellent reputation means having more confidence in the eyes of guests, who are predisposed to pay a higher price. It can therefore be concluded that a better reputation of the hotel generates greater revenues.
