Managing guest reviews and Airbnb recommendations to improve them
Now more than ever travelers are invited by more and more portals to leave a comment on their stay. In addition to OTAs such as Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia, people can also share their opinion on a particular property on metasearch sites.
Why is it important to monitor guest reviews?
One study says 77% of people look at a property’s reviews before booking. From this data we understand how essential it is to check the comments left by your guests after their stay. The “score” of the hotel is in fact one of the main factors considered by travelers when choosing between one hotel and another.
Furthermore, receiving a lot of reviews on popular portals generates two other important benefits:
- More bookings.
- Higher prices.
Furthermore, if the management of customer reviews is an important issue for any company, this becomes fundamental for an accommodation facility. Working in hospitality means putting people at the center, offering your guests the best possible experience. What better tool you have to improve your image if not the rational analysis of reviews. Understanding what customers’ expectations are, if these are actually met, checking what margins for improvement can be had in the different components of the stay can only help to have more satisfied customers.
More satisfied customers means more word of mouth and therefore again more bookings and higher prices.
How to handle negative comments?
Any property, even the most qualified, can still receive negative comments. If these indicate an actual disservice or lack of clarity in the offer, then it is necessary to treasure them and activate corrective measures.
However, it often happens that some guests consider a review as a tool of retaliation. Unfortunately, there is no possibility to block this type of customer. However, one must never go down on the same ground, never respond in a piquant way.
It must be considered that even this type of reviews can prove to be a valuable tool to use in your favor.
A polite and professional response demonstrates to other customers the good predisposition to hospitality and care for guests, all without distinction. In this way, thanks to a simple and courteous answer, the hotelier can use the negative review to his advantage. In fact, he proves to be professional and available even in such a delicate situation.
Some tips to encourage reviews
We have emphasized how fundamental the management of reviews is for every property. However, the first thing to do is to receive them first. The main practices that can be adopted to entice guests to leave a review include:
- Ask to leave a comment. It may sound corny, but sometimes guests don’t leave a comment because no one asks them. Simply request guests immediately after their stay to receive a review that otherwise would never have arrived.
- Make the process simple and intuitive. If the client is willing to leave a review, but the process to do so is long and cumbersome, it is very likely that she will get tired and leave no comments. On the contrary, the process must guide the guest in an almost natural way.
- Offer an incentive. We know that not everyone is willing to take a few minutes to write a free review. For this reason, it can sometimes be useful to offer some incentive such as a small discount or a gift for your next stay.
- Share reviews. Social networks are an exceptional tool to make your brand known, but not only. Sharing positive reviews improves your property’s reputation and can encourage other users to comment on their stay.
The management of reviews according to Airbnb
Reviews are a great way to allow hosts and guests to exchange feedback. They help the Airbnb community understand what to expect when making plans and play an important role in the ranking algorithm in Airbnb search results.
Today Airbnb is one of the largest booking portals in the world and its offer is not just for individuals. However, attention to reviews is still one of the most important topics.
Airbnb suggests having a score of 4.8 out of 5 to get the most out of your listings. It also corresponds to the minimum requirement for Superhosts. In fact, one of the categories that according to Airbnb can influence search rankings is the number of 5-star reviews.
5 Airbnb tips to improve your portal score
Airbnb has identified 5 areas of intervention to improve the score and consequently your performance on the portal.
- Go through past reviews. This way you can review negative reviews and make sure future guests don’t have the same problems.
- Be present. To ensure good reviews, always be available during your guests’ stay to support them and help them in case of need.
- Listen to your guests. Even if it is not possible to satisfy all the requests of the travelers, always show empathy and communicate with them to show them that you are doing everything possible.
- Leave a review about your guests. After each stay, leave your comments on travelers to help future Hosts. Internal Airbnb data shows that Hosts who leave reviews about their guests tend to receive a higher review score than those who don’t.
- Ask your guests for a review. Also pointing out that every review helps you be a better host can encourage your guests to leave a positive one.
How to better manage reviews with the RoomCloud Channel Manager
We said that monitoring, managing and encouraging reviews is essential for any hotelier. It is now necessary to understand how to do it best.
The channel manager is the perfect tool for managing reviews. In fact, this software records all the information coming from the portals and collects them in a single interface. As with reservations, the channel manager may be able to show comments left by guests on different online channels from a single dashboard.
Thanks to the latest update, the RoomCloud Channel Manager now has a menu dedicated to the reviews left on the channels. Through an intuitive interface, you can check all comments and respond without having to enter the extranet of the channel of origin.
For any information on the new section dedicated to managing reviews, write to sales.roomcloud@tecnes.com
