Most often, people visit a hotel for the first time. And who would want to trust their money to someone they just met. Also, being away from home is another issue. People want a comfortable and luxurious experience, and that too within their bucks. So, being a hotel owner, how would you encourage someone to stay in your hotel? There are many ways to do so or to make them believe in you. Having a lot of positive online reviews is one of the easiest yet reliable ways to do this. People pay top bucks to online review management companies for this purpose.
People trust references more than the words of service providers. Therefore, to make people seal the deal with you, you must have online reviews on your website. Here’s how you can encourage your hotel guests to leave online reviews for you.
Remind Them Often
Firstly, you need to ensure that your guests remember to leave reviews. Make them feel that their opinion matters to you the most. There are many ways to remind your guests about the reviews. For instance:
- In-room flyers
- Leaving cards in reception
- During the check-outs
- On social media websites
- In the follow-up emails
Also, you can make your guest leave a review when you meet them in-person. Or when you have them on call.
Provide Review-Worthy Services
Your guest is only going to open an email from you’ post-stay” when they had a remarkable experience with you. And then, they’re only going to review when your services succeed to make an impact on them.
Therefore, it is advised to provide review-worthy services to your guests.
Build A Strong Team Work
Reviews are user-generated-content, and remember how much people value them? If you have people talking about you, you don’t need to worry about the content anymore. This may sound unprofessional to you, but it’s the ground reality. Never have you ever witnessed famous brands advertising with no concepts? Well, that’s because they know they have their loyal customers at the back, supporting them.
Therefore, online reviews are an important step to your successful online marketing. And one way to encourage your guests to leave a review is by providing them with impressive teamwork. Either it’s the sweeping guy, the reception desk, or you yourself, all the services provide combined results. And, it is proven that the satisfaction of your guest quadruples with your team’s remarkable customer services. Even if it is just responding to their queries humbly with a smile on. You never know when your kindness can make someone’s day.
Ask For The Reviews At The Right Time
Being in the business means you should know when it is the right time to take a step. For instance, you cannot ask a guest to leave a review after the minute they just check-in. Well, yeah, that’s obvious. But you never know when you are so driven by emotions. So, being mindful of things is never harmful.
Also, the right time to ask your guest for a review is when they check-out. It is because the good gestures and the memories are still fresh. And there are more chances of you getting positive reviews.
But you still need to be careful, as some sites do not support the guests’ reviews when they’re still in the hotel. Moreover, they might count such reviews as fake. So, you have to keep a check on that as well.
Send Follow-Up Emails
Besides reminding your guest in-person about the reviews, you can send them follow-up emails as well, as being a step ahead is never going to harm you. And yes, it is difficult to send customized emails to each and every guest. So, to resolve this issue, you can use different automation techniques to send your guests automated emails. And to add a pinch of sweetness, you can add one or two customized lines.
Offer Incentives To Your Good Guests
Keep a record of your good guests. Make them feel how their existence matters to you. For instance, you have an old man that always stays at your hotel whenever he visits that area. Make him feel like a family. Surprise him on his birthday by sending him an email with good wishes from your team or either offer him a discount the next time he comes to stay. This will build your respect as well as a positive image. Furthermore, make sure to use review management tools to boost your brand reputation online.
