Online reviews are extremely important for those in the hotel industry, as they help shape your wider reputation. This is precisely why many hotel owners and marketing leaders are coming to appreciate the benefits of hotel reputation management software. In this article, you will learn more about how these solutions can help.

Table of Contents:

What Does Reputation Mean?

The word ‘reputation’ refers to opinions about something or the most commonly shared beliefs. With this in mind, when people talk about a hotel’s reputation, they are effectively referring to how guests feel about the property and how the wider public views it.

One of the important things to understand about your reputation is that the views that shape it do not necessarily have to be true. If they are commonly held and are shared, they form part of your reputation regardless. So, for example, a hotel with a positive reputation may be widely believed to deliver excellent customer service. On the other hand, a hotel with a bad reputation may be widely seen as uncaring, or unable to deliver the services guests need.

Reputations tend to be viewed in general terms, taking the most prominent or common opinions into account. Of course, individuals may have views or opinions that wildly differ from the overall reputation of a business. In the modern world, hotel reputations are largely forged online through online reviews or social media posts.

Why is Hotel Reputation Management Important?

Simply put, reputation management is important because reputation matters, especially in the hotel industry. In fact, according to a study from TripAdvisor, 81 percent of travelers always or frequently read reviews before they book a place to stay, while 52 percent would never book a hotel that did not have reviews.

This demonstrates the value many potential customers place on other travelers’ opinions. The best hotels take proactive steps to integrate review management within their marketing strategy, ensuring they generate more positive than negative feedback and taking the time to manage their reputation properly, responding to reviews and comments in the right way.

It is also important to understand that reputation management is an ongoing process, rather than a single task that can be completed. The same study from TripAdvisor found that 78 percent of participants focused primarily on recent reviews and feedback. This is because they want to know that the opinions expressed are still applicable.

Good reviews help you to build a positive reputation and will give potential customers a feeling of certainty that they are making the right decision. In other words, good feedback can lead to higher revenue.

What is Hotel Reputation Management Software?

Hotel reputation software allows hotels to manage online feedback from a single place, including reviews on industry websites and comments on social networking platforms. It is difficult to overstate how important your online reputation can be, as it can make or break the success of your entire business.

Using hotel reputation management software, you can monitor feedback, respond to reviews, amplify positive comments, and even set the record straight on comments you feel are unfair or unwarranted. In a sense, reputation software allows you to take control of your reputation instead of allowing it to be dictated to you.

What Are the Advantages of Hotel Reputation Management Software?

Reputation software solutions can play a vital role in modern hotel management. Below, you will learn about some of the specific advantages of using one of these applications for your hotel.

1. Generate More Bookings

Perhaps the single biggest advantage that hotel reputation management software can deliver is an increased business for your hotel. Given the high-value customers place on other travelers’ opinions, establishing a positive reputation can help people put their faith in your hotel, encouraging them to book a room with you.

When managing your reputation, you can also amplify certain positive talking points, allowing you to develop a solid reputation for specific aspects of customer service, or among specific types of travelers.

2. Make Improvements

While nobody wants to receive negative feedback, the remarks that customers leave are important, and their criticism may well be valid. Hotel reputation management software can be a single place to access feedback across different platforms, making it much easier to identify common criticisms and complaints.

Once you can identify the issues that are causing harm to your reputation, you can act to make changes.

3. Boost Employee Morale

It is worth stressing that your reputation does not only affect customers but also your own employees. Many people want to know that their work is meaningful and respectable. This means they want to work for a well-liked, ethical business, and be perceived as offering something positive.

By upholding your reputation, you might find it easier to keep staff and recruit new employees.

4. Establish Real Trust

Finally, reputation software can be invaluable for those throughout the hospitality industry, because it can help you to appear trustworthy. For instance, if you use the software to manage your reputation effectively, customers will see positive feedback and know they can trust your hotel to deliver what they want.

On top of this, hotel reputation management software allows you to respond respectfully and appropriately to feedback. Openly and honestly facing negative feedback can also help build trust.

Hotel Reputation Management Software: The Most Important Features

There are several different hotel reputation management software packages on the market, and it can be difficult to know which to use. Below, you will learn more about the most important features to look out for.

1. Reviews in One Place

Hotels can generate feedback across a wide range of different platforms, with examples including Google, TripAdvisor, online travel agents like Booking.com and Expedia, as well as channels like Airbnb. For this reason, one of the most important features your chosen hotel reputation management software can have is an option that allows you to aggregate all of your online feedback in a single place, so that you can learn about what people think.

2. Notifications in Real-Time

When it comes to managing your online reputation, you need to know what is being said and by whom. The best reputation management software will provide real-time notifications, letting you know when negative feedback has been left so that you can respond to it and notifying you of positive remarks, which you can amplify. Delayed responses can damage your reputation further, so notifications make the intervention more timely.

3. Review Interpretation

One major benefit of hotel reputation management software is the ability to interpret and understand the reviews that guests leave. While you can take the time to read review after review, you may find it difficult to take any deeper meaning from them. In many cases, this kind of understanding only comes from software analyzing those reviews and picking out some of the most common words and phrases.

4. Feedback Management Options

Understanding the feedback you have received from guests is one thing, but to protect your reputation properly, you will also need to take action. Some hotel industry reputation management packages will offer comprehensive options for responding to customer feedback. For example, options here may include offering discount codes to customers you feel have a legitimate grievance or leaving a response to thank guests for positive reviews.

5. Multi-Property Management

One aspect of hospitality management that is sometimes overlooked by those seeking the right reputation management software is the ability to manage the reputations of multiple different properties simultaneously. Whether you own a property portfolio or run a hotel that is part of a larger chain, it may be necessary to manage both the reputation of individual properties and the reputation of the wider enterprise.

6. Competitor Comparisons

When customers make the decision to check out hotel reviews, they tend to read more than one. This means they are learning about your reputation within the context of how other hotels around you are viewed. Therefore, it stands to reason that you should also understand your reputation within this same context. The best software solutions will provide options to view feedback from rivals and compare that feedback to your own reviews.

7. Performance Reports

Finally, hotel reputation management software users may need to report to somebody else, whether a senior executive or an outside business that wants to assist them with reputation management efforts. This makes it crucial that your software solution provides good performance reporting. Not only should such a feature allow you to view key performance metrics, but the information should also be presented professionally.

Tips to Manage Online Hotel Reviews

Online reviews play a significant role in helping to determine the overall reputation of your hotel. Given the importance of reputation to success within the hotel industry, you must learn how to manage these reviews properly. This means dealing with positive and negative feedback in the right way, at the right moment.

In the article “Tips to Manage Online Hotel Reviews”, you will learn more about some of the best practices in this area and find specific tips for managing online reviews left by your guests.

It is very hard to overstate just how much the reputation of hotel matters, and, with that being the case, hotel reputation management software can be invaluable. The best software solutions here will deliver all of the key advantages you would expect, and provide all of the major features mentioned in this article.

More Hotel Management Software Tips

Would you like to learn more about hotel management software solutions that can help you to grow your hotel business? In the following articles, you will find more information about the most important hotel management software for hotels:

More Tips to Grow Your Business

Revfine.com is a knowledge platform for the hospitality & travel industry. Professionals use our insights, strategies and actionable tips to get inspired, optimise revenue, innovate processes and improve customer experience. You can find all hotel & hospitality tips in the categories Revenue Management, Marketing & Distribution, Hotel Operations, Staffing & Career, Technology and Software.

Submit an Article

This article is written by:

Martijn Barten

Hi, I am Martijn Barten, founder of Revfine.com. With 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, I specialize in optimizing revenue by combining revenue management with marketing strategies. I have successfully developed, implemented, and managed revenue management and marketing strategies for individual properties and multi-property portfolios.