Top five tips for dealing with online reviews

Follow these steps to stay on top of guests reviews on the internet says social media expert Martin Kubler. 

1 Freshen up your TripAdvisor profile and make sure you have up-to-date information and photos on display. You should rotate your listing photos on TripAdvisor every month, just to keep things looking fresh.

If you have a business listing, check that you are using the “special offer” and “announcement” functions. Don’t forget: TripAdvisor now publishes your management replies almost immediately (as long as they’re in English; foreign replies still take a little longer), so reply daily.

2 Claim your listings on local review sites like YaDig and display your property and outlets in their full glory. Also consider offering deals and advertising your events via your listings – it’s free and can be set up in a matter of minutes. Don’t forget about your F&B outlets and check sites like RoundMenu and Zomato, too!

3 Check smaller review sites like Trivago (www.trivago.co.uk), TripTake (www.triptake.com), or HolidayCheck (www.holidaycheck.com) and make sure your property’s content is up-to-date. Also keep an eye on Oyster (www.oyster.com), a promising newcomer to the scene.

Article continues on next page...

4 Don’t forget: You can now reply to guest reviews on many more sites than just TripAdvisor, e.g. Expedia and Hotels.com – make sure your voice is heard. Also check your feeder markets to see whether they have popular review websites and understand which sites carry more weight in your target markets, e.g. HolidayCheck is very influential in Germany, Holidays Uncovered is fairly popular in the UK.

5 Start sharing your hotel’s positive online reviews with your fans and followers via Facebook, Twitter or Google+ – or go a step further and share paper-based comments, too, like the Hatta Fort Hotel on Facebook. Regularly remind your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+ connections to provide feedback – you’ll be surprised how many positive comments you get.