For Hospitality: Is Social Media Too Little Too Late?

For Hospilalily IS SOCIAL MEDIA AS IT TURNS OUT, SOCIAL MEDIA IS REALLY GOOD FOR SOME THINGS, AND REALLY BAD FOR OTHERS. IF YOU'RE USING SOCIAL MEDIA AND REVIEW SITES TO MANAGE YOUR REPUTATION, YOU'RE TOO LATE. TOO LITTLE TOO0 LATE? BOGUS REVIEWS As hospitality companies increasingly depend on positive reviews, the market for "promotional reviews" has sprung up to buy and sell fictitious feedback to gain 5-star status. With no way to know who's who on the internet, the reliability decreases significantly. ? OO tripadvisor WRITE GUEST REVIEW HERE: 15% 40% 69% HOTEL STAFF OF HOTEL REVIEWS WILL BE PAID FOR BY 2014 OF ONLINE REVIEWS ARE BELIEVED TO BE FAKE OF ONLINE REVIEWS DIDN'T REQUIRE HOTEL STAY REPUTATION MANAGEMENT OR DAMAGE CONTROL? If you're responding to problems after they're posted to the world, that is damage control, not reputation management. Building your reputation means fixing problems before they're posted. Real-time guest surveys allow you to fix problems to recover loyalty and prevent bad reviews. REPUTATION MANAGEMENT Guest surveys let you solve problems befóre they become bad reviews GUEST LOYALTY DAMAGE CONTROL Social media doesn't tell you anything until it's already reported for all to see IF NO PROBLEM 70%r GUEST LOYALTY. IF PROBLEM IS RESOLVED 60% 60.2%. 50% GUEST LOYALTY GUEST LOYALTY 46.9% IF THERE'S A PROBLEM IF PROBLEM IS NOT RESOLVED 40% 30% 26.4% → 26.4% 20% BEFORE CHECKOUT AFTER CHECKOUT GUESTS THAT EXPERIENCE A PROBLEM ARE 88% NEVER EXPERIENCED A PROBLEM 3X 226% MORE LIKELY TO POST A REVIEW. EXPERIENCED A PROBLEM SOCIAL MISSES DETAILS GUEST SURVEYS TOP TEN REVIEW SITES 185 1,159 15 AVERAGE REVIEWS AVERAGE REVIEWS ON TOP TEN SITES AVERAGE REVIEWS OVER 60 ROOMS OVER 60 ROOMS Small sample size can misrepresent guest opinions and mislead hotels. HOW GUESTS REVIEW 6 BASIC QUESTIONS f VS. UNLIMITED QUESTIONS -- AND COMMENTS! · STATUS UPDATE 140 CHARACTERS THE NEGATIVE TILT Guests don't post mediocre experiences to social media. They post extreme ones. TripAdvisor ratings have 3x as many negative reviews, and 35% fewer positive reviews. This distorted view could mean millions spent on the wrong things. 60% 54.5% 50% MORE NEGATIVE REVIEWS 40.4% 3X 40% 28.7% 28.2% 30% 20% 15.3% 11.5% 8.4% 7.3% 3.5% 10% 2.2% 1 STAR 2 STARS 3 STARS 4 STARS 5 STARS TRIP ADVISOR VS. GUEST SURVEYS EXPENSIVE PROBLEMS VS. NOISY PROBLEMS Some problems happen a lot. Others can really hurt your business. They aren't always the same. Social media can't tell you which ones are which. "WAIT WAS TO0 LONG!" "THE ROOM WAS DIRTY!" "THE TV DIDNT WORK!" "FODD WAS TERRIBLE!" "WRONG ROOM TYPE!" "AC WAS TOO COLD!" 2$ 2$ I SOCIAL MISSES THE MONEY Younger people use social media. Older people not so much...unfortunately they're the ones spending the most on travel. Do you want to ignore them? $1.736 PEŘ YEAR $827 PER YEAR $1.454 PER YEAR 83% 67% 20% USE SOCIAL MEDIA USE SOCIAL MEDIA USE SOCIAL MEDIA AGE 0-29 AGE 30-49 AGE 50+ GUEST SURVEYS: KEEPING THE ADVANTAGE There's no argument that social media and review sites are a great way to tune into customer comments. But social media can't build your reputation. That's where survey-based feedback still has the advantage. Remember these key points: 1 2 Phony online reviews are a big problem. The only way to be sure you're using authentic guest feedback to guide your business is direct guest Social media and review sites offer just a tiny slice of the guest experience. And they reflect the emotional extremes. Make sure your feedback MARKET METRIX AVOID BOGUS Ssurveys. REVIEWS GET ALL OF program reflects all your guests, and THE DETAILS the complete experience. 4. Only 56% of the population uses social media. And even fewer of the The problems reported most frequently aren't always the ones that hurt your business the most. The only way to know the difference is to use surveys to collect feedback and measure impact on loyalty. REAL LOUD adults 50+ who spend the most on travel. But 100% of those people can complete surveys. Be sure all your customers have a voice. FOCUS ON REAL ISSUES LISTEN TO ALL GUESTS Once a bad experience is posted online, you're too late. That's damage control, not reputation management. Use real-time guest input to recover and turn negative reviews into online raves. FIX PROBLEMS NOT REVIEWS http://www.olery.com/infographic-the-naked-truth-about-hotel-reviews/ Sussin, Jenny and Thompson, Ed, The Consequences of Fake Fans, 'Likes' and Reviews on Social Networks, Gartner, July 24, 2012 Schaal, Dennis, Hotelme Attracts $3M In Funding And USA Today As Partner For Unique Hotel Review Site, September 18, 2012 Ott, Cardie and Hancock. Estimating the Prevalence of Deception in Online Review Communities, WWW 2012 – Session: Fraud and Bias in User Ratings. April 16-20, 2012, Lyon, France. The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project's Tracking Survey conducted July 16-August 7, 2012 Market Metrix guest surveys, percent reporting 'very likely to recommend' from October 2011 – September 2012 from 2.84 million responses. Market Metrix Hospitality Index, 2011 survey results representing 134,261 respondents. lll Market Metrix