TripAdvisor Recommends to Check Your Hotel Reviews and Take Advantage of the Owner Center
December 22, 2009 by Stefano Maranzana
Filed under Hotels
Florence historical train station Stazione Leopolda , now turned into a convention center, was the locale for the 2009 edition of the Buy Tourism Online Tradeshow (16-17 November). The B.T.O. is an Italian web 2.0 and online tourism tradeshow which central theme is TOURISM 2.0, the phenomenon that is radically changing the dynamics of supply and demand in the entire range of tourist accommodation.
Many speakers introduced a choice of points of Web 2.0 and social networking that ned to be taken in consideration in the hotel industry. One of the most worthy of note was the speech delivered by TripAdvisor(c)’s Roberto Frua. Frua’s main point was how social media, and mainly TripAdvisor(c), can assist hoteliers in their marketing strategies.
Web 2.0, or consumer-based internet content, is a reality and it is very vigorous in tourism. TripAdvisor(c), with more than 30 million traveler reviews, is a necessary tool to monitor what it is being said about your property and do something about it. Monitoring and replying to your hotel’s reviews are crucial in modern hotel business. More than ever if the reviews are unenthusiastic, the hotelier should first of know about the post and then come up with a satisfactory response. In order to assist in this task, Tripadvisor(c) has developed the Owner Center, built to help management teams of hotels, restaurants and attractions administer and optimize their properties’ presence on the portal.
Through the Owner Center hoteliers log in and are able to provide and update details about their hotels and most of all keep track of their reviews and respond in a timely manner. It really helps to save time on a very time consuming chore. Managers can check their performance on the customer satisfaction index, but also keep an eye on how their direct competitors are doing.
Today TripAdvisor(c) is one of the best ways for hoteliers to engage with their past and future guests. The Web 2.0 revolution is that consumers have their say and what they think about your property is visible to the entire online community. It is a blunder to disregard this reality that may hurt the hotel standing and image in the World Wide Web. Be it by means of the useful Owner Center or not, it is indeed worthwhile to observe what is being expressed about your property in TripAdvisor(c) and reply: The first move to being part of any online community is to listen to the conversation, and then to join in.
Stefano Maranzana is PR Director for EPOQUE HOTELS, and AVANTGARDE HOTELS