One of the marketing services we offer to hotels is managing online reviews, primarily on Google and Facebook. As a result of all the comments I’ve seen over the years, I now have more of a critical eye when I stay at hotels.
Whatever I experience or see–good or bad–I think to myself: will this be mentioned in another guest’s review? Part of the challenge for hoteliers is that guests don’t always report issues in person. Often, they prefer to vent about it online, and it can make you look negligent or ignorant.
Even though you and your staff are probably stretched thin, it’s important to experience your own property as a guest periodically. You may discover, as I have in recent stays:
- There are no towels in the pool area.
- The ice maker is not working.
- The wifi is extremely weak in the rooms at the far end of the hallway.
- The plants/bushes/trees are wildly overgrown in the courtyard/outdoor space.
- Condiments, plates, cups, utensils, etc. haven’t been replenished.
- The batteries in the TV remote in the fitness room are dead.
- There’s no soap or paper towels in the common-area bathrooms.
- What’s in the room is different from what’s listed on your website.