Hospitality is a giant industry, constantly growing, constantly changing and improving and guest feedback plays an important role throughout every step of the guest journey, while swimming in such deep waters, knowing and understanding all of its complex implications can sometimes come as a challenge.

Especially since technology has started to impact hospitality and the importance of reviews and continues to do so, more and more every day, new and exciting concepts arise and you have to make sure that you keep up with them.

This is why we created the Guest Feedback A-Z Guide for Hotels, meant to break down all of the most relevant notions that are of interest to hoteliers and other members of the industry. We included short definitions and external references and divided the guide into 4 equal parts, so make sure to stay tuned for the entire series!

A

Analytics = This is a term used to describe the processes or the platforms that allow you to analyze your performance, score, demographics, KPIs, etc. In other words, analytics are crucial for absolutely any business out there and especially for hospitality. In order to plan, organize and succeed, you need to know your audience, your current performance, your reputation, your strengths, and weaknesses. Given the importance of the analytics, the TrustYou platform has them incorporated so that users could monitor their performance and reputation, analyze feedback on a semantic level, measure KPIs with custom reports and find and influence their impact scores.

B

Bookings = Basically, every hotel’s goal. A booking represents a reservation made by a traveler, who makes the decision of enjoying a stay at a certain accommodation. Bookings can be made through a multitude of channels, however, the preferred way is the direct one, on the hotel’s website. Bookings are also enabled through the collaboration between hotels and online travel agencies (OTAs), which implies the payment of a commission. This is why direct bookings are more budget-friendly and always encouraged and we have previously touched base on how to get consumers to book directly to better compete with OTA’s.

C

CRM = Short for customer relationship management, CRM software is necessary for hospitality. Through such systems, hoteliers ensure that operations between the hotel and its guests are properly optimized and as smooth as possible. CRMs are used to reach, impress and retain customers and also, to generate brand loyalty. Especially in hospitality, relationships between hotel representatives and customers are crucial, in order to keep guests informed and satisfied and to reach a higher level of popularity, plus a better reputation.

D

Direct Messaging = In hospitality, direct messaging has been recently adopted as an easy and highly effective two-way communication between the hotel staff and the guests. Given the technology-driven era that we are currently living in, it has been proven that the modern traveler prefers to communicate via text rather than through the phone, email or sometimes, even face-to-face. Every day, more hotels are relying on direct messaging to keep the lines of communications opened during the entire guest journey, which can result in higher satisfaction levels from guests. At TrustYou, we developed our Messaging tool and have worked on constantly improving it through voice-messaging (using Amazon Echo’s “Alexa”) and a live chat feature.

E

E-commerce = This is the general name given to all the transactions - buying and selling - which take place in the online environment. For the hospitality business, this refers to any business transaction that is made electronically, without the actual face-to-face interaction and it can range from online marketing to online bookings. Our friends from Xotels define e-commerce in the hotelier field as “the trade and service relationship between the hotel and their guests and partners” and “it is mainly based on sales made via the hotel’s website and the partner OTAs”.

F

Feedback = The overall impressions, opinions, and experiences that a guest has during his stay in a hotel. Guest feedback is something that we focus our entire activity around since it has developed from word-of-mouth to an entire industry and now represents one of the things that can make or break a business. The majority of today’s consumers search reviews online, before making a booking decision and this is why a hotel’s positive reputation is vital. Through feedback, hoteliers can analyze their strengths and weaknesses and adjust accordingly, in order to achieve an excellent reputation, which can drive more bookings and more revenue. Nowadays, feedback is generated through a multitude of channels and this is why hoteliers need to invest in a guest feedback platform, such as the one that we carefully developed and continuously improve, so that hotels all around the world can make the most out of their reputation.

G

Google = Basically, the world’s largest and most used search engine - also when it comes to travelers and their hotel searches. For hotel businesses, Google enables a high level of visibility and reach in front of consumers, which ultimately leads to more bookings. In a previous study conducted by us, it was revealed that 91% of travelers turn to search engines when looking for accommodations and 81% prefer to use Google. There are certain ways and strategies of making sure that your hotel has a high visibility and a top positioning on Google, including the proper use of SEO and rich snippets, and also, the option of pushing reviews to Google, through a smart guest survey solution, such as the one integrated in the TrustYou platform.

H

Hospitality = As the name implies, it’s the service industry mainly based on the relationship between hosts and guests. Between accommodations and/or services and consumers. It’s safe to assume that certain forms of hospitality have been around since the beginning of time, but it has now transformed into a multibillion dollar business, with a large range of ramifications. From hotels, restaurants, OTAs, tour operators, management companies, hospitality covers everything and it is currently highly competitive.

I

Independent Hotel = An independent property is independently owned and run and does not belong to a chain. Usually, independent hotels have a relatively simple structure, which comes with advantages and disadvantages. In regards to operations and strategies, independent hotels have a higher level of flexibility and can operate as they see fit and provide personalized services and experiences. On the other hand, not being part of a chain, the budget might be more restrictive. We developed an entire eBook on this exact topic, the difference between independent hotels and chain properties and how independent hotel owner can make the most out of their non-branded status. For more insights, you can download our free eBook here: Branding Without The Brand Name: A Hotelier’s Guide to Building Brand Value.

J

Journey (of the Guest) = Whenever travelers plan a vacation or a stay of any sorts, there is a certain journey that they follow: first, there’s the search and booking phase, in which they generally look online, in order to make a reservation. Afterwards comes the actual on-stay phase of the journey, the most important one, in which travelers spend time at their preferred accommodation and make an impression of it. Last, but not least, there’s the post-stay phase, when guests can provide feedback in regards to the hotel and their experience there, through specialized platforms and/or guest feedback surveys. The guest journey is seen as a whole and it’s important for business owners to know that a traveler becomes a guest not when he arrives on-site, but when he completes the booking to adapt the right strategies and measures to address his needs at every stage.

K

KPI = A KPI is a key performance indicator. Through KPIs, hoteliers can monitor and analyze their hotel’s performance, in all of the different categories, they choose, in order to determine how effective the current strategy is in achieving the overall goals.In terms of guest feedback examples of KPIs can be the scores, overall reputation, response rate, the popularity of the hotel, etc.

L

Loyalty Programs = As part of a hotel’s strategy, loyalty programs have been adopted by a majority of hotels and accommodations in the last few years. Loyalty programs are generally directed towards guests that choose the same hotel for multiple stays and, in return, the hotels repay their loyalty through different perks. Those perks can range from free breakfast to free spa-access or night-stays and are meant to be a strategy to retain guests and get a better ROI in the long run. Also, loyalty programs can have a positive impact on a hotel’s reputation, as we discussed in this blog post.

M

Marketing = A concept that you are probably already familiar with, marketing represents all of a business’ actions of promoting and selling its products and services, in order to gain revenue. Hotels nowadays have many options when it comes to marketing, from promoting their actual accommodation and perimeters to making use of a place’s history and heritage or shifting the spotlight to its own excellent reputation. In this regard, TrustYou’s Review Marketing solution, integrated in the guest feedback platform, offers multiple solutions for better marketing guest reviews and the overall hotel reputation, in order to get more bookings: integrating the TrustScore and review widgets on the hotel website, to provide travelers with valuable information from the very beginning of their journey; influencing rich snippets through reviews, for a better visibility on Google; distributing reviews on multiple channels and displaying survey reviews on Google, to get more direct bookings.

N

Negative Feedback = It happens to the best of us. Despite tireless efforts and high standards, every hotelier comes face to face with negative feedback a few times in his career. Whenever travelers experience discontent during their stay or the hotel does not meet their expectations, they have the liberty of publicly expressing their thoughts and opinions in the online world, through reviews. The worst thing for hoteliers, in this case, is that any type of feedback has an enormous level of visibility nowadays and it has the power to influence other potential guests. However, if hoteliers learn the art of properly replying to negative reviews in a professional way, the negative impact will be diminished. To learn more about this topic, feel free to download and consult our best practice: How to Properly Reply to Negative Reviews.

O

Online Reputation = What used to work around word-of-mouth, has now developed into a gigantic industry, focused on the online world. Any business directed towards a certain audience relies on that audience’s feedback and impressions and the ensemble of them creates the overall online reputation. The better the reputation, the more successful the business. Especially for hospitality, a hotel’s reputation is of high importance, since the majority of today’s travelers base their booking decision not just on their preferred destination or available budget, but also on reviews and feedback from previous guests. To see the results and the impact of a positive reputation, here's how Fattal Hotels managed to increase the revenue and the direct bookings, based on their online reputation.

P

Platform = When it comes to hotels and any other type of establishment, a platform represents the best way of managing a multitude of aspects and operations and especially the online reputation. Platforms enable fast connections between different data and the ability to keep all the necessary information in one place. For example, the TrustYou all-in-one guest feedback platform incorporates a multitude of features and tools, which can be operated from one interface: hoteliers can access reviews from more than 250 sources, they can create, customize and send out guest surveys, gather the results and market them, as well as analyzing the overall scores and reputation. Also, on the same platform, there’s the direct messaging feature, which enables constant communication between hotel staff and guests. Such a platform is highly efficient, user-friendly and time-saving.

Q

Quality Management = Quality is the base of any successful business. The consistent delivery of products and services that meet the expectations of both managers and consumers represents quality management. For the hotel business, this means that managers/owners need to constantly pay attention to the quality of the services that they offer, the proper staff operations and the successful communication between hotel and guests. Quality management determines guest loyalty and positive feedback, which influences the booking decision of future guests and the hotel’s revenue and financial success.

R

ROI = The official abbreviation of the return on investment metric. In every business, it’s vital to keep track of the ROI and see exactly how much you invested and how much revenue you got as a result. Simply put, the ROI is a form of performance monitoring, which determines the success of your investment. By constantly and thoroughly calculating the ROI, hoteliers can acknowledge the exact areas in which their investments are paying off and if any operational or financial changes need to be made. There’s a certain formula of calculating the ROI: the benefit (or return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment, and the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.

S

Survey = The easiest and more effective way of getting feedback on a certain product/service. Surveys are used in almost every business, when analyzing the audience and its preferences, with the purpose of acknowledging strengths and weaknesses and further working on improvements. Hoteliers need to make good use of guest surveys, in order to get valuable feedback from guest and promote their reputation in the online world. TrustYou’s feedback platform incorporated guest surveys, which are 100% customizable and can be personalized. Solicited feedback generally leads to better results and scores, which contribute to a better reputation. Also, the powerful semantic analysis conducted by the TrustYou platform enables a better understanding of the feedback and is the base of further operational changes and improvements. These guest surveys can also be pushed to Google in order for hotel users to gain more online visibility.

T

Travel Technology = Technology has a huge impact in the travel and hospitality industry and nowadays, it is pretty much impossible to operate in this field without relying on tech-based systems and operations. For hotels, travel technology ranges from software such as PMS, CRM, to OTAs and guest feedback platforms, AI and voice-activated devices. In the recent years, emerging technologies have also been adopted by hospitality, since it brings a world of possibilities and they add value to the overall guest journey, as well as ease internal hotel operations. Travel tech is constantly evolving and changing and for the year of 2018, here are the tech trends that are predicted to have the largest impact in the industry.

U

UGC = Short for user-generated content, this term is mostly used when referring to a website’s search engine optimization (SEO). As we previously defined it in our eBook, SEO is a methodology of strategies used to increase the number of visitors to a website by obtaining a high-ranking placement in the search results page of a search engine. SEO enables unpaid/organic visibility and UGC counts as a vital part of the equation. UGC refers to any type of content (text, photos, videos, reviews, testimonials, blog posts, tweets, and everything in between) that is created and released in the online world by unpaid contributors. To put things simply, we can say that user-generated content is what happens when users promote and advertise a brand rather than the brand itself.

V

Voice Messaging = New technology developments have now allowed for communications between hotel and guests to rely not only on face-to-face interactions, phone calls or emails but also on voice-based channels and devices. This means that users can send messages, questions or inquiries in an easy and quick way, by using their voice, which is recorded and catered by a smart device. This is also referred to as a virtual assistant and a great example of one is Amazon Echo’s “Alexa”. For hospitality, voice messaging brings a world of possibilities, from enabling staff to communicate with each other faster, to offering a new and more remarkable experience to hotel guests.

W

Widgets = Widgets can be defined as small applications with limited functionality that can be installed and executed within a web page by an end user. Widgets are meant to provide extra pieces of useful information, in a more visual and attention-grabbing way than plain text. For example, through the TrustYou guest feedback platform, users can integrate widgets on their website, such as the hotel’s TrustScore or the Meta-Review. In this way, potential guests can receive details about the hotel’s score and reputation, based on feedback from previous guests, straight from the beginning of their journey and he has the power to influence their booking decision. It’s a way of keeping users on the website, of displaying a positive reputation and of saving travelers’ time, through an effective, easy to implement and visually appealing way.

X

(generation) X = Between two larger demographics, baby boomers, and millennials, generation X accounts for 25% of the U.S population and it has been determined that most members of this faction are accomplished in their careers and have families and children. This is the reason why, when it comes to their travel habits, gen X’ers prefer family vacations, mostly close to home. Although they are financially stable, they prefer not to spend too much on their trips and they value experiences most of all. Also, generation X cares about hotel convenience, price, and quality. Not being extremely tech-savvy, they are relatively easy to cater to.

Y

(generation) Y = Commonly known as millennials, they represent the largest cohort in history. Forbes referred to millennials as the most important consumer generation for the travel industry. They are characterized by their fascination with technology, social media, everything new and digital. They also value experiences more than anything and personalization matters a lot to them. Millennials are very active in the online world and they base the majority of their decisions on information found on the internet. They are also willing to spend a large amount of money on their travels and vacations, as long as they imply new experiences and adventures. Hotels all over the world are striving to adjust their strategies to fit the needs and expectations of millennials and here are a few tips on how a hotel’s reputation can determine influence this generations’ booking decision.

Z

(generation) Z = We reached the very end of the alphabet, with a brand new generation of consumers. Gen Z’ers represent the demographic following millennials and they were born between the mid-‘90s and mid-2000. What differentiates generation Z from the ones before is the fact that the members of this particular demographic were raised in a technological era and are extremely comfortable using technology and social media. As travelers, they are harder to impress, they see themselves as not only consumers but also as creators, they want to be personally involved and generate content and they also more financially cautious than millennials.

TrustYou, the world’s largest guest feedback platform, is on a mission to improve the travel experience, from finding the right hotel to having the perfect stay. The company works with hotels, destinations, and travel websites to make that happen. TrustYou analyzes hundreds of millions of travel reviews scattered across a vast, fragmented market and transforms this content into actionable insights and data visualizations for 500,000 hotels. This enables travel sites to improve the trip planning process and hotels to offer the best experience to their guests.

www.trustyou.com