Facebook has made the dramatic move of replacing business reviews with recommendations: The change first came into effect in August and the impact of the decision is now trickling down into the business world and for the hospitality industry, this presents a tremendous opportunity.

No More Star Ratings

The new change means guests can no longer offer a 1- to 5-star review. Instead, guests hitting the reviews tab are now asked if they recommend the property with a simple “yes” or “no” answer. After answering the question, the guest will then be asked to leave his or her feedback to support their answer.

Features

Unlike the review process, the new form asks guests to provide tags for the business. In the case of hotels, they might be family-friendly, pet-friendly, free breakfast, clean, etc. For guests using Facebook to shop around for hotels, they will now be able to see key and relevant features and amenities at a quick glance right on Facebook.

Something that is really exciting about the new recommendations is the ability for guests to share photos. Obviously, this can work against a property if they are not up to par but for properties on their game, this offers a great opportunity to bring the true guest experience to new prospecting guests as well as interaction with previous guests. This is something that can be promoted at the hotel during check-in to ensure a steady flow of photos on the property Facebook page.

Existing Ratings

You don’t have to worry about your previous ratings disappearing. However, Facebook has not exactly made it clear how the new recommendations will impact the star rating for the hotel. For instance, will a “no” be equal to a 1? Will a “yes” be equal to a 5? Our guess would be yes, as the new system was seemingly put into place to eliminate that gray area so many properties live in right now.

Some hotel managers may look at this as a threat to their ratings, but that should not be the approach. To ensure your property gets more yes recommendations than no recommendations, the front desk is going to have to be very active upon checkout and through the guests’ stay. You no longer have to risk a 3-star rating for someone that was happy but may have had a couple of small issues during their stay. In all likelihood, that individual will still offer a yes rating for the property, boosting the properties standing on Facebook.

A recommendation for hotel managers would be to have a QR code created and posted at the front desk. When the front desk agent inquires if a guest was happy with their stay, they can ask the guest to scan the QR code right on the spot and leave a positive recommendation about their stay. This will ensure a steady flow of “yes” recommendations to counter the inevitable “no.”

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Photo via Omni Dallas Facebook Page