Qype is a local review website especially popular in Europe, but with reviews in cities around the world.
While TripAdvisor may have more worldwide reviews at the moment, it's important not to underestimate networks like these. While living in Europe, I found Qype more useful and informative for my own travels.
In this interview, I talk with community manager Rob Hinchcliffe on how hotels should promote themselves on the site, and use the power of guest reviews.
Josiah: As hotel marketing professionals, we often have to improve our position on guest review sites like yours. What are some ethical ways we can do this – that you approve of? Also, are there any promotional activities you want us to avoid?Rob: We try very hard to make it easy for any business owner to use Qype in order to promote their business. Really it should be just as intuitive for a business owner to arrive on Qype and know what the ‘right' and ‘wrong' ways to go about things are as it is for a user who's there to review something.
The first thing to know is: you can't get away reviewing yourself in glowing terms (and you definitely shouldn't start submitting bad reviews on your competitor's listings!). Social networks are self-policing in that the community is acutely aware of the balance between a genuine piece of content and something that's spam or self-promotion. And once you submit disingenuous content to a user-generated site you are asking for your honesty to be brought into question.
No business owner wants that, so we've made it very easy for people to ‘claim' their business on Qype. Putting your name next to your business and submitting an objective and balanced description of what you do is the best way to start a dialogue with any online community. People respect transparency and they will respond to it in a similarly objective and thoughtful way.
It's easy to be cautious and petition your friends and colleagues to review your business with five stars and a handful of adjectives like ‘amazing' and 'spectacular', but be aware that users are looking for information, not hype. A genuinely informative and balanced four star review is much more likely to bring in a new customer than a five star review that reads "The best hotel in town. Why would you stay anywhere else? I loved it!!!" So don't be afraid to ask your customers to review you. Put your Qype URL on your promotional material, send follow up emails asking for feedback, and encourage people to talk about their experiences.
Business owners ask: but what if people are nasty? And I tell them that people are very rarely nasty, and they're much less likely to be negative if you proactively ask them for their opinion. And wouldn't you rather find out what the things that are annoying people are now, rather than six months down the line when it's annoyed hundreds of other people?
If a hotel has a poor reputation on Qype, what steps should they take to improve it?To quote Douglas Adams: "Don't panic!" Occasionally a business owners will see a bad review and go into damage limitation mode. That normally means an irate email to our customer support team threatening legal action and nasty comments on the user's profile. That isn't reputation management, it's fanning the flames.
Of course if you find defamatory content about your business online then you need to deal with that, but it's far more likely that, if a customer has taken the time to compose a balanced review of his or her experiences, then they are not out to defame or damage that business, they are trying to express an opinion on a forum that has been provided for them. Luckily that platform also has space for you to respond, a mechanism which didn't really exist a few years ago. In the past that customer would have gone away, moaned to their family and friends and never come back again. Now you have the ability to take that complaint, deal with it, and potentially win back the customer (and attract new customers into the bargain).
Qype provides a messaging service for business owners to reply privately to reviewers or you can leave a public comment on a review. We encourage people to respond publicly as it shows how willing you are to be up front and transparent about the issue. If the user has a genuine complaint then thank them for bringing it to your attention, apologise, and let them know what you're doing to fix that problem. Ask them to come back so you can make it up to them, offer them an incentive. That one customer can turn from a detractor into your biggest fan and that two or three star review can turn into five stars with one or two emails.
We've spoken to our users, and they've told us over and over again that they are more likely to be attracted to a business by an open and friendly owner, than they are by any number of glossy photos or special offers. Once you know that, then it's just a matter of common sense.
Is there any way we can integrate Qype content (especially our reviews) into our website and marketing materials?Yes, once you've claimed your business, you can download a widget that displays your reviews on your website. They're pretty flexible so you can choose how much information you want to show (just the star rating, a snippet from the review etc) and you change the colour scheme and size to fit the look and feel of your website.
What day-to-day actions should hotel management take to ensure their hotel has a great presence on your site?As I mentioned before, claiming your business is the first step. It's free, you can edit all the information on the site including address, phone numbers, opening times etc and you can start adding content like photographs and a description of the business that really make you stand out from the other business that might appear alongside you when users are browsing.
Once you've claimed your business we'll email you if any new, user-generated content is uploaded to your business. So if someone reviews you you'll know about it in less than 24 hours. Awareness of reviews and the ability to respond quickly is what reputation management is all about.
It's then up to you how you manage your listing. You can create downloadable vouchers for Qype users, and you can start getting involved in the community. We've had hotel owners create their own Qype Guides to the best tourist attractions in their area, the logic being: the thoughtfulness and knowledge behind that gesture is very likely to be reflected in how they run their business. We've also had businesses offer freebies for the best Qype review written about them. That kind of confidence and proactive encouragement can pays great dividends.
The extent to which you want to engage with the community is really up to you, but the watchwords are: be visible, be responsive, and be transparent.
How should management respond to reviews? Select ones: negative or positive feedback? Ignore them? I don't think ignoring them is a good idea. The internet has made it impossible for companies to bury their heads in the sand. To be blunt, the conversation is going to happen with or without you, so wouldn't you rather know about it and get involved? I think sometimes what stops businesses engaging online is fear. People pick up on the horror stories and don't want to put their heads above the parapet.
But I can tell you from years of experience as the community manager for the biggest local review site in Europe: those fears are unjustified. The large majority of reviews we get are positive ones, people love sharing their good experiences and recommending places to their friends and extended network. They love showing off when they've had a great. They post photos and videos, they rave about the food and the views and the service. They are the best PR agency you could possibly have!
If you approach it with in a common sense, responsible and open-minded way then online communities can genuinely help you to grow your business. And don't forget, there are community managers like me who are there to answer questions and give advice if you need it.
Thank you for your time, Rob.Original article: www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com/qype-marketing
About the author
This blog is written by Josiah Mackenzie, who enjoys exploring the relationship between emerging technology and the hospitality industry. www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com 
