I recently re-wrote a thank-you e-mail that one of my clients was using to ask for online reviews from satisfied guests -

If you're not doing this yet, it's a great practice. Anytime someone says something positive about your hotel or you get an e-mail with some positive feedback, you should have some sort of a system for asking these people to share their experiences with others online.

Below you can see the message they were using, and how we re-wrote it.

Before:

Dear NAME

Thank you for choosing HOTEL for your recent stay in CITY. We have read your comments about the hotel and we greatly appreciate that you took the time to write them, as our guests' satisfaction is our main priority.

We invite you, please, to share your opinion on the TripAdvisor website (website for travelers' opinions) using the following link:

[Tripadvisor link]

It is very important for us that our guests' experiences are shared.

It was a pleasure to have you as our guest. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your collaboration and we hope to see you again soon at HOTEL.

Management

HOTEL, CITY

After:

Hello NAME,

Thank you for choosing HOTEL for your recent stay in CITY. I was delighted to hear you had an enjoyable time at our hotel.

At your convenience, would you please take a moment to share your experience online with your friends and others on your favorite travel review website?

Is was a pleasure to have you as our guest. We hope to see you again soon.

- STAFF NAME
HOTEL

Direct phone:
Personal email:

See what others have said about our hotel on TripAdvisor:

[TripAdvisor hotel link]

This re-write accomplishes several things

It comes from an individual person instead of the entire hotel. Response rates typically increase when e-mail comes from one person.

It's less about the hotel and more focused on the guest. A guest may not care what is important to the hotel, so we need to position this request as a way for them to share an experience with friends.

It's a bit shorter, so that the message intent is very clear.

It is less TripAdvisor-specific. It's more of an invitation for people to talk about us in a manner that suits them best online – whether that's TripAdvisor, Twitter, or another site.

It's good to encourage reviews anywhere the guest prefers.

What does your thank you email look like?

www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com/thank-you-email-for-reviews

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