93% of travel and hospitality business owners think online reviews are among the most important factors affecting the future of their industry. With the large number of consumers who use Google to find their next booking spot, it leaves hotel owners no choice but to compete with other hotels through online methods. Hotel reputation management online is the only way to help face this problem.
How Online Reviews Affect Your Business
82% of millennials consider travel reviews important. Even older generations are getting in on the trend of finding hotels through online services because of how convenient it is, compared to making phone calls to multiple hotels to compare rates.
Online reviews provide a way for consumers to learn about the experiences other people have already had with a certain business. Online reviews make choosing a hotel simple, but they do have a negative effect on some hotel businesses that do not have any reviews yet. Fewer reviews and lower ratings will make a hotel website get pushed down in search results on search engines.
How to Remove Tripadvisor Reviews
Tripadvisor allows users to make honest reviews to help other people who are looking for a hotel to book. The point of a review website such as Tripadvisor is to create a space where consumers can share their honest opinions. Unfortunately, some of those opinions are for the worst.
Consumers consider all reviews when looking up hotels, both the good and the bad. 96% of Tripadvisor users consider reading reviews important when planning trips and booking hotels. 83% of Tripadvisor users will “usually” or “always” reference reviews before deciding to book a hotel.
If you have had a problem with negative reviews, for whatever reason that may be, you may have wondered whether you can do anything to remove some of the bad things people have said in reviews.
Unless there is a legitimate reason for why you want to remove a Tripadvisor post, it is unlikely you can get a negative review removed.
Tripadvisor does not allow the removal of negative reviews, but you can make a Management Response, which is a great way to reconnect with consumers and make up for past mistakes. This reconnection could lead to the consumer choosing to edit their review to make it more positive, but even that is not a guarantee.
Other methods for review removal include legal action (refer to the Online Defamation section of this article).
Trivago Review Removal
Trivago focuses on comparing the prices of hotels from different websites. Users can search their destination on the Home Page and select the dates for which they would need a room booked. Once Trivago pulls up the results, the user can see a list of available hotels with details on each, including quick facts from the reviews and how many people have reviewed each one.
76% of consumers are willing to pay more for a hotel with higher review scores. This means, when it comes to managing a business in the hospitality industry, your goal should be to increase the number of reviews and boost ratings.
Negative reviews have convinced 94 percent of consumers to avoid a business.
Negatives are the last thing you want – they push away potential new customers and damage your business’s name. You might wonder how you can remove these negative reviews?
The problem with reviews on Trivago is that they are accumulated from other sites. Search results can include reviews from Hotels.com, ebookers.com, yelp, all on the same page, plus many others. Use Trivago to find the source of reviews and then go to that site directly to take down a bad review. Then, if Trivago still displays that review, go to the Trivago Help Center for more help.
Oyster Review Removal
91% of travelers turn to search engines when looking for a place to stay, with the majority 81% preferring to use Google.
Currently, Oyster.com is the very first hotel review website that Google pulls up with a search.
Oyster allows users to search for hotels based on destination and booking dates, much like how other popular hotel review websites work.
In the case of copyright infringement in a review, you can have Oyster take it down. You will need to make a formal written request using the information listed in the Oyster Terms of Use. As long as the information you provide is correct, Oyster will address the notice and dually remove the review. Oyster suggests consulting a legal advisor before submitting a notice to them.
What Is Online Defamation?
Online defamation is a significant reason why you could get a court order to remove negative online reviews. Online defamation is a malicious act of an online user who posts fake statements claiming them as fact in an attempt to ruin your business’s reputation or an individual’s reputation.
Online Reputation Management for Hotels
Sometimes, if you stick with upholding the quality of your hotel, the reviews will speak for themselves, and your reputation will start to grow. However, this method will not always be fast enough to keep up with competitors. It is important to balance managerial efforts between online reputation management and in-person hospitality.
Online reputation management is important because 88% of consumers will sort out hotels from their searches with poor review scores.
Finding an online reputation management company can help you sort out bad reviews and uplift the good reviews on Google and other search engines.
Social Media and Hotels Reputation Management
49% of travelers won’t book a hotel without reviews. If they find a hotel online but do not see any reviews on social media or hotel review websites, this comes as a bad sign, and they will most likely not book with that hotel.
Hotel reviews management can greatly increase the profits of a hospitality business. Your online reputation in the hotel industry should be just as important as other basic functions in the hotel itself.
Author Bio: William Jones is an Online marketing specialist and consultant with more than 15 years of experience in marketing. His expertise in marketing includes website design, email marketing, SEO, blogging, PPC, social media marketing, and online reputation management for businesses.
