A key focus for ReviewPro over the past year was building an engagement program that helps our clients use insights from the social web in all areas of their business – from sales & marketing to operations to revenue management. In conversations with executives at the thousands of hotel companies we work with around the world – as well as strategy sessions with innovation teams within those companies – our team has identified five key opportunities for using social media and review analytics to grow in the year ahead.
1) Social analytics will be incorporated into strategic revenue management decisions
Melia Hotels was one of the first hotel groups to pioneer the use of online guest satisfaction indexes in their strategic pricing decisions over the past year. In the coming year, more and more hotels will optimize RevPAR by using online guest satisfaction reports to focus their internal guest experience improvement activities, and then make smarter strategic distribution decisions. The opportunity to drive financial performance through improving guest satisfaction was confirmed in a recent study by Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research, which conducted research with 2 ½ years of data from ReviewPro and STR, and demonstrated a link between a hotel’s Global Review IndexTM and RevPAR, occupancy, and average daily rates.
2) Social media and review analytics will play a key role in hotel investment and transactions
Traditionally, the value of a hotel asset was based on the location, the building, and the expectation of future revenue. Today, savvy investors realize that a hotel’s ability to meet or exceed guest satisfaction has a direct and ongoing impact on the expectation for future revenue. That’s why competitive online feedback analysis is increasingly a part of the due diligence process for hotel investors.
At ReviewPro, we’re working with more and more hotel investors and transactional advisors to provide both buyers and sellers online reputation and social media analytics to unlock asset value and increase financial returns.
3) Social media and review analytics will play a key role management decision-making
Revenue management isn’t the only area where hospitality executives are using social media and online review analytics to optimize performance. Hotels we work with at ReviewPro are accessing general online guest satisfaction indexes, business department indexes, and customer demographic information via API connections, and cross-referencing this social data with internal business performance data to make better management decisions. Additionally, by comparing customer satisfaction trend reports with data from outside market intelligence systems, they create a richer set of information to uncover new opportunities and gain competitive advantage.
4) Hotel quality control and competitive benchmarking will be increasingly based on online guest feedback
More and more hotel brands and independent properties are looking to online feedback as a “virtual 24/7 mystery shopper” providing an honest perspective of the guest experience – and how that compares to quality standards. Combining feedback trends from hundreds of guest reviews from dozens of sources provides a full understanding of recurring issues, and review analytics for a competitive set can prioritize areas for improvement.
5) Reputation management will become proactive with better listening strategies
Hoteliers are realizing that online reputation begins with an offline experience. By importing historical guest satisfaction survey data into their ReviewPro dashboard – and combining that with various incoming sources of real-time feedback – they can take steps to proactively manage their reputation.
One of our clients, Cesar Perez, Director of Quality at Vincci Hotels, noted that:
“Online reputation is critical for our business. Adding direct guest surveys to our feedback program lets us hear from guests while they are still in the hotel so we can respond to their input while there is still the opportunity to improve the guests’ experience before they post a review or comment online.”
Turn insight into action
Business analytics only provide a return on investment when they are acted upon, and by using social insights in the five categories outlined here, hotels are ready to unlock the key to social media ROI in a bigger way than ever before.
by RJ Friedlander
http://www.reviewpro.com/
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