When we sign-on for social media, we are opening ourselves up to positive and negative criticism. And companies, especially, are faced with the responsibility of providing top-notch customer service to their prospective, current and past clients — because as a society, we want answers and we want them now! Let’s take a look into the social media management of the hotel industry and find out what it takes to maintain a positive online reputation.
On-Call 24/7
Social media has made it a society standard to be able to reach out to someone, anyone who will listen, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And hotels need to be on their toes and ready to respond at any moment. It’s crucial for hotel social media managers to implement a plan for responses with regard to time and which types of community engagement receive the attention first. Guest complaints and requests, which are often time sensitive, should always be responded to first and are followed by upcoming travel plans and additional community comments. When necessary, ask to take the conversation offline to handle difficult situations — not to dismiss the community member but to properly handle the incident to make amends with the guest.
Pleasing the People
Hotels are faced with switching gears constantly whether it’s from one year to the next or summer to fall. So it makes it increasingly important to be able to build a connection with your online audience and communities. Sometimes that means fulfilling silly guest requests, and sometimes it means providing recommendations on things to do while traveling. Whatever it may be, it’s crucial for hotel brands to develop a relationship with their communities to build long-term brand ambassadors.
Put it into Action
Create a system and process to turn online critiques into offline change. Make a point to share positive and negative reviews with the hotel staff and distribute to departments so that they can solve any issues. This not only validates the customer who is kind enough to share an honest opinion, it creates an open discourse for continued improvement, while also identifying trends.
“You want to make sure that what you’re doing is simply an extension of the hotel’s excellent customer service. When the front desk gets an unhappy response, they deal with it then and there. The same goes for social media. If it works out for the best, you might even turn a negative commentator into a brand advocate! It’s important to show the customer that they are important to your business, especially through social media.”
Lindsey Lacey – Account Executive for International House Hotel
