You’re checking out after a pleasant stay at a hotel. You enjoyed the comfortable bed, found the room clean and spacious, and safely negotiated the quirks of the bathroom. Even the wi-fi was free (Hallelujah!). As you’re settling your account with the receptionist, she hands you a little slip of paper with a pleading smile. On it is a link to the property’s Tripadvisor page and she asks you when you get home to fill in your review as ‘it is very important to us.’
The Tripadvisor model now appears to have turned full circle and as a result is in danger of losing its credibility, even among those of us who still use it as a tool in travel planning. Where once the reviews were posted by relatively few guests and many hoteliers often had no idea that they even had a Tripadvisor presence, now it is increasingly being used as an important marketing tool by properties. A positive presence provides free exposure to exactly the people a hotel would like to reach; travellers who are planning a visit to their region and are researching where to stay.
From the hoteliers’ perspective, using Tripadvisor to further their own business is only natural. There is certainly nothing fraudulent about asking guests to go online and fill out a review. A bad hotel that produces a steady stream of unhappy guests will never manage to coax them into writing glowing reviews (short of offering them cash bribes perhaps). So if you know that 99% of your guests leave your premises with a warm feeling of contentment, it might make sense to encourage them to share their feelings with other prospective punters.
But this is where it gets a little murky. I’ve found an increasing number of hotels asking directly for me to add a review. I do occasionally write Tripadvisor reviews (I think I’ve penned around 40 to date) but when I’m asked directly to write one I’m far less inclined to do so. Once I’ve been asked by a hotel it is no longer a freely given comment; it feels more like writing a LinkedIn testimonial.
Perhaps I should write a review and include the disclaimer “the staff at the hotel asked me to write a review of my stay and even gave me this web address to help me”. Either way, I feel that the increasing (understandable) obsession by hotel management to manage their Tripadvisor reputation will perhaps lead to the site’s eventual demise.
A final word of praise should go to two establishments who take very different but equally laudable approaches to managing Tripadvisor. One is Casa Ollin, a guest house in Oaxaca where we stayed in January 2011. The level of service was truly exceptional and is evidenced by their ratings (of 246 reviews, 221 are excellent and 21 are good) yet at no point were we encouraged to write a review. An example that shows that good service will produce good reviews without asking.
Taking an altogether different approach is Harry’s restaurant in Reykjavik, where the owner takes a very direct approach to answering his reviews. Some would call his comments brutally honest, others just brutal. His style is clearly not to everyone’s taste, but he has enjoyed quite a bit of internet popularity (or notoriety) as a result of his comments. I will be tempted to visit Harry’s when I’m in Reykjavik soon.
So a plea to hoteliers from myself and, I suspect, quite a few of your future guests. By all means go out of your way to deliver the sort of experience that will have us all rushing home to deliver a gushing 5 star review. But please, please: pestering us to give that review is really not going to help your cause in the long run.
At a B&B in York, the owner not only asked us to write a TripAdvisor review — he pleaded (not exaggerating) with us to give him five stars across the board, because anything less than five stars would drag him down and hurt his business. And after that, he kept coming by and saying, “You’re gonna do it, right? You’re gonna write a review, aren’t you?” He was a sweet man and the B&B was great, but I HATED the guilt trip. And I don’t write TripAdvisor reviews anyway, so I didn’t review his place.
Hi Andy,
Good post. Unfortunately it is greatly unregulated so on one had the hotel can ask you to write a nice review, but on the other there’s nothing to stop a guest or competitor writing something spiteful and damaging.
Tripadvisor is more of a UGC marketing tool, so I’m not surpried that hotel owners are using it against the potential tidal wave of bad reviews (whether they’re true or not).
Hi Andy,
Interesting points. However, people who have their expectations matched are generally less likely to write a review than those who don’t. If you are small place a bad review will sit for a long while putting people off for no good reason. As a tour operator it can be a source of immense frustration when a bad review sits on the front page putting people off a hotel which we know, with our experience, a client will like. We have asked clients to review hotels which they have liked in the past – to counter what we (from an unbiased point of view) consider totally unfair reviews.
I could rant for ever about Trip Advisor I think you are essentially wrong – hotels will benefit from asking people to review positively – particularly small and quirky, out of the ordinary type places!
I think that if you were already thinking of reviewing an establishment on TripAdvisor (good or bad), it doesn’t change anything if the owner/employees ask you to do so.
On the contrary, it’s going to make me want to do it even more knowing that this establishment values its reviews. It’s just a kind and generous favor on my part, which I’ll be glad to do in all honesty. It’s a bit like asking to RT a tweet, or sharing something on StumbleUpon. Even if someone asks you to do it, if it’s worth sharing I don’t see any harm in doing it.
I once stayed in a wonderful hotel. I told them they’d get an entry and a good review in the travel guide I was writing. The manager’s face went sour. “Can you not put it on TripAdvisor?” he asked.
I told them I didn’t even have a login. I couldn’t believe that they valued a review out of dozens in TripAdvisor more than an entry in a well-known travel guide, where they’d probably stay for a decade or so.
The world’s gone mad.
TripAdvisor is unfortunately being hurt by its own popularity. The worst hotels often rise to the top through underhanded means. Some hotels have been openly accused of offering bribes, cash or otherwise, in exchange for good reviews. The Ivy League Cornell University even did a study on how to spot fake reviews (they are often padded with lots of non-hotel related information like why they were at the hotel, and they use lots of superlatives and the first person singular).
I agree with Sam. I actually think it’s smart of a hotel to ask you to review. I think if you understand how TA works (or perhaps I should say you understand its faults) you realise that the hotelier is just doing what any person who cared about their business would do. It’s hardly that big a deal is it?
Thanks to all for your opinions and personal experiences. I have come across a couple of places that have gone over-the-top (for my liking) in asking repeatedly for a review – in person while checking out, and again by email at regular intervals. Nothing as bad as Kate’s experience, which I suspect would try anyone’s patience.
In the big scheme of things it’s probably not a big deal, as Jeremy and Sam have argued, to get a single simple request. After all, one guest house owner I spoke with has no marketing spend, relying solely on their excellent Tripadvisor reviews – and they’re very busy. Perhaps a clue to John’s hotelier who couldn’t care less about the guide book review.
That said, there is still for me a admirable (and highly sustainable approach) where the little places just offer you a mind-blowingly good experience. Most customers will come thanks to TA reviews and will automatically be more inclined to leave their own comments, thus building on the business’s reputation – all without saying a word. It can be done as a few places do demonstrate.
The finger can also be pointed at TripAdvisor itself rather than the owners. TA advises owners to ask guests to post reviews (well, it would, wouldn’t it) and even provides online and offline “marketing tools” to “Get More Reviews”.
It offers 250 “business cards” free to give to guests: “Business-card-sized reminders you customise with your property’s name and address. First 250 cards are free”.
It tells owners to download a TripAdvisor flyer – “Download and print this free flyer to distribute to your guests.” which says “When you get home please rate us on TripAdvisor”.
Then there are the widgets for websites (packed with hard links to benefit TripAdvisor search engine rankings, BTW) and links to put into emails. “86% of respondents use travel sites to gauge other travellers’ opinions before choosing their accommodation – so the more reviews you have, the better! Place one of these widgets on your website, or add a link on your website and in emails to encourage your guests to write a review on TripAdvisor.”
Personally, I would rather live in a world without TripAdvisor (all this replying to reviews and managing online reputation takes precious time that I’d rather spend on guests and working on the gardens) . As its here I’ve got to make the best of it but I’m never going to beg for a TA review!
The owners who go OTT are a small minority who’ve been brainwashed by all the hype over online reviews. They need your sympathy, not your disdain!
Phil
You mentioned Reykjavik. I am curious – are you planning a winter trip to Iceland? Would love to know more about it..
Hi Abhijit, I’m hoping to go to Iceland in March – late enough that it’s not so cold, but early enough so that we can still see the Northern lights. I’ll let you know how we get on
Trip Advisor is certainly a doubled edged sword. It’s quite easy to play their system and also easy to have your business destroyed from a few irate lying guests.
Concept is good, but unfortunately like a lot of these businesses you end up having to read between the lines and rather than save you time trying to find the best place locally, you spend more time going through the top 10 trying to work out what’s going on and what’s honest. Painful for all involved.
I tend to not bother as I book through hostel websites so review on there if I get a reminder email to do so and feel my stay was any side of ‘as expected’.
Very interesting post and good food for thought. I agree reviews are important for both the provider and the customer, its when they are censored or ‘bought’. Hostelworld.com doesn’t seem to be SO effected by this. What do you think?
I think you also have to realise that these smaller places take every bad review like a stab in the heart. It hurts them on an emotional level as a bad review is normally a review on their own home, not a larger building just run for the purpose of making a profit.
I think they also battle with the internet. It’s new ground for them, and they don’t realise that one bad review amongst 10 shining ones, doesn’t really have an impact on business.
However, I have also heard terrible stories from some of these small places (I work with small B&Bs and guest houses). I have heard a few stories about customers trying to bribe them, saying that if they don’t offer them a discount they will purposely leave a bad review on TA. I can imagine it’s a bit overwhelming for them, and that’s why they are so desperate to try get more good reviews. You’re 100% right on the exceptional service though – I don’t think they would have to worry so much if they followed that path.
I agree that there are pros and cons with review sites. My personal method is to eliminate the glowing positive reviews and take a close look at the negative reviews. Most can be filtered easily to look for specific issues (problem with rodents, bad water pressure, restaurant closed, etc.). Each of us has different priorities. If we are looking for a beach vacation then of course the comments related to the quality of the beach and snorkeling are going to be much more important than the quality of the towels or room size.
The more information you have at your finger tips the better when it comes to vacation planning and TA is just one of the tools.
I once wrote a review for Cambridge Bed and Muffin (a B & B in Cambridge, Mass.) and the owner reckoned my favourable review and photos did more for her occupancy rates than her own marketing efforts over several years. I stayed again a year later but Tripadviser rejected my review as I’d already written one.
I then got to thinking that a forum with a thread for each hotel would perhaps be better then peple could discuss aspects of a property and this might give a more balanced view. Some times what one person thinks is a smal room, or a noisey location may not be the view of the majority.
To your point about being pleased with for reviews – I agree this would be a total turn off even if I loved the place so on principle would decline to write one.
I meant pleaded with not pleased with,,,, oh dear must remember to use spellcheck !!