Reputation Management for Bed and Breakfast Inns

There is a new concept in the world of Internet Social Media. “Reputation Management” is essentially the ability to deal with the consumer generated reviews and comments about your Inn business posted throughout the Internet. There are now hundreds of web sites allowing consumers (i.e. your guests) to post comments about how they perceive your Inn and the experience that they had while there. How many Innkeepers have been hurt, embarrassed, upset, angry, and just plain pissed-off about an unfair review on TripAdvisor? Well, now is the time to think about how you best can deal with these issues. They are not going to go away, and the comments on TripAdvisor and the other review sites can have a dramatic impact on future web-based reservations. This means business, and you need to treat this as a serious concern.

The first issue is really the essential one. How can you prevent a bad review from happening? Not possible is what most will say; eventually it will happen to you. However, perhaps prevention is the best advice. That gets us back to good old hospitality and superior service. The people at TripAdvisor told us at PAII that most adverse comments are really about the Innkeepers. Either they were grouchy, touchy, angry, or the like, or they were not present when guests had issues that were important to them. If it is all about the Innkeepers, then perhaps prevention can happen before a complaint is broadcast to the universe. Also, many bad reviews are about Innkeepers rigidly sticking to their policies, particularly their cancellation policies. In this connected world, it just may be good business to waive a cancellation penalty rather than go through the difficulties surrounding a bad review. We know of one very smart Innkeeper who has been at it for over 20 years without any kind of policies (no deposits, no cancellation fees, and money back for whatever reason if the guest is not happy with the Inn). In the long run, this may be the best policy for an Inn.

The next step is to make sure that you have the opportunity to intervene if there is a problem before the guest leaves. It just may not be sufficient to ask the guest at check-out if everything was OK with their stay. That question is better said the other way around, such as “Is there anything we could have done to make your stay better?” It is hard to get guests to tell you what you need to hear, especially when they are trying to check-out and anxious to get home. Comment cards no longer seem to work, because the guest perceives that it may be a waste of their time. Those guests that had a bad experience often find the anonymity of the Internet the perfect setting to wail away at the perceived treatment that they got at the Inn. Intervening at check-out, or better yet at breakfast before they leave, may be the better choice. At that point, if they are unhappy, you can take direct action to explain your side, and to try to resolve the issue before it becomes everyone’s issue. Also, you need to have a clear policy as to what to do with a guest who just did not have a good experience. It may not matter whose fault that was, but you need to do something about it. This may mean that you may have to give that guest something of value, particularly if it was the fault of the Inn and it was a serious issue.

Here is another suggestion that was a topic of discussion at PAII. Some really thoughtful Innkeepers mentioned that a follow-up email to all of the guests a week or so after they left was a really good opportunity to communicate. One Innkeeper even stated that they do two email follow-ups, one on check-out asking if they could have done anything better for the guest, and the second answering any responses to the first one. If the response is good, the Innkeeper will suggest a few websites like TripAdvisor where the guest could leave a hopefully positive comment. Where the response is bad, the Innkeeper would then take prompt action to try to remedy the problem before an adverse review is posted.

The next step is for Innkeepers to constantly monitor what the world is saying about them and their Inn. This is not as difficult as it seems. TripAdvisor has a service to email al reviews to the Innkeeper. There are meta search websites like Google Alerts and Technorati, which will also constantly search the web for mentions of keywords and advise you if there are any mentions. It is absolutely essential that you know immediately when a bad review occurs so that you can deal with it right away.

Finally, sites like TripAdvisor provide Innkeepers the opportunity to respond directly to a review by posting a management response. This is a really critical aspect of Reputation Management which should be done promptly and dispassionately. In other words, tell it like it is from the Inn’s standpoint, and hopefully the public will understand that not all issues reflect badly on the Inn. TripAdvisor stated at PAII that often a management response is very helpful to the Inn and can overcome a bad review with reason and particularly with a warm and frank answer. This is the hard part, because we all know how hurtful a bad review can feel to an Innkeeper.

This is a brand new world that will take time away from Innkeepers who do not really have time to spare. Our thought is that this area is going to become very important to all types of businesses, especially those in the hospitality world. It is not going to go away, and you need to gear up to handle these issues. We are currently developing an internet based consulting service to assist Bed and Breakfast Inns to handle the many issues present in Reputation Management. Let us have your thoughts about what type of service may be helpful to you.