How important is hotel reputation as part of Revenue Management?
Revenue management roles within hotels should be responsible for any aspect of the business which can make and lose money. This ranges from suppliers through to customer demand for rooms, and we are all aware of how customers are twice as likely to announce a negative experience than a positive one.
This is where reputation management as part of hotels strategy is so important. With all the planning and work that goes behind the scenes of a successful hotel, one negative review that hits the right social media group or has the right voice, can mean a serious drop in demand for rooms and business.
So, how can a hotel protect their reputation?
Hotels must ensure that reputation management plays a part in the role of a revenue manager, this means both building a good reputation and safeguarding that reputation from negative feedback. A revenue manager must guarantee that any customer queries, issues and complaints are dealt with swiftly and effectively, leaving the customer feeling assured their voice was heard and their issue dealt with. At the same time, customers must not feel misled, a hotel reputation should be honest and should not hype up the hotel standards and facilities to more than they are; you’re only setting yourself up for disappointed customers!
Don’t forget your online reputation
The reputation of a hotel can be affected not only by personal experiences, but also by online ones. If your booking website is difficult to navigate, not suitable for mobiles (read more on that here) or shows a range of pricing that isn’t clear, you are destined for bad feedback and customers will go elsewhere. Often hotel bookings are last minute and on-the-go and therefore customers need to be able to quickly find what they are looking for, get a suitable price and book online.
What revenue management support is available?
If your revenue management team need some help and support with reputation management, there are revenue management training courses available that will focus on the key elements including reputation and driving traffic online. Companies such as Octopus Revenue provide revenue management courses for all levels of ability. Alternatively, they can provide outsourced revenue management solutions for companies that don’t have either the time or budget for training. Often this is a good short term solution that allows the hotel to reap the benefits that means budget for training in the future!
For more information on the revenue management training courses available from Octopus Revenue, visit their website.
