Given the current importance of e-reputation in marketing and customer relations management, Hospitality ON turned to hospitality professionals to identify the means used in the industry to manage an establishment’s reputation on the Internet, via a survey given by Olakala.
E-reputation has become paramount in the hotel industry and today affects all areas of the profession. The great majority of hoteliers is already active in the domain, as shown by the results of a survey given by Hospitality ON with Olakala. 89% of those questioned confirm using Web surveillance to monitor their e-reputation, whether daily or occasionally.The results of the survey nevertheless show that the means used by hoteliers to identify and fight against negative comments are still quite rustic. 84% of respondents said that they manage their online reputation internally and manually, against only 9% via software and 7% by using a specialized agency. The means used are thus not always up to the risks involved in e-reputation and professionals sometimes feel powerless against the magnitude of the consequences that a poor, and often unjustified, reputation may have.The main nemesis against which hoteliers feel helpless remains the online review sites, often spoiled by defamatory comments, which are exaggerated or simply false, as shown by the evidence collected during the investigation. Above all, the "real" customers are only minimally present on these sites, whose representativeness is questionable: "It is impossible to fight against online reviews because as soon as a customer makes a positive comment, a negative one reappears! So many seniors or tourists do not have the patience to register on sites like TripAdvisor. I even have complaints from customers who do not understand why their comments have not been validated. TripAdvisor is ruining us!" laments a hotelier respondent. Another points to the problem of the right to respond: "How can you defend against false comments or fraudulent advice, including on Booking, where we do not have the right of reply at all? Concerning TripAdvisor, while we officially have the right to reply, the site does not bother to post our responses for fear of faulting their 'contributor'".To compensate for the absence of legislation against these dishonest practices, many tools (agencies et software programs) are now available to hoteliers to support them in their online battle and help them manage their client relationship. The listening tools to restore a direct relationship with clients, such as Olakala, are still seldom used by hoteliers, although they allow for the identification of client concerns ahead and the benefit of a quick reaction to restorea link even before negative comments can be posted, or to follow "real" hotel client satisfaction on a daily basis.
