The impact of online reviews is huge for hotels and resorts, as a hotelier you must be aware of it. A strategy needs to be implemented by hoteliers through which they can engage and interact with their customers. More than 85% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations when deciding about their purchasing according to a survey by BrightLocal.
To carry forward marketing your business and reaching out to prospective customers, you will search based on preferences because an effective marketing tool is required. Google reviews are an ideal marketing tool for hotels and resorts. Hotels and resorts should embed Google reviews on their websites to attract new potential customers by providing them with social proof and credibility. To dominate local searches, hotels and restaurants dominate Google reviews. Let’s get started!
Why Google Reviews Are Important For Hotels & Restaurants
Here are some amazing benefits of adding Google reviews to your hotels and restaurants’ websites are listed below:
1. Boosts Local SEO
If you want to boost the local SEO of your business, one of the ideal ways is by leveraging Google reviews to maximize benefits. By providing them with a higher ranking, and better Google reviews, the results of the search engines are branded by the Google reviews. By asking your guests to leave Google reviews for your hotel and restaurant this can easily be get done.
2. Improved Online Reputation
Through Google reviews, as a hotelier, you can get to know the issues your guests will face while staying at your hotel or vacation space. For your business, the real game changer can be dealing with negative or bad Google reviews. This strategy will help you to improve the online reputation of your brand. You can always choose an effective review management provider for handling your business’s online reputation and review management.
3. Develops Social Proof
One of the main aspects of successfully running a business is to gain the trust of your customers. This is what happens when you add a Google review widget to your website. The online customer reviews gathered by your business can be leveraged easily to attract new travelers and win their trust through developing social proof.
4. Increases Hotel Revenue
Your Google reviews will play a critical role in improving the revenue of the hotel. More than 80% of customers read online Google reviews before booking a hotel because Google reviews will act as a final word. Positive Google reviews on your hotel and vacation rental property can lead to a good placement of your business in search engine rankings.
5. Greater Brand Value
Optimal utilization of resources and tools has the potential to create a better brand value by simultaneously improving your service quality. By getting feedback from your guests, leveraging Google customer reviews is usually getting done. This feedback is important to achieve a greater brand value and creating an experience for your guests is also equally important so that they will cherish it for their lives.
Monitoring Google Reviews For Hotels And Resorts
Monitoring online Google reviews is very important to stay on top of your online reputation. To monitor your online reviews, here are some tips and tricks listed:
1. Check Your Google Listings Frequently
Make it a habit to check your Google Maps listing to see if there are new Google reviews. You can directly respond to Google reviews from your listing. Before replying to attach the best practices, check the policy of Google.
2. Google Alerts Usage
Google Alerts will send you email notifications when new Google reviews or mentions of your hotel or restaurant will appear online. In the search query, by including your hotel or restaurant name set up a Google alert to make it easier to monitor whenever a traveler or guest mentions your property in Google reviews or blogs.
3. Use Of Reputation Management Tool
To monitor your hotel and restaurant’s online reputation across several review sites always use a reputation management tool. Google, TripAdvisor, and Booking.com are several different review sites that you can include in your management tool. To provide actionable insights and help to create surveys, your reviews also help.
4. Responding To Positive Google Reviews
Take your time to thank the guest who provides a positive or glowing Google review and encourage them to visit again, because their positive feedback will result you more bookings in the future for your hotel. It is still a good idea to thank the guests if they don’t leave a Google review for your hotel and restaurant. A simple thank you will work for them from your side.
5. Responding To Negative Google Reviews
To improve Google users’ impression of your hotel and restaurants, a thoughtful response to negative Google reviews can help. For the specific issue, ensure to apologize and outline your improvement plan. By including your contact information and encourage guests to reach out directly to you for any solution.
Sometimes to see a 1 or 2-star rating with no comments for your hotel is disappointing. It is best to address the rating and provide your contact information to open the door in this situation for a private discussion.
Final Note
Google reviews are an integral part of the online reputation of your hotel and restaurant. Google reviews can help you increase your search engine rankings, provide more valuable feedback, and attract more bookings, to improve the experience of your guests. You can master the Google reviews for your hotels and restaurants by implementing these aforementioned tips and always staying ahead of the curve.