This is a guest post by Josiah Mackenzie from Hotel Marketing Blog, where he writes daily about internet marketing for hotels... When a guest leaves you a positive review on a site like TripAdvisor, it’s not only more powerful than advertising – it can have multiple uses. I encourage you to “recycle” your positive guest reviews to get the most benefit:
1) Publish it on your website – Rather than just pontificating on how great your hotel is, get others to sing your praises. You may want to feature positive reviews directly on your home page, or create a separate page dedicated to the feedback you receive.
2) Include it in your reservations system – To optimize the number of people who book a room directly through your hotel website, you need to reassure potential guests that they are making the right decision. One way you can do this is by placing the positive review in the sidebar so it’s visible without being distracting. With a little piece of code, you can randomly draw from a list, and display a different review each time.
3) Feature it in your offline advertising – Electronics retailer Best Buy understands the role customer reviews play in influencing buying decisions. That’s why they use snippets of online reviews in their print advertising.
4) Use it in your marketing collateral – Take this beyond advertising: what other communications materials could you put positive feedback on or in? Newsletters? Press releases? Social networks?
5) Borrow it for your AdWords campaign – Frankly, I’m a little hesitant to share this tip because its effectiveness may diminish if a lot of people use it! In several AdWords test campaigns for a few clients, I’ve experimented with using guest testimonials in the ad copy. Because this stands out from the self-praise most hotels publish, I’ve seen excellent results.
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Need more guest reviews for your hotel? See Josiah’s popular article 5 Simple Ways to Proactively Encourage Social Media Reviews on the Hotel Marketing Blog.
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