The Trip Advisor Effect - Are Your Complaints More Effective?
Have you noticed that hotels are much more responsive to their customers recently? If you have complained, did the manager work harder than you expected to resolve your problem or diffuse the situation? I have... I call it "the Trip Advisor Effect."
If you aren't familiar with Trip Advisor, you might want to check it out before your next trip. The website allows real people to evaluate hotels they have stayed in, giving them both a star rating and a written review. When you search for a hotel, the best rated hotels show up at the top of the list, and the worst rated hotels show up at the bottom. The top spot is highly coveted and can mean a huge increase in business. In fact, some experts speculate that Trip Advisor is now a more powerful authority than all written guidebooks combined.
No hotel wants negative reviews to show up on Trip Advisor, and that's where the "Trip Advisor Effect" comes in. Hotel managers are more motivated than ever to make you happy before you get a chance to write that negative review.
On recent hotel stays, the rooms fell far below my expectations. Both were at national chains with good reputations and good reviews. In the first (at a hotel with the coveted #1 rating on Trip Advisor) the room didn't seem to have been vacuumed, the bathroom door didn't close, and the sink refused to drain. To add insult to injury, the housekeeper walked into our room twice without knocking (the second time as I was getting dressed). In the second case, the room was run down with frayed furniture and carpet that was so soiled that our kids socks were literally black after playing in the room for 30 minutes before bedtime.
When I complained to the hotels respective managers, I expected to be brushed off or given an evaluation form to fill out. After-all, that's what would have happened a few years ago. Instead they listened to my description of the problems and without hesitation offered to comp my hotel stay. Wow! I hadn't asked for so much as a free drink.
What should consumers do? Don't be afraid to complain if there is something truly wrong with your hotel room. Be calm, specific, and articulate. When it makes sense, take pictures to back up your claims. Ask to talk with the hotel manager before you check out. There is no need to make demands or threats (but be prepared to state what you would like if you are asked). Instead, explain what went wrong and give the manager the opportunity to make things right. This is a new age of consumer accountability when it comes to hotel rooms... the management just might exceed your expectations.
3 comments |
Posted on February 9, 2009 |
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Amie from Ciao Bambino on February 10, 2009 at 8:33 a.m.
Trip Advisor is an excellent resource at a high level—if you see 10 reviews that rooms are dirty, then the rooms are property dirty and conversely, if every reviewer says the service is spectacular, then it is most likely spectacular. As Debbie points out, you still never know exactly what you are going to get and the issue for me is that you have no foundation to evaluate the reviewer—i.e. hotels are like ice cream and just because one person loves a property doesn't mean that you will. Understanding who the reviewer is and what they have in common with you helps you feel like you are getting advice from someone you can trust. On Ciao Bambino, our community reviews all have a Reviewer Profile with high level points about who the reviewer is and what is important to them. See an View Reviewer Profile on this page as an example: http://www.ciaobambino.com/profile_co... That said, I'm on Trip Advisor all the time—the sheer number of reviews per property is incredible and this is what makes it so powerful.
Steven Roll on February 11, 2009 at 7:37 a.m.
Trip Adviser reviews are an effective means of gauging the general quality of a hotel. It's important to look for common threads and not to rely too heavily on any one review. If multiple people are saying something you can usually take it to the bank. I tend to put more emphasis on the bad reviews than the good.
Austin on February 11, 2009 at 7:59 a.m.
I think that there is a similar effect at work for all review sites. Trip Advisor for sure, but I've seen the same thing happen with restaurants and Yelp.com. People complain and things tend to get addressed more than they would if these sites didn't exist. No business wants to be known as a bad place.