Online Reviews Remodeled

I had an epiphany...surely someone else already thought of this so I look forward to your comments.

As online reviews gain traction as the preferred source of traveler insight, hotels around the world are struggling to control their marketing message. Online reviews, blog posts and tweets suddenly seem to have an influence on buying decisions that rivals the influence of a multi-million dollar marketing campaign.

In response, the Brands and individual properties are spending huge amounts of money on social media and social marketing. We are training our sales and marketing staffs to monitor online feedback on sites like Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp and the like. Yet, neither the brands or individual properties have taken the step to share the guest satisfaction data they already have...why?

Imagine this: a traveler goes to XYZBrand.com (or XYZOnlineTravelAgency.com) to shop for a hotel room. In addition to rates, amenities and location, now the traveler can also compare guest satisfaction scores. Why not? The brands have this data, and I would argue that it is statistically far more valid than the third party ratings. Most hotels get dozens, if not hundreds, of responses per month to their guest satisfaction surveys. Why not take four or five key questions, such as "overall satisfaction" and "everything in working order", and share the aggregate ratings with the consumers?

Brands (and most independent properties) have the data, which was legitimately collected from verified real guests, and it's relatively unbiased feedback that was solicited originally for the purpose of continuous improvement. If brands and properties shared this information (or at least some of it) with potential guests, they would earn respect from travelers for transparency. If they go the extra mile and share the same data with OTA's and online feedback websites, it could either replace or supplement those sites independent reviews.

This approach would create a renewed sense of trust with our guests, and perhaps equally important it would give them [relatively] accurate information to consider in the buying process. Go compare the number of online reviews for your hotel to the number of guest satisfaction surveys your hotel gets - I think you'll agree that your internal surveys results are far more statistically valid, if for no other reason because of the sample pool size.

What do properties and brands have to lose by sharing this data? If their scores are poor, their online reviews are probably poor too...

Is there a fear that "the truth hurts"?

Business is Good

To my regular readers I owe an apology as it has been over 60 days since my last post. It's been a hectic fourth quarter and for that I am thankful.

As you can imagine, when we decided to launch Denton Hospitality there was a lot of discussion about what the company would do and how we would do it. In the end, we identified three separate but related lines of business. First and foremost, we knew we wanted a hotel management company. Considering the state of the economy and our strengths we identified distressed properties as our target market and we started networking.

On November 25th, less than 60 days after launching the company, we took over management of a hotel on the Eastern Shore that was in foreclosure (less than two years after it opened). In that period of time we had finalized our business strategy, developed a corporate website and brochure, documented operating procedures and written an employee manual. Thankfully, we were well prepared on the takeover date and everything went as well as (if not better than) could be expected.

The point of this posting is to (somewhat sarcastically) offer a few pointers to owners/operators of distressed hotels in hopes that it might help you avoid foreclosure:

• use an employee schedule and time clock to manage your labor expenses
• implement secure cash handling procedures to protect your cash income
  
• get a decent website - more than 50% of travelers book hotel rooms online
  
• make sure your hotel is in the Global Distribution System; there are 600,000 +/- travel agents who use that system to book rooms, and thousands of travel websites that use the same to populate their databases
• list your property on the state tourism website (in Virginia it's Virginia.org)

My industry friends reading this are thinking, "duh, Ed". Trust me, you'd be surprised. Several of our clients don't know the basics because either they aren't hoteliers by trade (got into the business via real estate investments) or they haven't kept up with the technology that influences our business.

For hotel owners, investors and operators that have distressed assets, the best advice I can offer is this: don't be hesitant to ask for help. Whether through management services or consulting services, there are firms (like ours) available to help you improve your results.

Annoucement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“The Hotel Guy” Launches Denton Hospitality Consulting
firm offers practical training and consulting services to lodging owners and operators

October 1, 2009 – VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – Edward Denton, known by colleagues and friends as “The Hotel Guy” today announced the launch of Denton Hospitality Consulting. Denton is an accomplished leader in the hospitality industry. Early in his career, he was recognized as an intuitive hotelier who produced results, and his responsibilities rapidly increased to senior level management positions within leading national and regional hospitality firms.

Denton’s experiences span a wide spectrum of hotel types and market segments. His portfolios of properties have included Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, IHG and Choice branded hotels. Representing full service, extended stay, select service, economy, conference center and lifestyle segments, the locations have varied from city-centers to suburban markets and vacation destinations. Denton draws on his myriad of experiences to provide clients an enlightening perspective that ultimately produces positive results. He is best known for his high level of integrity and professionalism, candid approach, technological expertise, energetic training style, and commitment to guest service as the foundation for success.

Coinciding with the launch of his consultancy Mr. Denton is also announcing a major engagement with Hospitality v-Marketing™ (a leading eco-friendly marketing company in the hospitality industry), whereby he will assume a National Director of Sales role. This is a long term partnership in which he will develop and deploy a team of sales professionals to handle business development for the western half of the United States and Virginia, in addition to fostering relationships with key management companies. Denton is delighted to be working with the HvM™ founders to assist in building their organization and introducing their cutting edge, eco-friendly virtual marketing products to hotels around the country.

Denton earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality & Tourism Management from Virginia Tech. He serves as Vice President and Director for the Virginia Association of Hospitality Sales & Marketing Professionals, and he is an adjunct faculty member in Tidewater Community College’s Hospitality Management program. Previously, Denton held leadership positions as Vice Chairman for the City of Chesapeake Tourism Advisory Board and as Director for the Norfolk Division of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce. He and his family reside in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

About Denton Hospitality Consulting

Denton Hospitality Consulting’s mission is to provide practical, hands-on services to hoteliers who desire to improve their property’s RevPAR and/or operating profit.

The company provides sales, marketing and management consulting and due diligence advisory services. Core services include sales and service training, market research, development and strategic planning, social media management, task force management, state-of-the-hotel assessments, eco-marketing, staff development planning and management recruiting.

Contact

Edward Denton
Denton Hospitality Consulting
477 Viking Drive, Suite 100
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
757-687-9223 | 757-340-4505 Fax
edenton@dentonhospitality.com

www.DentonHospitality.com