Customers love to leave reviews for businesses when they’ve had a glowing experience… but when they have a bad one, they really like to let everyone else know about it!
This couldn’t be more true for businesses in the hospitality industry. In fact, hotels, restaurants, and event venues often have their bottom line consistently impacted by reviews left by their guests, whether positive or negative.
When the primary focus of your business is to sell a service and an experience, your reputation is everything.
To protect that reputation, an Online Reputation Management (ORM) strategy can be immensely helpful. The impact that a solid ORM strategy can have on SEO can significantly improve a hotel’s online presence, authority, and most importantly, the trust of their guests.
So, in this blog post we are going to explore why ORM is crucial for hotels, how it ties into SEO and how you can get started managing your online reputation.
The Power of Customer Perception
For your guests, their hotel experience doesn’t start at check-in, it actually begins with their online search.
Think about it.
Potential guests hop on Google and perform a search for local hotels. In the course of their search, they end up reading reviews on your Google Business Profile from other guests. After they’ve looked at a few hotels online, they make their final decision about where to book a room for their trip… all based on their initial online search for local hotels.
Now, this is of course, just the beginning. Gaining a new guest is great but the most important part is how you handle the rest of their experience. From the moment they perform that search, to the moment they check out of their room, they should be left with a memorable experience.
Leave them with a positive experience and they will be more than happy to tell others about their stay, adding more public and positive customer perception of your hotel.
Building Trust Through Transparency
Trust is a cornerstone of customer loyalty in the hospitality industry. Hotels that actively engage with customer feedback online—addressing concerns and thanking guests for sharing their experience through reviews—demonstrate not only transparency but also a strong commitment to customer satisfaction.
ORM practices that emphasize responsiveness and genuine engagement contribute to building a trusted brand image.
Responding to all reviews, good or bad, helps foster trust among potential future guests.
They are so powerful, in fact, that 95% of consumers read reviews before they make a decision.
There is a lot of power in customer reviews as all it takes is a single negative review to deter dozens of prospective guests, while positive feedback can boost bookings exponentially.
Now, that is not to say that your hotel won’t ever receive negative reviews.
It most likely will at some point.
Even if you do everything right, you simply can’t please all the people all the time. The one thing you can control, however, is how you respond to those reviews.
There is no way around it for hotels. Managing online reviews, as well as your overall online presence, is paramount to success. A good ORM strategy empowers your hotel to monitor, respond to, and influence the online narrative, ensuring that potential guests are presented with a fair but positive image.
ORM’s Impact on SEO
The link between ORM and SEO is multifaceted. Search engines like Google factor in the quantity, quality, and recency of reviews when ranking websites. A healthy volume of positive reviews can improve a hotel’s position in the SERPs, making it more visible to potential guests.
On the other hand, unaddressed negative reviews can push a hotel further down the results pages.
So, all of your off-page activity can absolutely make or break your broader SEO strategy. Especially when you operate a service-oriented business such as a hotel.
By actively managing online reviews, hotels can greatly compliment their local and organic search approach.
Below are a few, often overlooked, areas in which an ORM strategy can present some organic wins.
- Content Freshness: Generating regular new reviews signal to search engines that your hotel is relevant and in-demand. This is an authority signal that Google takes into consideration.
- Keyword Richness: Reviews often contain keywords relevant to your business (e.g., “luxury hotel in New York,” “best hotel breakfast”), naturally improving your SEO without the need for forced keyword integration.
- Local SEO: Positive reviews can enhance your hotel’s visibility in local search queries, a crucial factor for travelers seeking accommodations in specific areas.
Leveraging Social Media and Blogs
ORM extends beyond simply managing reviews on TripAdvisor or Google. A vibrant social media presence and an active blog can positively impact a hotel’s online reputation much quicker than review management.
Any time you can share your knowledge, whether via social media or your website content, you’re increasing your brand awareness. And with increased brand awareness comes more potential guests.
Sharing guest experiences, highlighting amenities, and showcasing your company or local culture through these platforms can attract attention and increase user engagement across your social profiles. If done right, social media platforms can (and usually do) serve as one of the first touchpoints people have with your brand aside from online reviews.
Leveraging your hotel’s social channels can help to enhance its reputation but also contributes to your overall SEO strategy by generating backlinks and social signals, both of which are valued by search engines.
ORM as a Competitive Advantage
When your company resides in a highly-competitive landscape, ORM is absolutely crucial. And we are talking about more than just giving your SEO a hand. In fact, a well-maintained ORM strategy can actually be a key differentiator between you and your competitors.
Hotels that excel in managing their online reputation stand a better chance at outshining their competitors than those who give it less priority.
By prioritizing guest satisfaction both offline and online, hotels can cultivate a loyal customer base that champions their brand through positive reviews and word-of-mouth, further enhancing SEO and online visibility.
Integrating ORM with SEO Strategies
To maximize the benefits of ORM for SEO, hotels should integrate their ORM efforts with their broader SEO strategies. This integration involves:
- Encouraging Reviews: While your guests are eager to share their experiences online, statistically, they are more akin to do so when they had a negative experience. This is an aspect of human life, our brains react to negative emotions with much more intensity than the positive ones. To counter this fact, you should take a few extra steps to make it easy and appealing for guests to leave reviews of your hotel. This might include offering incentives like discounts on future bookings.
- Keyword Optimization: Try to incorporate keywords and keyphrases when responding to reviews. Only do so if it makes sense to include it and it sounds natural. Just as with keyword placement in any of your other content, if it doesn’t fit the flow of the content, it could do more harm than good.
- Quality Content: Use blogs and social media to publish high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your target audience, encouraging shares and backlinks.
- Monitoring Tools: Utilize ORM and SEO tools to track your hotel’s online presence, analyze trends, and identify areas for improvement.
Conclusion
In conclusion, online reputation management is not just a necessity but rather a strategic asset for hotels in the digital age.
The profound impact that ORM can have on SEO means that a well-managed online reputation can lead to many benefits including increased visibility, more bookings, and potentially higher revenue.
By embracing ORM and integrating it with SEO efforts, hotels can navigate the complexities of the digital landscape, turning potential challenges into opportunities for growth and success.
In doing so, they not only safeguard their reputation but also solidify their position in the competitive hospitality market.
