Hoteliers are now spending up to three hours a week reading and responding to online reviews.
This was one of the key findings of a survey by Choice Hotels Europe of 114 franchisees, operators and general managers from the UK, France, Germany and Italy.
The survey found:
58% of respondents confirmed that they have created a profile of their hotel on social networking sites compared to 47% of respondents in 2011
43% regularly post news and information on these sites, compared to 33% in 2011
61% of European hotelier respondents estimate they spend between one to three hours a week reading and responding to online travel reviews about their hotel
35% spend less than half an hour
3% spend up to half a day each week on this task, which rises to 6% among UK hoteliers
Italy has the highest number of hotelier respondents (76%) who regularly monitor what people are saying about their hotels on online sites, followed by the UK (70%).
Responding to the survey’s findings, Choice Hotels International is giving Choice brand hotel franchises and their GMs access to a special review monitoring platform within Medallia.
The technology scans blogs and social networking sites for mentions of Choice brand hotels.
The information is then captured and delivered to the hotelier’s desktops, along with the guest satisfaction feedback gathered by Choice.
