Dear WuBookers, in the landscape – dynamic and competitive – of the hospitality industry, brand reputation represents a strategic element for the success and sustainability of any establishment. Whether it is a hotel, bed & breakfast or vacation rental, knowing how to manage and improve one’s online image is crucial and requires a multi-pronged effort.

What is a hotel’s brand reputation

The reputation of a hotel (or any other accommodation) is the result of several factors, ranging from reviews posted online, to feedback shared on social media, via word-of-mouth generated by the direct experiences of guests, the intrinsic quality of the services offered and the personal experiences lived by each customer.

It is the overall perception that current and potential guests have of a given establishment, not to be confused with its degree of notoriety, that is, its brand awareness.

Difference between brand awareness and brand reputation

It is important to distinguish brand reputation from brand awareness. While the latter focuses on the fame of a brand, brand reputation goes beyond. Let’s take an example. A particularly well-known accommodation establishment inevitably boasts a high level of brand awareness, but it’s brand reputation is not necessarily positive: customer dissatisfaction, unreliable service, and a lack of consideration by those in the industry all contribute to its (infamous) reputation, damaging its reputation.

Brand reputation management involves a constant effort in shaping and maintaining a positive perception in the eyes of the market and customers.

How to manage and improve your hotel’s online reputation: 5 practical tips

Often worrying about and taking care of your brand’s reputation means, in itself, helping to improve it. So here are 5 tips for managing it effectively.

1. Always provide accurate and truthful information

Attracting customers to the property is essential, but doing so by deceiving them is not a good strategy. So make sure that all your communication channels, from the website to social media, are up-to-date and provide only accurate information that adheres to reality. If, for example, there is a swimming pool within the hotel but use is reserved for the summer months only, specify that; if the room service is in operation only in the off-season, write it down; if there are special conditions that make certain areas unusable or that limit optional extras for guests, it is better to inform them clearly and explicitly rather than hoping they won’t notice.

Last-minute snags can happen, but the more transparent your communication, the easier it will be to create a trusting relationship with customers.
The same is also true in the opposite direction, i.e., when it comes to valuing your pluses: if there are distinctive traits compared to the competition (that you are sure you can offer), it is important to bring them out and make sure potential guests are aware of them.

2. Manage reviews, even (and especially!) the negative ones

Searching for information and reviews online has become an almost unavoidable preliminary step for travelers, who increasingly rely on the opinions of other users to guide their travel decisions. While positive reviews succeed in attracting new guests, acting as powerful testimonials to the quality of the offer, negative reviews risk alienating a good portion of potential customers.

This is why it is as crucial to collect and encourage the former as it is to more effectively manage the latter.

Responding appropriately to criticism and negative reviews can improve overall brand perception: by doing so, the facility is in fact demonstrating its concrete commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. In these cases, however, timeliness is everything: leaving a negative comment ingested for too long can cause major losses.

That’s why technological support is indispensable. Zak, WuBook’s accommodation management software, allows not only to collect guest reviews automatically, but also to decide whether and when to publish them on the hotel’s website and reservation page. In this way, the hotelier can customize the message and how to request it; preview the content of the review and respond; select only the content they want to make visible. In addition, to make the whole process easier and faster, every time a user submits new feedback, the software sends an e-mail notification to the property – a nice advantage when you’re in the midst of business and guest comments are likely to slip through the cracks or remain unread!

3. Leverage all channels (but pay attention to usability and consistency!).

As we anticipated, brand reputation requires constant attention and a multichannel strategy. Simply being present is not enough; it is necessary to take advantage of each platform according to its specific characteristics and intrinsic potential, without forgetting the cardinal principle of online tools: usability.
For example, it is not enough for a facility’s website to look good: for everything to work, it must be built to “convert”, in other words, to lead users to book or request information with ease. What does this have to do with brand reputation? If a site is unfriendly and does not allow smooth and immediate navigation, the users will be frustrated or, worse, will form a negative opinion of the hotel that is difficult to change. That’s why, through Zak’s Website Building module, you can build intuitive, engaging and effective websites designed to make the online experience enjoyable and aimed at conversion. All while saving significant time and money for the hotelier.  

Then there are the social networks. Different channels involve their own languages and modes of communication: what goes well on Facebook may not be suitable for TikTok and vice versa. However, even with the diversification of records, it is important to take into account brand identity and to remain true to your own style.

You can’t have a reputation without a minimum of notoriety, and social networks offer enormous opportunities for visibility and the creation of a strong and recognizable brand.  

4. You treat all guests as special customers

You have faithfully chronicled your facility and its services; you have managed online reviews and maintained a consistent line of communication across all your platforms. But what about offline? For the offline aspect, the above advice still applies but, obviously, the experience of the guests is added.
Industry surveys have been telling us for some time now how important it is to always guarantee premium service, and the latest trends of the year confirm the need to make the customer feel like the center of attention, with personalized packages and experiences.

In curating your reputation, not neglecting the “pampering effect”: it may be a special offer, a simple tailor-made recommendation or accommodation equipped with home automation, capable of adapting to each guest’s preferences. Improving guests’ stay will boost word of mouth online and beyond, building their loyalty and contributing to the hotel’s overall brand reputation.

5. Monitor, analyze, correct and repeat

Like almost anything in marketing and communication, especially online, brand reputation needs constant measurement and updating. Monitoring opinion trends online, including through software dedicated to sentiment analysis, allows you to always have your finger on the situation and intervene where necessary to correct what is not working well. In this regard, negative reviews are an interesting litmus test and can provide useful insights into the general perception of the property. Treasuring them – and appropriately modifying less-performing aspects – can bring benefits on multiple levels.

All the benefits of a good brand reputation

A positive brand reputation is therefore a strategic asset for any hospitality establishment. The tangible benefits for a hotel with a good reputation are numerous but we can summarize them as follows:

• satisfied guests tend to return and recommend the property to friends and family, activating a continuous cycle based on customer loyalty and spontaneous word of mouth;
• a good reputation distinguishes the hotel from the competition, conveying reliability and high perceived quality;
• this positioning allows applying higher rates, justified by the perception of a premium service for which customers are willing to pay more;
• positive word-of-mouth reduces the need to invest in advertising campaigns, generating organic visibility through guest satisfaction;
• a solid brand reputation also promotes increased direct reservations as users trust more and are more likely to use the hotel’s official channels (which in turn increases profit margins);
• online reviews and user ratings improve ranking in search engines and in Google’s business profile, directly impacting online visibility.

Finally, a positive reputation increases the perceived value of the business, making it more attractive to investors and business partners alike.

In light of this, it is clear that brand reputation is not just a matter of communication but of business in the broader sense.