Positive feedback and an increase in the average review ratings of your hotel help improve its reputation. Businesses, like hotels, encourage clients to leave reviews or rate their services because of the various benefits, including the following:

• Positive reviews and high ratings build trust. Customers read feedback and check ratings made by previous clients, and what they see dramatically influences their decision. They will choose you if they see positive responses from your clients since it means they were satisfied with your service.
• It will also help with your SEO as Google considers the reviews and ratings of a business when showing the search results.
• It helps improve brand awareness since more people will know about your hotel if you make it on top of the search results.
• It’s also more convenient and cost-effective since it’s easier to manage a good reputation than repair it.

Here are ways to improve your hotel reputation management through positive feedback and increased average review ratings. 

Claim business pages and social media accounts

Create an account on business directories, social media platforms, and review sites to make it easier for clients to find you online. These sites are also medium for clients to leave their feedback or ratings. Ensure that your website also offers this option. You cannot avoid receiving negative reviews and low ratings, but getting more positive ones will minimize their impact. Your average rating and the good reviews will still outweigh them, which is beneficial to your online reputation. 

Ask clients to rate your service and leave feedback

While you have all the platforms ready for clients to provide feedback and ratings, some clients may still skip on it, even if they were happy with your service. A little push on your part will help you get these reviews, especially if you are confident that they were pleased with your service. Ask them personally upon their checkout, or send them an email while it is still fresh in their minds. They would be more willing to do it and give you a higher rating and recommendation if they were satisfied with their hotel stay and their overall customer service experience.  

Encourage employees to get more feedback and ratings

Your hotel employees are the ones who directly deal with your clients. Encourage them to get ratings or feedback from clients. For instance, if they are talking to clients who are very happy with the service, they could let them know that the hotel will appreciate it they will leave reviews on their site. Again, if clients are satisfied, there is a better chance they will comply with the request. 

Respond to feedback, whether positive or negative

You will have your share of positive and negative feedback no matter how hard you try to do your best to give exceptional service. Negative comments are not all bad since they can make the reviews more real. On the other hand, if all reviews are positive and the average rating is perfect, it can also cause doubts since clients may think it’s too good to be true. However, the positive ratings and comments should still be more than the negative ones. Respond professionally to all feedback, even the negative ones, because it will show that you care about your clients and are committed to improving your service. 

Give clients incentives for leaving reviews

People love getting something for free in general. Offer incentives like free drinks at the hotel restaurant or a specific discount for leaving a review on your website. It is an effective way to increase the number of reviews and ratings for your hotel. 

Keep monitoring the feedback and ratings of clients to your hotel. Even if you increase your ratings and have several positive reviews, don’t stop working to maintain a positive reputation online. Ultimately, ensure you provide exceptional service to keep clients satisfied.