Daniel E. Craig

 

By Daniel Edward Craig

I’m often asked by hoteliers and innkeepers about TripAdvisor’s policy regarding asking guests to post reviews while still on property. So I asked TripAdvisor to respond to the comment below, which was posted to one of my recent blog posts. This should clear things up.


Reader Comment:

As a “Curious George”, why can’t hotel guests post TripAdvisor comments while visiting at the hotel or its facilities if wireless?  Especially while thoughts and experiences are fresh in their minds. 
 
During the initial phase of promotions for flyer handouts and hyperlinks to motivate guests to comment on TripAdvisor – We quickly realized our guests couldn’t use our Business Centers or WIFI to write comments. 
 
I’ve made several requests in the past to investigate; unfortunately, without response?  Please advise how to proceed.
 
Thomas
Del Mar Inn

Response from TripAdvisor:

Hi Thomas,

That’s a great question, and you are correct – we recommend that hotels do not encourage guests to write reviews while they are still at their property.  Reviews written at a hotel may appear to have been submitted by a hotel employee, and will be flagged as suspicious.  We take content integrity very seriously, and flagging such reviews is one way that we help insure owners with ill intentions aren’t trying to bolster their own property’s ratings.

Our Owners’ Center offers many free tools to help you encourage guests to submit reviews after they’ve returned home, including reminder cards, flyers, and emails, and review collection widgets.  We encourage properties to take advantage in the Owners’ Center at Tripadvisor. 

Thank you,
April Robb
TripAdvisor  

 

 

11 Thoughts on “Should hotels encourage guests to write TripAdvisor reviews on property?”

  • Great question, and great answer! This is very important for hoteliers to understand, and I feel not many know TripAdvisor's position on this.
    I tweeted it out to help raise some awareness. 🙂

  • Interesting point.  I'm glad to see that there are mechanisms in place to prevent owners and/or general managers with the wrong motives posting ficticious reviews.

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Should hotels encourage guests to write TripAdvisor reviews on property? | Daniel Edward Craig -- Topsy.com

  • Hi Daniel.
    I can see the point that TripAdvisor raise. But still I would liked to see some alternatives that would encourage the 'Curious George' guest to post comments during their stay. We have guest that are both extroverts and introverts. And we know from experience that guest that leave property without a comment or just 'Fine' traditionally tends to express their opinions after they left the property.
    Though I don't think the option to provide online reviews will necessary eliminate this. But at least there are alternatives. And we have to find new ways to embrace this into our services. To me there is a difference if you have the opportunity to provide the proper response while the guest is using your service/product versus after the guest no longer use your service/product. Usually after the guest is no longer using our service/product it takes more effort to reach their 'trust' point. And in general the cost here will be higher then if you could find new and creative ways to respond while the guest is using your service/product.
    It is like Jay Bear says in the Now Revolution every customer is a reporter now. And you have to give proper response. If the consumer can't give the review on TripAdvisor they will go to Yelp, or other Social Media Channels. 
    The consumer want and needs their information 'The Fast and Furious' way. Either we like it or not. Eventually we will find ways to determine if the review is a real review or provided by a employee or manager. This will be our challenge. Our job will be to put emphasis on Social Media ethics for Hotels. Else all 'Curios George's' will find new products/ services that will meet their wants and needs. And with Social Media there will be a lot of 'Curios George's'..
    Cheers.. Are

  • I wonder if Thomas could encourage his guests to write a review on their own mobile device during their stay. I am supposing that the IP address raises a red flag and that should not be an issue if every guests uses his own mobile device.

  • why can't Vietnam IP post a comment despite a very normal comment, I tried to post many times but being refused to be posted. I comply the community guideline of tripadvisor but still refused. how can I do now?

Comments are closed.