MANAGING ONLINE REVIEWS ON TRIP ADVISOR

Trip Advisor is one of the most used online travel site that has a massive repository of information on hotels and travel services along with reviews from customers. Founded In 2000 by CEO Stephen Kaufer, it was based as a place where one could get unbiased reviews and travel related information from the internet. The site had a business model wherein Online Travel Agencies could place ads on the site. The site would contain only reviews and ads, reservations would be carried out by the OTAs. This model brought in great revenues. This case talks about what are the important factors that affect online reviews and how hotels manage online reviews.

PROBLEMS FACED:

How should Hotels manage online reviews?? Could the volume and quality of reviews be increased?? Which review sites should become the focus of marketing efforts?? Should the budget for these activities come out of advertising budget or marketing budget? How could the decision be justified to the senior management??

RECOMMENDATIONS

Managing online Reviewso Three aspects are important for online reviews: Location of reviews, Quantity and

Quality. So the hotels need authentic reviews which can be achieved by getting guest to write the reviews

o No incentives should be provided for exchange of reviews.o All the reviews should be addressed and responded to by the hotels so that

customers feel that importance is given to themo Use Social Media to enhance positive word of Mouth.

Volume and Quality of Reviewso Quality can be increased by responding to each and every customer review that has

been provided. This is evident in the case of Homewood Suites. As more customers get responses for their reviews, the popularity index in TripAdvisor would increase.

o TripAdvisor has provided door hangers and certificates which reminds guests to write the review, thus increasing the quality and quantity

o Staff at the front desk must be trained to remind customers to enter their reviews at the time of check-out.

Review sites to be focussedo Based on Monthly unique visitors (in 000s) (EXHIBIT-2), it can be concluded that

TripAdvisor, Yahoo Travel and Expedia are the prominently used websites by most customers. Hence hotels should streamline their marketing efforts onto these websites.

Advertising Budget or Marketing Budgeto Word of mouth is marketing induced as it is a result of the experience gained by the

customer during his stay. So, as opposed to Four Seasons and Homewood Suites the budget that has to be used is marketing budget.

Justificationo Customer’s choice of booking a hotel room online depends on OTAs listing, number

of reviews and average User Review Score. Analysis showed that a drop in the OTA’s listing reduced the odds of booking by 11%. An increase in the average User Score increased the odds of booking by 14%. From this we can see that online marketing is a huge factor in affecting customer decisions. Hence the trend has shifted from traditional advertising to word of mouth marketing. Thus for hotels to stay abreast with customer centricity, they have to efficiently manage their online reviews in terms of quality, quantity and location of reviews. Hence the decision is justified to grant a percentage of the marketing budget to managing online reviews.