Peter Jeffries • It seems to me that the bush is leading the charge in the area of free wifi! I also think the industry could learn from their country counterparts in the art of friendliness.
24 days ago Voted for Late check-out
Jan Dickens • Free WiFi should be available but I don't think Australia has the capacity to provide this. Hotel bookings should be for at least 22 hrs - this would enable the hotel to have 2 hours cleaning time and still keep their occupancy rates.
27 days ago | Voted for Wireless internet
Lee Oliveira • Australia is way behind when it comes to free wifi in hotels. Every hotel should at least have free wifi in the lobby. They would need to upgrade their system if a hotel was going to offer free wifi. Some hotels I've stayed at that offer free wifi are extremely slow because of the amount of people using it.
about 1 month ago
Phillip Fitzgibbon • wifi should be free in Hotels, if you ask nicely you can usually get late check out free anyway
about 1 month ago | Voted for Wireless internet
Makoto "Mak" Arai • Free WiFi for sure - Just imagine when you have to sign in and even agree to pay for such basic infrastructure, first thing at hotel after hours of tiresome flight(s)...
about 1 month ago | Voted for Wireless internet
James Rennie • Absolutely free WiFi. You have already paid a premimum to stay there so why not offer something that is free in other parts of the world
about 1 month ago | Voted for Wireless internet
Mathew Thompson • I have recently returned from a Western USA road trip. I found it interesting that of the five hotels I stayed in, it was the "mum and dad" operators to provide free WiiFi and it was the major national chains who failed to deliver. Unless corporate's refuse to book group travel with hotels failing to step into the 21st century, they won't change their ways, vote with your feet people!
about 1 month ago | Voted for Wireless internet
Carmel Hutt • I would like Free WiFI and late a Late Check Out
Ella Conway • honestly, I think Wifi and Late check outs should be at no extra charge at all.
No sooner had Expedia shed TripAdvisor in a public offering than it launched an online feature that certifies some user reviews of hotels as having been “verified.”
Known as Expedia Verified Reviews, the feature is a clear attempt to counter skepticism about the veracity of user reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor and Yelp.
To qualify as a verified review, the writer must be a traveler who booked reservations through Expedia, and the stay must be authenticated by the OTA.
The verified-reviews feature has already launched in much of Western Europe and Asia. John Kim, senior vice president of global products at Expedia, said the company would roll it out in the U.S. and the rest of Western Europe this month.
“The innovation we are launching is a more relevant way to target reviews,” Kim said. He added that Expedia authenticates reviews by checking the writer’s booking history on Expedia and verifying a non-cancelled reservation at a hotel.
“We have introduced an ability for reviewers to target reviews based on interests,” Kim said.
By launching the feature, Expedia, which was overtaken last year by Priceline.com as the largest U.S. online travel agency as measured by revenue, appears to be addressing a hot-button issue: skepticism about whether user reviews are legitimate.
The number of monthly visitors to travel-review sites, online travel agencies’ review pages and travel blogs jumped 35% between 2008 and 2010, research firm PhoCusWright reported earlier this year. Such growth has fueled suspicions about whether some positive reviews are being written by the hotels themselves or some negative reviews are being authored by competitors.
“They’re recognizing that there’s a concern of accuracy and legitimacy of reviews online,” said Henry Harteveldt, an industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group.
He cited a recent research document by his company reporting that more than half of U.S. leisure hotel guests “expressed some concern” about the credibility of online travel reviews.
Such growing concerns about the legitimacy of reviews are best typified by the recent prospectus for TripAdvisor, the spun-off division of Expedia that was founded in 2000 and began trading Dec. 20 as an independent public company on the Nasdaq exchange.
Before Expedia spun off TripAdvisor, it warned potential TripAdvisor investors of possible liabilities in the form of legal claims stemming from user reviews.
The 184-page prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in July warned that TripAdvisor could be subject to legal expenses related to claims ranging from defamation and libel to negligence.
Additionally, this summer TripAdvisor, in what may or may not have been a nod to such concerns, changed the slogan on its hotel-review pages. While TripAdvisor’s home page says “Find Hotels Travelers Trust,” the wording was changed on individual hotel pages to “Reviews from our community.”
At the time, TripAdvisor called the wording change “part of our ever-evolving communication efforts, this time highlighting our commitment to our all-important community.” It did not acknowledge any concerns about hotel grievances.
Harteveldt said the launch of Expedia’s new feature on the heels of the TripAdvisor spinoff was no accident, given that both companies are competing for page views from travelers. Expedia hosts about 6.5 million user reviews, compared with more than 50 million on TripAdvisor.
Kim declined to specifically address whether the timing coincided with the TripAdvisor spinoff, saying only that the company was “trying to satiate consumer demand with its own unique approach.
Travel review site TripAdvisor will launch on the Nasdaq stock exchange today with an expected value of around $4bn. TripAdvisor shares, being traded under the name TRIP, will go on sale at 09:00hrs in New York.
The company, which has websites in 30 countries, is being spun off by parent Expedia.
Expedia has been the largest buyer of advertising on the TripAdvisor website, accounting for as much as 35% of its total revenue, according to a report in today's Financial Times. However, the company expects to attract more business from Expedia's rivals following the sale.
After the spin-off, Expedia will no longer have any ownership interest in TripAdvisor.
By Linsey McNeill
(Source: Travelmole.com - http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=1150777 )
TripAdvisor makes Nasdaq debut
By Johanna Jainchill
TripAdvisor began trading as an independent public company on Wednesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol TRIP, following the completion of its spin-off from Expedia Inc.
To mark the occasion, TripAdvisor co-founder and CEO Stephen Kaufer visited Nasdaq’s headquarters in New York City's Times Square to ring the opening bell.
“This is a truly exciting time for TripAdvisor, and we are eager to continue to innovate on behalf of our users and grow the business as we enter this next chapter,” Kaufer stated on TripAdvisor's blog.
At 11:24 a.m. Eastern, TripAdvisor shares were down about 5.5%, trading at $28.55.
(Source: Travelweekly.com - http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Technology/TripAdvisor-makes-Nasdaq-debut/ )
TripAdvisor Goes on Sale Today
Metro Hotel Tower Mill has achieved a tridAdvisor Rating of 4 Stars out of 5 stars by its guests and therefore has been awarded a certificate of excellence for the year 2011 presented by the president for trip advisor business Christine Petersen.Unfortunately, a reactive approach to the challenge posed by RFOs (Fake Review optimisation) is not effective. Striking a single astroturfed review or having a single sockpuppet profile deleted is akin to scraping party ice from an iceberg.
The ability to generate faux user generated content at will, with the appearance of having it originate from disparate sources and locales, is difficult to stifle. By nature, FROs are exceptionally good at hiding and one can assume that contingencies have been planned in the event of satellite operations being compromised.
Conventional methods to track FROs like blacklisting reviews originating from common IP address, a technique borrowed from email anti-spam filters, are too simplistic, catching only those least likely to have the ability to launch large scale campaigns capable of materially impacting a hotel’s online reputation.
Circumstantial evidence such as ratios for reviews to the number of occupied rooms or the ratio of frequent reviewers to anonymous reviewers may hint at atypical levels of guest engagement. Additionally, flurries of positive reviews following posting of a negative review may appear unnatural.
Jumping to the conclusion that such flags are evidence of malfeasance is inadvisable. They may indicate a hotel is doing an excellent job of legitimately engaging its community of guests. Or, it just may be a coincidence.
Without being able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the review source was illegitimate, protests are likely to fall on deaf ears when brought to the attention of the review site or authorities.
Researchers at Cornell University claim to have developed algorithms that isolate fake reviews based on sentence structure and word utilization. While the research methodology identified certain patterns, the sources of the fake reviews were not professional FROs determined to blend in with the crowd.
Algorithmic solutions may not work at all to eradicate fake reviews. As the Google webspam team can attest, any algorithm that is not constantly improved will inevitably be beaten by those seeking higher rankings.
The ability to A/B test reviews of varying sentence structure, length, pronoun use, etc. gives the FRO an ability to quickly adapt to algorithm updates.
Flushing review spam is much more difficult than web spam. Web spam teams can create an algorithm based on hundreds of signals originating from third party sources such as backlinks, page layout and the characteristics of on-page assets.
Those fighting fake reviews have a very limited signal set which is predominantly language, IP address and profile based. Additionally, travel review sites are very hesitant to accidentally suppress legitimate reviews as collateral damage in a war against FROs.
Attempts at educating the public to be wary of fake reviews also fall short. Most popular is proposing an “Olympic scoring system” approach to evaluate reviews by throwing out the high and low scores and focusing on those remaining in the middle.
With a finite number of reviews, it is simple for a FRO to evaluate how a hotel appears under any combination of filters applied to the review set.
Others have proposed ignoring reviews over a year old and more heavily weight the importance of fresh updates. Unfortunately, reducing the sample size by eliminating the history actually assists the FRO to skew property ratings by using fewer bogus reviews.
White hat best practices to beat the odds
For hotels plagued by negative reviews, the solution is to capture positive reviews without resorting to black or grey-hat tactics. A great first step is to take a close look at one’s own operation…
Some of TripAdvisor’s most outspoken critics, who complain about attempts to remove negative reviews, operate establishments with mixed reviews from reviewers with confirmed identities.
It becomes a simple task for a FROs to capitalize on operational shortcomings that are mentioned in legitimate reviews. Marginal air conditioning, slow room service, indifferent desk clerks, etc. can all be easy targets for someone seeking to justify a lower rating – especially when the review is fictional.
By far the best strategy to avoid negative reviews is to obsessively focus on the guest experience. Every aspect of a hotel’s design and service delivery must be considered from the perspective of the guest.
The simple rule of thumb is that if something doesn’t positively impact a guest’s experience, stop doing it. When it comes to high hotel review rankings, guest experience – as measured by guest satisfaction – is the only Key Performance Indicator that matters.
Hotels have an unfathomable number of guest contact points – each is an opportunity to help transition the guest from a customer to a brand advocate. Each is also a potential point of failure that can undermine trust and quickly lose hard-earned goodwill.
A single lapse in judgment from a newly hired employee can easily undermine the exacting service standards, processes and policies established by management.
The guest experience also needs to fulfill the brand promise, especially when the halo effect is so important to cross-selling hotel brands. It is what every hotel headquarters strives for – the consumer’s assumption that the next stay will be as good as the previous one.
Unfortunately, a single disappointing stay may provide sufficient motivation for a previously loyal guest to sample a competing brand.
Hotel management must avoid the temptation to drive sales volume by over-committing and under-delivering. The consistent execution of standard operating procedures is essential. If rooms are not clean or facilities well maintained, the only thing keeping a flaw from being shared across an extended social network now is a tap on a smartphone’s camera shutter.
A video of a bug crawling on a wall lives forever on YouTube.
One guaranteed method to earn positive hotel reviews is to exceed guest expectations. Providing sufficient flexibility for staff members to bend rules in order to help solve guest problems also goes a long way to winning over a guest.
The reality of the hotel industry has always been that consistent service delivery is rewarded with loyalty. Loyalty is not transacted through frequent guest programs, steep discounts or big prize sweepstakes. Loyalty is earned – and best measured by a guest continuing to patronize an establishment despite its higher price or slightly less convenient location.
Actions resonate better than words
Hoteliers must remember a hotel stay is a personal experience and social media is a conversation. A hotel must strive for open and authentic communication with its guests before, during and following a stay.
Take action based on guest input. Every interaction with a guest is an opportunity to LEARN.
Technology is readily available to assist in each phase of the LEARN process – both online and offline. When it comes to managing online customer reviews, the marketplace is becoming increasingly crowded with companies offering tools to actively monitor social sentiment online, interactively respond and track trends over time.
Various strategies exist for engaging customers posting both positive and negative reviews. In short, every hotel is different, as are their customers, so a single approach does not necessarily fit all. Respecting the opinion of the guest, responding with an authentic voice and providing transparency regarding steps taken to resolve the issue are essential.
No, every review does not require a response, but some with strong positive sentiment and most with strong negative sentiment deserve a response. Responding to negative critiques helps position the hotel as attentive and responsive. At the same time, engaging belligerent comment trolls can be detrimental.
Handling guest reviews is not a spare-time task assigned to an entry level employee. Depending on the profile of the property and the availability of capable, well-trained resources internally, contracting a reputable (e.g. non-black-hat) Online Reputation Management firm may be a beneficial option.
Before rushing to outsource guest engagement processes, hotels should be applying the LEARN concept as a cornerstone of their business. Hoteliers work within the HOSPITALITY industry. Four Seasons Hotels founder and chairman Isadore Sharp described the secret to hospitality best:
“The reason for our success is no secret. It comes down to one single principle that transcends time and geography, religion and culture. It’s the Golden Rule – the simple idea that if you treat people well, the way you would like to be treated, they will do the same.”
Having spent eight years working for Sharp, I can say that if you take exception with any facet of his statement, not only are you in the wrong business, but you probably deserve those negative reviews.
Provide ample opportunities for reviews
To be clear, the hotel is the sole beneficiary of a positive guest review, not the guest. They key to ethically receiving positive guest reviews is to make the process clear and simple.
Provide the guest with a clear call to action – ask the guest to provide reviews not to help build your business, but to gain a sincere understanding of their personal level of satisfaction with the facilities and service delivery. These requests can be tastefully positioned on key card sleeves, guest folios, in-room collateral, signs at the front desk, etc.
It should be noted that guests should avoid entering reviews from computers located on-property as some review sites may flag the hotel’s IP address and reject all reviews as being potentially authored by the hotel.
Make it easy for the guest to respond – Inevitably, both business and leisure travelers become very busy upon their return home, catching up with various activities that were postponed by the trip.
The key is to provide the opportunity for the guest to provide their opinion through whatever sites and/or channels that they prefer. If the guest is highly engaged with a particular social network, that is exactly the place you want a positive review to appear – highly engaged individuals typically have greater influence over a broader range of peers within their network.
A holistic customer engagement strategy can effectively introduce several social sharing opportunities without appearing too aggressive or desperate for a positive TripAdvisor review. Social sharing links may be included in emailed copies of guest folios or post-stay thank you communiques along with links for review sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp and Google Places.
If the booking channel is known, links back to the booking site’s review platform or the hotel chain review collection site are also worthwhile.
If social profile information has been captured and a follower relationship has been established, it is perfectly acceptable to direct message Twitter followers or Facebook fans following a stay to thank them for the pleasure of their company. Note that if any return-stay incentive is provided, a request for a review should be isolated in a separate communication.
Trying to direct the user to use an unfamiliar review website increases complexity and should be discouraged. It should also be noted that an individual’s positive Google+ review could potentially have greater impact on members of a guest’s Circles than the first review they have ever posted as an unknown entity on TripAdvisor.
It’s not rude to remind a guest that you are interested in hearing an honest assessment. Evaluate all guest touch points. Simply providing a sheet of QR codes that link to various review sites upon departure is a good example. Guests with smartphones can easily trigger the code with their camera and submit a review in a taxi back to the airport or using the Wifi on the plane.
Deep linking should be used whenever possible. On a mobile device, linking directly to a hotel’s TripAdvisor review page will launch the reviewer’s TripAdvisor mobile app if they have already downloaded the app and are registered users.
Using A/B testing techniques and email analytics, one can discover the most effective means to secure reviews, including the optimum messaging, timing, review site options and form factor of the hardware used.
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