In an ideal world, as soon as each guest returns home, the first thing they would do is submit a positive review about their stay.
The power of a first-hand review can never really be underestimated. Reviews:
- Reinforce your property’s credibility.
- Help maintain your relationship with guests.
- Provide excellent feedback.
- Help generate more enquiries and, ultimately, future bookings.
But, what’s the best way to ask guests for feedback? You could start by sending an SMS or email to guests shortly after their arrival in order to provide a feedback opportunity. That way, they get to communicate any issues they may have and you get to resolve them during their stay and improve their experience. SuperControl makes this easy for you via our automated form letters feature. Then, after each guest has left, you could send them an email asking them to review their stay. As a SuperControl customer, you can do this via our UpFront Reviews system. If you haven’t already signed up with UpFront Reviews, just log in to your SuperControl account and follow the steps in the set-up guide.
Automatic review request
Once you’re up and running with UpFront Reviews, every time a guest makes a booking on your website, they will automatically be sent a request to review their stay. You can choose how many days after arrival/departure that you want the email to be sent. It’s best to ask while their stay is still fresh in their mind – so, around two days after departure is a good rule of thumb. It’s also a good idea to mention the review request when the guest departs, so they will be expecting it and more likely to respond.
If, for some reason, the guest fails to submit a review, the system will automatically email them again a week later with a further review request. If the guest chooses to submit a review, you will be notified and have 48 hours to review the guest’s feedback and respond to it, if you so choose.
Reviews are then displayed on the UpFront Reviews website (see above for an example of our most recent reviews). They can also be shown on your website either through an API feed (if you use SuperControl API) or by copying and pasting a simple widget code to your website.
Marketing tool
As well as being a great way to find out what guests really think of your business, positive reviews are a ready-made marketing tool. Even a more negative review can be turned around in your favour by how you respond. Our eBook also includes some more detailed tips on how to garner positive reviews, as well as how to respond to negative ones. After all, the purpose of any review process is not just collecting data, but using that feedback to benefit your business.
