How do you rebuild a hotel’s reputation?

Q: I own a small collection of independent hotels and each has their own brand, identity, manager and profile. I pay people to look after these but in the last three months, one of the managers has damaged the reputation of one of the hotels and business has rapidly declined. I am now managing this directly in the short-term to build it back up. Any tips?

A: My first piece of advice is that reputation declines far faster than it builds, so I’d give yourself six months to rebuild fully. You’ve got a job to do to convince people to return, and the further away they live, the harder this will be to do.

The first step is to get the ‘house’ in order. Start by reviewing the feedback that the hotel has received since it started to go downhill. Check TripAdvisor, review your complaints, look at social media, and if you have it, check your reputation monitoring software. Categorise the criticism into core types. Are the complaints about front of house staff? Is it service in the restaurant or bar? Is it menu quality? What about cleanliness? Then, take immediate steps to address this. Work with the chef to create a new menu, or appoint a new head chef; change the cleaning process and protocols, or retrain the front-of-house staff. Your focus has to be on tackling the problems, even before you start addressing the reputation.

Next, you need to bring in the ‘critics’. As hoteliers, we can be blind to some of the finishing touches, so invite people that you trust, or hire a mystery shopper and get them to give you open and honest feedback, without the risk of negative feedback. They’ll highlight any areas where you need to improve, and any potential risk factors; you only get one chance to ‘relaunch’, so you want as much as possible to be right before you do.

Of course, in between all of this, you aren’t closing the property, so the other thing you need to consider is how to support existing guests to have a good time, and what short-term boons can be included to give them a positive experience and detract from the negatives. In my experience, people will forgive most things with a good acknowledgement and apology, particularly if you then go over and above to resolve the issue.

When you have regained your confidence in the service offering, then it’s time for the ‘relaunch’. Generally speaking, people understand the connotations of something being ‘under new management’ and will happily disregard previous reviews at this stage, giving you a clean slate. You need to communicate this message as widely as possible, including:

• Banners, posters, local PR and external signage to let the locals and passing trade know that the management has changed. If nothing else people are nosey and will pop in to check things out.
• Produce positive content including blog posts, videos, interviews, Facebook live, that highlights the changes and introduces the new management (if you want to). Profile the new menu; show off interior design changes; highlight the cosy fire roaring on cold days.
• Communicate with the existing database, highlighting what has changed, why they should return and what is new. If you have the information, segment your database by distance from the hotel and treat each sector differently. It will be far easier to encourage a local to stop by, than it will to engage someone that is three hours away; similarly, discounts, added value offers, incentives and rewards should get bigger, the further someone needs to travel.
• Relaunch in style with an exclusive event for your past customers, local followers and regional influencers. Make this an event to remember, and if possible, use it to showcase the changes. Have a tasting menu for the new menu, or a tour of the redecorated rooms; talk about the front of house changes, and what’s coming up in the hotel. Don’t forget to include an incentive or pull-back to encourage them to return over the next couple of months.
• Invite your harshest critics to visit free of charge, and hopefully get them to change their mind. If you impress them enough, they’ll write a positive review, which will help to negate previous criticism.
• Don’t forget TripAdvisor; obviously businesses change hands or come under new management all the time, and TripAdvisor has an entire help section dedicated to starting a new listing. There are some qualification criteria you need to pass to prove the site is under new management, but the steps are easy to follow and at the end you’ll have a clean slate.

You’ve got a hotel collection; you’ve got the knowledge and experience to rebuild it, so go for it. My only other recommendation is to perhaps review how you target, monitor and engage with your managers so that you don’t have a repeat of this in the future. Plus, consider your succession plan; what happens in the future if you aren’t in the space to step into the void? How will you fill it then?

Angie Petkovic is the managing director at apt marketing. This feature first appeared in the May 2018 issue of Hotel Owner