The majority of hotels have been using some form of guest survey for years, but recently a shift has been happening in the way that hotels collect feedback.
Early adopters of guest surveys have realized the need to replace long, complicated surveys with shorter, more personalized direct surveys.
Most hotels that were previously using paper surveys have now implemented online versions and it is not uncommon to find smaller properties have bypassed the paper survey altogether to implement online post-stay surveys upfront.
Guest surveys are a valuable tool for hoteliers; they provide the guest feedback necessary to identify and solve internal issues, provide guests with a forum to raise their concerns (in a non-public venue) and for management to respond directly. By doing so, hoteliers may be able to lessen the chance that a guest will post a negative review on TripAdvisor (or other review sites) about his/her stay.
When the hotel’s management responds to guest’s feedback, it can help cultivate and develop a relationship with a past guest. This is an important first step in building repeat business from this customer – and all of the other potential guests that they might tell about your property, either online or via word-of-mouth. In some cases, unhappy customers can even become advocates of your property because they are so appreciative of how management worked to resolve a problem or address a troublesome issue.
As you can see, post-stay surveys offer significant benefits for hoteliers and over the next two weeks, I will be outlining the six basic rules for creating an effective post-stay survey. Part One outlines how to properly craft a survey to secure the highest response rate and the greatest amount of guest feedback possible.
via Post-Stay Survey Management 101 – Part One. – Friday, 6th March 2015 at 4Hoteliers.
