TripAdvisor is a daily must-read for Fairmont manager
In just one day this past week, nine reviews of the Fairmont Pacific Rim were sent to TripAdvisor, keeping the high-end hotel’s general manager, Philip Barnes, very busy.
Barnes makes sure every review posted to the travel advisory website, whether positive or negative, gets a response.
“Our goal is to respond to every review. If someone has taken the time to write a review, we need to say thank you — or if someone isn’t happy, to find out why. Nine times out of 10 we get it before they leave, but there may be that one person we didn’t catch.”
Barnes said TripAdvisor is an extension of word-of-mouth marketing, and should be viewed by the hotel industry as a positive social media tool.
“It used to be that in the hotel industry there were a number of rating systems, like Forbes and triple-A, but they were very much a ticking-the-box system. Do you have a marble bathroom? That sort of thing.
“Today, people are looking for an emotional experience. They want to know about the warmth and friendliness of staff.
“Our particular focus is on the guest and their experience, and for us it’s a key point to know what is going on and to respond appropriately. You are getting a tremendous amount of feedback — to hear directly from a number of your customers on how you performed — and from that you’ll get nuggets on how to make changes for the benefit of future guests. It’s a win-win.”
Barnes, who is also regional vicepresident for the Fairmont chain, said there are a handful of guests who will try to use TripAdvisor to gain an unfair advantage.
“The ‘thumb thugs’ are those people who, when they first arrive, tell us they plan to write a review to TripAdvisor, and in their next breath ask for an upgrade,” he said. “We’ll watch that closely and if they subsequently post a review, we’ll reach out to TripAdvisor to let them know it is biased because they weren’t able to get something for free. (TripAdvisor) has been very supportive in removing those reviews.”
Barnes said he believes many of the hotel guests will read pages and pages of TripAdvisor reviews before making their decision to book or not.
And he believes most people reading those reviews are realistic and realize not everyone is going to be pleased.
“When you are dealing with thousands of people, you won’t make everyone happy. You have to ask, ‘Is this a consistent theme?’”
Barnes gave the example of one negative review that happened recently on TripAdvisor where a guest complained about the scent in the lobby. He said that particular opinion was expressed one time and was likely not a view shared by thousands of others who have stayed at the hotel.
“You can’t read one review and think that is right,” he said.
Barnes recalled a negative review years ago that worked in the hotel’s favour. A guest posted a critical review after having been asked to leave for being too noisy and disruptive, but another guest ended up booking at the hotel saying they wanted to stay at a hotel that wouldn’t put up with noisy and disruptive guests. “I do think people are reading and booking based on your online reputation,” he said.
He said the hotel pays close attention to where it rates on TripAdvisor’s scale. At the moment, the Fairmont Pacific Rim is rated second out of 96 hotels in Vancouver and has received 1,838 reviews.