Because of the increased reliance on consumer dialogue about travel and the content shared on review websites, the HSMAI Resort Best Practices Initiative undertook an Innovation Study with GuestBook which provides an independent guest review product for hotels (www.guestbookreviews.com).

The HSMAI Resort Best Practices Initiative provides a forum for sales and marketing executives from subscribing resorts to collaborate and share best practices. The Innovation Studies program was launched in 2010 to allow resorts to test new marketing techniques and technologies to determine how effectively they will work in a resort setting. Several resorts volunteer for the controlled trial and the results are documented for the rest of the group and then published in summary to all HSMAI members. The study was facilitated by Cindy Estis Green, managing partner with the Estis Group and research director for the HSMAI Resort Best Practices Group.

GuestBook uses an invitation system to restrict posts to actual guests. GuestBook enables a hotel to invite guests to post reviews as part of their post-stay email surveys as well providing the invitations to guests in their guest room invitation folders or as part of their folio. The resorts participating in the study used email surveys to invite guests to post reviews. The survey vendor, UniFocus, then automatically sent the data from these surveys to GuestBook using GuestBook's "web service".

The results of the trial with the HSMAI Resort Best Practices Group confirmed that guests would post reviews to GuestBook when they receive an invitation. The number of reviews posted on GuestBook each month equaled or exceeded the number posted on TripAdvisor. In addition, the number of reviews posted on TripAdvisor did not suffer any reduction over the test period, so it appears that these are guests who would not have otherwise posted a review. It was felt to be a tool that would help in attracting consumers with a bias to positive reviews. As this was a study for a resort group, the majority of the reviews were from leisure guests.

The response from the trial participants was positive and their input was that GuestBook was easy to set up and use and required very limited maintenance.

They felt that there was value in embedding consumer reviews on their own website and thus reducing the need for consumers to leave their website to research reviews. This minimizes the potential for visitors to book a competing property based on advertising and saves the commission if booked on a third-party website. For example, The Steamboat Grand provides a link on its home page to a separate page on its website which displays the reviews: http://steamboatgrand.com/reviews/

One of the issues for the participating resorts was the concept of posting negative reviews on their website. According to a survey of more than 2,100 travelers conducted by Forrester reveals that management responses to reviews, both positive and negative, has a positive effect. The idea that there are balanced reviews and not just positive ones reassures the consumer that the reviews are not manufactured. To allow properties to manage the review process, GuestBook provides a portal to post a response to any posted review.

GuestBook does not keep posted reviews indefinitely, but removes them after 18 months to allow guests to see the most recent and relevant ones.

The study was unable to determine how many guests were actually influenced to book after reading the reviews. This was not possible to determine using Google Analytics because so many visitors go into the booking engine just to see prices and availability. In order to determine increased bookings, the resorts would have needed to implement tracking of GuestBook cookies and this was not done during the test. During the trial, the test websites deployed limited references to GuestBook and indicated that they felt traffic to the website would be improved if they had put links or buttons on more pages of the website and on Facebook.

Conclusions:

Peer reviews are becoming more important to potential guests and reviews from impartial third-party websites with validated guest reviews are a critical part of the booking process. The challenge is to allow potential guests to see reviews without leaving the hotel or resort website. If a hotel offers a link to a third-party website that requires the visitor to leave the resort website to see reviews, it is difficult to know how many of these potential guests will return to the hotel website for booking.

One option is for hotels to implement their own system as Starwood has recently done, but apart from reviews posted by members of their Starwood frequent traveler program, this requires the staff to manually verify that the guest has actually stayed at one of its hotels before posting a review. The GuestBook system is a cost effective and viable solution for even the smallest resort with a limited staff because it provides an efficient means to validate guests who post reviews and it is easy to implement and maintain.

The idea of negative reviews, while a concern to hoteliers, is actually somewhat reassuring to potential guests. If all of the reviews are positive, it is not as believable as a balanced range of reviews. Management response goes a long way to reassuring the website visitors that the hotel is involved and concerned about any problems and will work to resolve them.

"We felt GuestBook struck a good balance between functionality and ease of use and fills a strategic niche for moderated third-party guest reviews" according to James Leitess, E-Business Manager of Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation and one of the trial resorts in the HSMAI Best Practices Innovation study.

About the Author

Maureen O'Hanlon, CTC, a twenty-five year veteran of the travel and hospitality industry is currently a Senior Partner with The Prism Partnership, a leading hospitality technology and marketing consulting firm serving the hospitality industry.

HSMAI President & CEO Bob Gilbert recently discussed the future of loyalty with Rick Garlick, Senior Director of Consulting and Strategic Implementation, Maritz Research. Garlic will deliver a keynote address on the subject at HSMAI's Resort Marketing Strategy Conference, August 30, in Phoenix.

Highlights of their converstion:

Gilbert: Customer loyalty and frequency programs are commonly confused as the same. Are they?

Garlick: Not at all. While there is a segment that has a strong desire to cumulate frequency points, much like George Clooney in the movie 'Up in the Air', not everyone finds the offerings of frequency programs to have the same appeal. Think also about the resort hotel segment. People usually do not visit upscale resorts enough to accumulate frequency points fast enough. In this case, the desire for a personalized offering, recognition, special treatment may be far more appropriate for guests. Think also about what Vegas casinos sometimes do. If they identify a potentially valuable customer, they may offer a nice upgrade to a first time visitor as a means of engendering future loyalty.

Gilbert: Loyalty for an independent resort is very different that the loyalty goals of a big multinational brand. Do you agree? If so, how does is differ?

Garlick: In the case of a resort property, the ultimate goal is to create such a memorable experience that guest will tell all of us his/her friends about the wonderful experience, and even better, write a glowing review on a Trip Advisor site. That is a different way of thinking about loyalty from how the big multinational brands think about loyalty.

Gilbert: How can an independent resort define loyalty or a loyalty program? They can't outspend the big brands.

Garlick: One time a general manager of an upscale hotel told me a guest complained he didn't offer a points program. He wondered what he should do. I told him he shouldn't worry about it because he's ultimately trying to attract a different type of customer. The goal is to keep in mind the primary values of your customer, as well as what you see to be your unique value proposition. Guest loyalty approaches need to reflect the brand, and what it stands for. People remember things most when using the emotional parts of their brains. That is what the resorts need to influence.

Gilbert: What else can we expect to hear from and discuss with you in Phoenix, on August 30th?

Garlick: We have been working with a number of leading neuroscientists to better understand the 'brain science' behind what drives loyal behavior. I'll be bringing a bit of that into my comments as well. Click Here for more on the HSMAI Resort Marketing Strategy Conference, August 30, 2011 at the Royal Palms Resort & Spa.

Renowned trend analyst Michael Tchong of Ubercool, who will be speaking at HSMAI's upcoming Resort Business Summit & Customer Connection, and HSMAI's Affordable Meetings National, discussed the state of innovation, marketing, and the hospitality industry.

Michael Tchong is a transformational speaker who tracks trends to inspire businesses around the world. He developed his ability to ride emerging waves early at ad agency icons DDB and Chiat/Day, and then used those talents to help pioneer such emerging trends as desktop publishing, personal communication, Internet research and online marketing. Now he has combined branded entertainment and social media in an ubercool start-up that aims to reinvent America.

For more on the Resort Summit, visit http://www.resortsummit.com
For more on HSMAI's Affordable Meetings, visit http://www.affordablemeetings.com

Michael Tchong, a captivating and internationally acclaimed speaker, will deliver the keynote titled "I'm Going to Tweet You Up" at the HSMAI Resort Buisiness Summit & Customer Connection. Tchong's singular perspective has earned him recognition as the forward thinker of the information age. He will set the stage for the day's focus on innovation in resort marketing by covering a range of trends affecting the business from consumer behavior and group business to trends in social media and online marketing. Michael will open your eyes, stimulate your thinking, and help you keep up with the trends affecting your business. The Summit is being held May 3-4 at the PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.

Additional agenda highlights include:

» Digital Strategy for Business Development: This workshop will focus on the strategies and tactics that ensure maximum return on your digital strategy - from Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Social Media to Mobile Marketing and Video.

» Best Practices - Generating Revenue in a Recession & Reset: The focus of this interactive discussion will be on initiatives that deliver high ROIs and can be leveraged to get the resort industry moving forward.

» Listening (and Learning from) the Voice of the Resort Customer: A spirited discussion with resort customers representing the association, government, corporate, and incentive markets.

» Presentation of the 2010 Resort Marketer of the Year Award, which honors individual leadership and achievement in the field of resort marketing.

Customer Connection
Resorts are also invited to take part in the exclusive Customer Connection. Limited to 30 resorts, this informative and interactive customer event will connect meeting and incentive professionals with resort executives. Held in conjunction with the South Florida chapter of MPI, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Palm Beach County Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the HSMAI South Florida chapter, invitations are being extended to qualified planners throughout the Southeast. A 3:1 ratio of meeting and incentive event professionals to resorts is expected.

For more on the event, visit http://www.resortsummit.com