Lack of time and staff in the hotel business often make it difficult for hoteliers and hotel employees to respond to any ratings, reviews and opinions that guests post on internet platforms. It is important to pay attention to hotel ratings, emphasises Holger Sigmund, Managing Director of Tourismuspartner and specialist for online reputation management, in an online talk on the topic "Answering hotel ratings with AI".
Together with Jonathan Anthamatten, General Manager of Ema House Hotel Suites and Serviced Apartments in Zurich, and Maximilian Lüders, Managing Director & Co-Founder of Mara Solutions, he discussed the latest developments and future perspectives.
According to Holger Sigmund, travellers and consumers are primarily concerned with the issue of "trust" when it comes to hotel ratings: whether it is to confirm the booking decision, to get a real impression of the conditions on site or to reduce one's own uncertainty as well as the risk of a wrong booking or disappointment.
80 percent of guests would find it appreciative and reassuring when hoteliers react and respond to their reviews, especially if they are negative. True to the motto: "If you take the trouble to leave a review, please respond to it". The effect for the hotelier is the greatest, according to Sigmund. "It makes the most sense to respond to negative aspects," says the expert. "This is clearly about explaining things."
Compared to other sectors, the hotel industry (70 percent) and gastronomy (75 percent) are particularly influenced by reviews. According to the e-tourism expert, responding to reviews is already decisive for booking: two thirds of the guests would rather choose a hotel that attaches importance to careful online reputation management than one that does not take comments seriously or does not respond at all. "Ignorance is not the solution here," says Sigmund.
But what possibilities can AI assistants offer here? Maximilian Lüders, Managing Director at Mara Solutions, as co-developer of the software tool "Mara", sees the advantages of artificial intelligence when it comes to reputation management in the hotel industry. His company's tool responds to guest feedback in seconds - appropriately and individually, and without using fixed, standardised text modules. According to Lüders, the machine help can save up to 90 percent of the usual workload.
After the latest update, the rating assistant also adapts its suggested answers for recurring topics to the individual circumstances of a hotel. The tool varies the wording from answer to answer and avoids repetitions. The biggest difference of Mara compared to ChatGPT is the use of "stored truths". This is background knowledge that each hotel can individually insert into the editing mask of the rating assistant. In comparison to ChatGPT, the system thus truthfully and factually addresses the concerns of the guests and thus significantly reduces the post-processing effort.
Maximilian Lüders cites the hotel b'mine Frankfurt Airport as an example of the use of Mara. The hotel receives around 600 to 800 guest feedbacks per month. The response rate was recently at 15 per cent. By using the evaluation assistant, the rate could be increased to 90 percent within one month.
General Manager Jonathan Anthamatten of the Ema House Hotel Suites and Serviced Apartments in Zurich has also convinced himself of the benefits of AI-controlled tools. Anthamatten consciously relies on AI assistants like Mara. As a small individual hotel - without a big brand in the background - reviews are part of the hotelier's daily business. "Negative reviews generally affect us personally. At the same time, the tool reduces the mental strain because it helps to distance oneself from the criticism. In addition: "If you do it alone, a tool like this makes your work much easier," Anthamatten says. "I often have a hard time formulating something." The tool is easy to use and saves a lot of time, he adds. "Mara starts the conversation for us and we finally add our personal touch to the assessment. It doesn't take more than an internet connection."
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Source: TopHotel
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