But what should a business do when a legitimate, but negative, review is posted on their TripAdvisor page?
Hung recommends businesses respond to reviews on their TripAdvisor page and to do so in a factual manner, while also offering an explanation or suggestion based on the customer’s experience and asking the customer to contact them directly.
But he doesn’t recommend replying to every review, good or bad.
“It can become a bit monotonous if management answers every review,” he says. “Be selective.”
While Hung says 80% of reviews on TripAdvisor are about positive experiences, he says even negative reviews can be useful for a small business.
“Only customers that care will give you feedback,” he says. “The global travelling community is very used to reading reviews now and one review is not going to kill a hotel, no one reads just one review.”
Hung says many business owners in the hospitality industry regularly read TripAdvisor reviews as a form of customer feedback about the level of service their customers are getting and suggestions for how the service could be improved.
“What better way to get free feedback?” he says.
Hung says the first step for a small business owner wanting to get involved with TripAdvisor is to list their business on TripAdvisor. It’s a free process and it gives the business access to “over 300 million users across the world”.
The next step is to register as a TripAdviser user, which opens up the use of free analytical tools and tools for managing reviews and inviting customers to leave a review after their visit.
The third step is to encourage all your customers to post reviews on the company’s page.
And while there are a range of commercial tools available to those who want to pay more, Hung says the best part of the three step process is it is all completely free.
Editor
Eloise is an experienced business journalist and editor, who has held senior editorial roles at SmartCompany since 2014. Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on LinkedIn, and Twitter at @ellykeating.
