2016 Guest Satisfaction Management Barometerand implement them, does impact guest satisfaction, and...

Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices

Report

2016 Guest Satisfaction Management Barometer


Contents

Introduction

The Importance of Guest Intelligence

Key Findings

Methodology

Detailed Results of Study- Guest Satisfaction Management- Guest Survey Solutions- Guest Survey Best Practices

Profile of Respondents

About Us

3

4

5

7

81318

23

25


Introduction

Increasingly, savvy hoteliers are using guest feedback to

make operational and service improvements on property

to deliver better guest experiences. The way hotels gather

feedback is evolving with many choosing to switch to

electronic survey solutions. Analysis of ReviewPro data

suggests that technology is having a strong impact on the

industry, with 60% of hotel survey invite emails being read

on a mobile device and 40% being answered on one.

For the first edition of this industry study, ReviewPro

surveyed 2,877 hospitality professionals across the globe

to gain a better understanding of how hotels manage

guest satisfaction and to identify current trends in the

industry related specifically to guest survey management.

The findings of the report provide valuable insight into the

current landscape of guest satisfaction management. 99%

of hotels claim to be gathering guest feedback in some

way or other but only 51% are using electronic guest

surveys. Fewer hotels still are actually acting on the direct

feedback they receive in a structured and organized way

to drive better results.

How does your hotel compare? Are you a truly guest-

centric organization who knows how to keep guests

happy and loyal? Read on to find out more.

RJ FriedlanderCEO, ReviewPro

“ Guest Intelligence is crucial for hoteliers to determine what guests like and dislike about their stay and to prioritize improvements to exceed expectations. The results of the study indicate that there is huge potential for hotels to further progress in this area and make the most of this valuable opportunity to boost guest satisfaction and revenue.

3

RJ FriedlanderCEO, ReviewPro


The Importance of Guest Intelligence

4

Guest Intelligence is the in-depth analysis of online

reviews and guest satisfaction survey data, which includes

both during and post-stay surveys, to provide detailed

insight into what guests like and dislike about their stay

and to leverage these signals to exceed expectations.

By collecting and analyzing guest feedback proactively,

hotels can identify what operational and service changes

are necessary and implement them in order to increase

guest satisfaction and attract more bookings.

Hoteliers across the globe leverage ReviewPro Guest

Intelligence data in order to:

• Benchmark themselves against competitors and track

performance at corporate and individual property level.

• Turn insight into action to deliver operational and service

excellence.

• Improve their review ranking on TripAdvisor, other

review sites and OTAs.

• Drive increased guest satisfaction and revenue growth.

The results of the 2016 Guest Satisfaction Management

Barometer indicate that a high proportion of hotels are

already highly active when it comes to managing guest

feedback. However, there is still significant room for

improvement in order for hotels to fully reap the benefits

of Guest Intelligence and avoid pitfalls such as missed

opportunities and negative reviews. By managing and

responding effectively to guest feedback, hotels are able

to deliver quality experiences, drive increased guest

satisfaction and improve their online reputation.


Key Findings (1/2)

5

51%Within today’s ever more complex environment, hotels

are faced with managing guest feedback across multiple

sources online, direct sources and in multiple

languages. Two thirds of hotels find this difficult to

manage, reinforcing the need to have specialized tools

to facilitate guest satisfaction management.

Although 85% of hotels use online reviews to measure

guest satisfaction, only 51% are gathering valuable direct

feedback using email guest surveys, meaning that

almost half of all hotels are missing out on the power of

having all feedback combined in one place.

feel that it is difficult to manage feedback across multiple sources

are using electronic guest surveys to gather direct feedback

41%offer staff incentives / bonuses based on guest satisfaction KPIs

There is discrepancy between what hoteliers feel is

important about guest feedback and what they actually

do. All respondents feel that it is important to measure

guest satisfaction, but only 57% of hotels actually set

and monitor KPIs and only 41% are offering staff

incentives or bonuses based on guest satisfaction KPIs.

are planning to invest the same or more in guest survey management in 201677%

When choosing a guest satisfaction survey solution, the

top 2 factors hotels take into consideration are:

• Reporting that identifies operational & service

improvements easily.

• The ability to integrate guest survey data &

online reputation analytics in one tool.

67%


Key Findings (2/2)

6

29% 20%Despite 94% of hotels feeling that it is important to be

able to integrate guest survey data with online review

analytics, only 29% are actually doing so. It is much

more powerful to be able to analyze guest feedback as

a whole, whether it be an online review, comment on

social media or a response to a survey question.

Guest profile information gathered from a guest survey

is incredibly rich and therefore valuable for CRM

activities but only 1 in 5 hotels are feeding guest survey

data into a CRM platform. Flexible platforms, such as

ReviewPro, make it easy to integrate guest feedback

data with other software, with remarkable results.

integrate guest survey data with online review analytics

integrate guest survey data with CRM software

33% of electronic guest surveys have 10 questions or less

The figures show a trend towards shorter guest surveys,

which tend to increase survey response rate. The new

generation of online survey solutions, such as that offered

by ReviewPro, provide a “Question Logic” functionality

within the survey design to be able to gather detailed

feedback using as few questions as possible.

Only 51% of hotels use electronic guest surveys to gather direct feedback.

are using the Net Promoter Score® (NPS) when analyzing the results of guest surveys23%

This powerful metric is used across a range of industries

to measure customer satisfaction. With only 23% of

hotels using the NPS® in their guest surveys, there is an

opportunity for improvement as it is a highly valuable

metric that can be benchmarked over time.


Methodology

7

For this report, we surveyed 2,877 hoteliers worldwide.

All interviews were conducted using an online survey, with

an invitation to participate sent by email. No incentive was

offered to respondents for completing the survey, other

than to receive a copy of the results of the study.

To ensure the accuracy of the data, we excluded 237

respondents who stated that they did not work at a hotel.

All data reported in this study has a base size of more than

1,400 respondents.

Fieldwork was carried out between 10th December 2015 –

10th January 2016.


Guest Satisfaction

Management


How Hotels Measure Guest Satisfaction

9

• 99% of hotels measure guest satisfaction in some way or other, with feedback from online reviews / social media mentions being by far the most popular method.

• The second most common method is post-stay email surveys but only 14% are using in-stay email surveys, which highlights a missed opportunity for hotels. Most relevant for longer stay guests, feedback from in-stay surveys enables hotels to implement a service recovery strategy, reducing negative online reviews.

• For “other”, the majority of respondents mentioned personal communication with guests during their stay or at check-out. Other interesting ideas were Whatsapp/text messages and daily random courtesy calls.

8%

1%

5%

7%

14%

23%

50%

51%

85%

Other (please specify)

Do not measure

Post-stay telephone survey

On-site ipad / kiosk survey

In-stay email survey

Mystery shopping

Printed survey / comment card

Post-stay email survey

Online reviews / social media…

Which of the following methods do you currently use to measureGuest Satisfaction at your establishment? (please select all that apply)


Who Manages Guest Satisfaction

10

• Not surprisingly, Front Desk is cited most often, as they deal with guest satisfaction on a daily basis. 73% of General Managers are also involved in managing guest satisfaction.

• Interestingly, many of those who selected “other” cited “all departments”, indicating that some organizations have created a guest-centric culture, ensuring that the whole team is focused on improving guest satisfaction. Based on our experience with the hotels we work with, we have seen this to be a highly effective strategy, both for independent hotels and large chains.

10%

23%

53%

53%

56%

60%

73%

81%


Revenue & Distribution

Sales & Marketing

Quality & Operations

Food & Beverage

Housekeeping &Maintenance

General Manager

Front Desk

Which departments are involved in Guest Satisfaction managementwithin your organization? (please select all that apply)


What Hoteliers Think about Guest Feedback

11

• Resoundingly, 96% of respondents completely agree that it is important to measure and monitor guest satisfaction. However, fewer hoteliers sense the importance of acting on this feedback or believe that it can lead to improved guest satisfaction. Again, based on our experience, we have seen that having the right Guest Intelligence insights to enable hoteliers to prioritize operational and service improvements, and implement them, does impact guest satisfaction, and improves a hotel’s online reputation.

• 67% feel that it is difficult to manage feedback across multiple sources. Platforms, such as ReviewPro, that integrate online review analytics (from 175+ review sources) and direct feedback from guest surveys, make it much easier and more efficient to do this.

18%

84%

89%

96%

49%

14%

11%

4%

21% 12%It is difficult to manage guest feedback across multiplesources

Acting on feedback leads to improved guest satisfaction

It is important to act on feedback from guests

It is important to measure and monitor guest satisfaction

Here are some statements about guest satisfaction at hotels. Please indicate your level of agreement with each one.

Completely agree Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree Completely disagree


How Guest Feedback Is Used

12

• Although all respondents in the previous question feel that is it important to act on guest feedback, only 81% are using feedback to implement improvements. Similarly, all respondents feel that it is important to measure guest satisfaction, but only 57% actually set and monitor KPIs.

• Taking it a step further, 41% of hotels are giving staff incentives or bonuses based on guest satisfaction KPIs. We have seen this strategy used extremely effectively by our clients who have successfully created a guest-centric culture and excel at exceeding guest expectations.

• With only 4 out of 10 hotels currently doing so, there is also a large potential for more hotels to use guest satisfaction data & analytics to improve decision-making in revenue management. For example, Duettointegrates ReviewPro’s GRITM (online reputation management score) into the dashboard of its Revenue Strategy Solutions.

3%

5%

26%

33%

41%

41%

57%

81%


We do not formally act on this data

Optimize your distribution strategy

Publish guest feedback on brand.com website

Improve decision-making in revenue management

Give staff incentives / bonuses based on guest satisfaction KPIs

Set and monitor evolution of guest satisfaction KPIs

Implement operation, service & product related improvements

How do you use Guest Satisfaction data within your organization?

https://www.reviewpro.com/blog/duetto-integrates-our-gri-into-its-revenue-strategy-solutions/

https://www.reviewpro.com/products/global-review-index/


Guest Survey Solutions


Usage of Guest Survey Solutions

14

• 47% of hotels are not using an online guest survey solution to measure guest satisfaction.

• There is an opportunity for hoteliers to benefit from using such a solution to:

– Gather valuable direct feedback to drive operational and service improvements.

– Increase review volume and ranking on TripAdvisor & Google.

– View and manage all guest feedback (direct and online reviews) in one platform and dashboard.

– Send in-stay surveys to allow service recovery and reduce negative online reviews.

– Improve guest satisfaction enabling hotels to increase ADR (average daily rates).

51%

38%

9%

2%

Is your organization currently using anonline guest satisfaction survey

solution?

Yes No No, but we are considering implementing one I don't know

https://www.reviewpro.com/blog/ensure-your-guests-check-out-happy-with-reviewpros-in-stay-surveys/


Important Factors When Choosing a Provider

15

• In line with previous findings, reporting that makes it easy to prioritize improvements comes out as the top factor when choosing a provider. ReviewPro’s Advanced Sentiment Analysis as well as customized views, filters, alerts & reporting for different departments help staff focus on the right areas.

• Interestingly, 69% of hotels feel that it is very important to be able to drive online reviews to TripAdvisor and other review sites whereas only 40% think it is very important to be able to publish survey responses on their own website. We have seen many of the hotels we work with achieve positive results by implementing both these strategies. For example, by using the TripAdvisor Review Collection Programme within ReviewPro surveys, hotels can drive both review volume & recency, two important factors impacting your hotel’s ranking on TripAdvisor.

40%

55%

57%

60%

64%

69%

69%

78%

39%

39%

32%

34%

28%

26%

25%

19%

17%

5%

9%

5%

7%

4%

4%

2%

Ability to publish survey responses to brand.com

Price

Ability to be integrated with other systems (CRM, PMS…)

Flexibility in creating & modifying surveys

Surveys optimized for mobile devices

Option to drive online reviews to TripAdvisor and other review sites

Ability to integrate guest survey and online reputation analytics in onedashboard

Reporting that quickly identifies operational & service improvements

How important do you think each of the following criteria listed below are when selecting a provider/solution for Guest Satisfaction Surveys?

Very important Somewhat important Not really important Not at all important

https://www.reviewpro.com/blog/reviewpro-expands-tripadvisor-partnership-to-help-hotels-boost-review-volume/


Survey Data Integration with Other Software

16

• Generally speaking, there is very limited integration of guest surveys data with other systems, the most common being email marketing with 35%.

• Only 29% of hotels are combining guest survey data with online review analytics whereas 94% in the previous question felt that it was important to be able to do so. It is crucial to analyze guest feedback as a whole, whether it be an online review, comment on social media or a response to a survey question. Sentiment Analysis becomes much more powerful and relevant when applied across multiple sources of feedback, helping to prioritize where action is required to make improvements.

• Guest profile information gathered from a guest survey is incredibly rich and therefore valuable for CRM activities but only 20% of hotels are feeding guest survey data into a CRM platform. We have seen this to be highly effective. For example, through an integration with ReviewPro, our client Red Lion Hotels synchronizes guest survey data with their CRM system Serenata Intraware.

17%

20%

25%

29%

35%

48%

47%

50%

40%

43%

18%

17%

11%

16%

10%

17%

16%

14%

15%

12%

Business Intelligence

CRM

PMS

Online Reputation Management (ORM)

Email Marketing

Is your guest survey data integrated with other systems or software?

Yes No Don't use this type of system Don't know

https://www.reviewpro.com/blog/reviewpro-partners-with-serenata-to-create-rich-guest-profiles/


Planned Investment in Guest Survey Management

17

• 77% of hotels are planning to invest the same or more in guest survey management in 2016, reinforcing the importance that hoteliers are giving to guest satisfaction.

• Our experience working with forward-thinking hoteliers shows that hotels who dedicate resources to guest satisfaction improvement are seeing a positive impact on results.

• It’s important to note that it is not just about investing in a tool. It’s about creating a guest-centric culture across the entire organization, which entails the following steps:

1. Actionable insight for operational/service improvements

2. Process changes

3. Involving key stakeholders

4. Setting goals

5. Taking action

6. Measuring performance & reporting

25%

52%

4%

19%

Looking at 2016, is your organizationplanning to invest more, about the

same or less in guest surveymanagement than in 2015?

More About the same Less I don’t know


Guest Survey Best Practices


Number of Questions per Survey

19

• The figures show a trend towards shorter guest surveys, with 64% of surveys having 20 questions or less and only 11% having more than 30 questions.

• Reducing the number of questions tends to increase survey response rate and survey completion rate. This has two advantages:

– More feedback & engagement from guests.

– More opportunities to increase online review volume.

• The new generation of online survey solutions, such as ReviewPro, offer a “Question Logic” functionality within the survey design. Question logic (a combination of scale multiple choice, true/false and text box questions) is critical to gather detailed feedback with as few questions as possible. By using this option, you only need to ask questions that are relevant to each guest and can drill down to truly understand why guests are satisfied or not.

33%

31%

12%

6%

5%

14%

≤10

11-20-

21-30

30-40

>40

I don't know

How many questions do yourguest surveys have?


Survey Response Rates

20

• Only 16% of hotels are achieving a response rate to guest surveys of more than 25%. Furthermore, 28% of hotels have a response rate of 10% or less.

• How can hotels increase survey response rate?– Craft a compelling subject line & personalize your email– Implement an effective survey design strategy– Prioritize mobile– Monitor completion rates and adjust as necessary

• Obtaining the highest percentage of correct email addresses from guests is crucial to maximize the sample size of your guest feedback. This is discussed in more detail on the next slide.

13%

15%

11%

9%

6%

5%

11%

32%

≤ 5%

6 - 10%

11 - 15%

16 - 20%

21 - 25%

26 - 30%

> 30%

I don’t know

What is the average response rate you get to guest surveys by email? (# of responses divided by # of emails successfully delivered)

https://www.reviewpro.com/blog/5-tips-for-increasing-guest-satisfaction-survey-conversion-rates/


Email Collection Rates

21

• Only 38% of hotels manage to collect a valid email address for more than half of their guests. As a reference, a number of our clients are successfully collecting more than 70% of non-group email addresses.

• How can hotels improve email collection rate and quality?

– Put in place clear processes and tracking to increase the volume and quality of email addresses that you capture.

– Train your staff to be aware of the importance of collecting correct emails.

– Incentivize them by setting email collection rate objectives with small rewards, making sure you communicate and share the results within your organization in order to build awareness and motivation.

5%

6%

7%

9%

9%

12%

38%

13%

≤ 5%

6% - 10%

11% - 20%

21% - 30%

31% - 40%

41% - 50%

>50%

I don't…

For what percentage of your guests do you manage to collecta valid email address?


Net Promoter Score® (NPS)

22

• The Net Promoter Score® (NPS) is a metric based on one simple question: “How likely are you to recommend this business to a friend or colleague?”. Customers are asked to answer this question on a scale of 0 to 10 in a survey. This powerful metric is used across a range of industries to measure customer satisfaction.

• With only 23% of hotels using the NPS® in their guest surveys, there is an opportunity for improvement as it is a highly valuable metric that can be benchmarked over time.

• With a powerful guest survey solution, it is possible to monitor its evolution and compare guest satisfaction performance of individual properties within a hotel group.

• With survey tools offering a Question Logic functionality, it is possible to drill down to understand why guests would not recommend your hotel and take the necessary follow-up action.

23%

48%

28%

1%

Do you use the Net PromoterScore® (NPS) when analyzing the

results of your guest surveys?

Yes No I don't know Other (please specify)

https://www.reviewpro.com/blog/what-is-the-net-promoter-score/


Profile Of Respondents


12%

41%North America

7%

29%6%

5%

Europe

Middle East

Asia Pacific

Africa

Latin America

In what region are you primarily based?

23%

42%

26%

3%

1%

5%

What is the star rating of your hotel?

Respondent Profile

How many hotels are there in your group?

1 2-5 6-10 11-25 26-50 +50

36% 28% 15% 9% 6% 6%

24

Managing Guest Satisfaction Surveys: Best Practices25

About Us

ReviewPro is the leading provider of Guest Intelligence

solutions to independent hotel brands worldwide.

The company’s comprehensive suite of cloud-based solutions

includes Online Reputation Management (ORM) and the Guest

Survey Solution (GSS), which enable clients to obtain a deeper

understanding of reputation performance as well as

operational/service strengths and weaknesses. We provide

actionable insight to increase guest satisfaction, rankings on

review sites/OTAs and ultimately revenue.

The company offers the industry-standard Global Review

IndexTM (GRI), an online reputation score, which is used by

thousands of hotels worldwide as a benchmark for reputation

management efforts, based on review data collected from +175

online travel agencies (OTAs) and review sites in more than 45

languages. More than 25,000 hotel brands worldwide are

currently using ReviewPro’s solutions.

Request a Free ReviewPro Demo now

Learn More

The Leading Source of Guest Intelligencebest practices and content for the hospitality industry

Visit our Resource Hub

https://www.reviewpro.com/resources/

https://www.reviewpro.com/products/guest-survey-solution/


[email protected]

@reviewpro

2016 Guest Satisfaction Management Barometerand implement them, does impact guest satisfaction, and...

Documents

Transcript of 2016 Guest Satisfaction Management Barometerand implement them, does impact guest satisfaction, and...