Postcard from Bishkek

One of the most difficult questions I face is trying to decide when and where to place my advertising budget.

One of the maxims of marketing is that it is supposed to bring in new business – and different figures are often quoted for that value of that return on investment … and although I agree that this is the main aim, I think that there are also other reasons why businesses advertise: status, brand awareness and recognition, sponsorship and so on.

So, when I receive a commercial offer suggesting that we place an advertisement somewhere, one of the first questions I ask, (at least, ask myself), is whether this advert might increase business … how many potential clients are likely to see the advert.  There are two important aspects in this respect … getting the advertisement before the prospective client (the “placement” - an advert, for example, placed on TV and Radio here in Bishkek is not likely to attract the attention of future guests … who, by definition are already here and unlikely to be guests registering in the hotel) and then attracting their attention and informing them and, hopefully eliciting a response, (based on the content – pictures, text, etc.).

The best form of advert, of course, is free (in that we don’t actually pay for it … directly) … and it’s not one that we place … it’s a recommendation.  There is a lot of research that shows that  people trust personnel recommendations far more than traditional adverts.

I can understand that when the recommendation is given by someone they know … and who knows them … so they can be confident in the source of the recommendation as well as the content.  Other reviews and recommendations are given by “strangers”, in that they may not actually know them personally but they are celebrities in some way – people who are well known and have a reputation and status which gives weight to their opinions … journalists and presenters of travel programmes on TV, for example.

Nowadays, there is a huge trend for people to look for and consider reviews and recommendations by complete strangers – for example, via social media.  As a result, guests’ opinions, (good or bad, accurate or misinformed), are broadcast on social networks, microblogs, video-sharing websites and message boards for the world to see.  What’s more, there are statistics to show that people refer to these consumer reviews before making large purposes … including – especially – when planning holidays, or arranging travel and accommodation.

That’s understandable, they want to know what others thought of the product or experience before making a choice.  After all, tourists and hotel guests find themselves in strange circumstances … perhaps a long way from home, from family and friends, and all that is familiar.  It can be a big step, (and an expensive one), and why shouldn’t they benefit from the experience of others?

The internet not only provides a vast and invaluable resource of information, it has also liberated the consumer – especially in a period when people are shying away from organized tourism and preferring to adopt an independent and individualized approach.

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One  of the leading sources of hotels reviews that they consult is TripAdvisor … a travel website that, since it was founded in 2000, has operated a fairly active policy of development which has involved a number of acquisitions.  As well as hosting a database with information about thousands of hotels and restaurants around the world – including a specialized search engine and operating a reservation and booking service, it is renowned as one of the pioneers of UGC – User Generated Content.    

Users of the site are invited to become members of the tripAdvisor community and to they are encouraged to post reviews of establishments that they have visited … which provide a substantial amount of the content on the site.  Use of the site is free for users, (it is financed by advertising), and it claims to be to be the most popular and the largest travel community in the world.  They claim to have something like 2 million followers on Google+, 32 million members in their community and over 125 million reviews posted on the site.   Surveys show that two thirds of travelers check TripAdvisor when making their travel plans, (and although it’claims to be the biggest such travel site, it is by no means the only one), and in particular they claim that in 2013 over two billion individuals (“unique visitors” in the jargon) visited their website to conduct research … which apparently amounts to just over a tenth of all such internet traffic.  

Their figures for Bishkek are also impressive … with almost half a million travelers used the site to look up information about hotels in the city last year and, so they tell me, over 4000 of them looked at the page of the Silk Road Lodge.  

According to one press report that I have seen they have reviews on 775,000 hotels and places offering accommodation among the “3.7 million places to stay, places to eat and things to do” listed on their database.      

For the record: Although TripAdvisor say that they are not affiliated with any establishment listed or reviewed on their web site, they do have a business relationship, (a contract), with about 70,000 of them … that is about 10%.  This offers the company a source of income and in return the hotels obtain greater access to data and additional marketing tools to help them get their property before potential clients and arouse their interest.  

True, there’s been a lot of controversy over the years about those reviews.  Although a survey conducted on the site a couple of years ago suggested that 98% of respondents found that the reviews … “accurately reflect the experience”, there are some questions about the finding.  Some hoteliers have been known to post reviews themselves … obviously glowing references; others have been known to bribe guests to write positive reviews.  Some guests have been known to use the possibility of writing a bad review as a threat – perhaps to get a reduction or, perhaps, simply to add pressure in order to deal with a problem.  TripAdvisor say that they have a strict policy on policing their reviews to monitor and audit reviews in order to weed out abuses like these … and they have been forced to change some of their branding from “reviews you can trust” to “reviews from our community”.

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To be honest, I have always felt a little anxiety about such reviews on such sites.

It is not that I am opposed to such reviews … guests have the right to their opinions … and to express them … and they will express them anyway.  The great value (and danger) of reviews posted on such sites is that they can reach a much larger audience than other more traditional forms of review or recommendation.

On the other hand they also have to accept responsibility for them … even if there is not much that the hotelier can do do in the event of unfair comment being posted.

Obviously I hope and trust that there will be nothing but positive comments posted about us – but I have to face the fact that nobody is perfect and negative ones might well also appear.

As a result, it is important to monitor comments and decide what, if any, response to offer – especially in the event of a negative comment.  As I said, even if TripAdvisor is the largest site, it’s by no means the only one and the thought of monitoring all the possible places to see what is being said about us sometimes seems daunting … especially as the recommended rule of thumb is that you should respond to comments within 24 hours.  

Even negative comments can be helpful they can point us to issues that need to be addressed that, perhaps, have been overlooked for one reason or another.  Guests can often see things that we can’t.  However, when I look at some of the negative comments about different hotels, (not just ours), I am often left wondering if they contacted the management about the “problem” … and if not, why not?

Personally, I prefer the motto: “If something is not satisfactory, please tell us … otherwise, please tell others.“

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As TripAdvisor themselves admit, the reviews posted are “individual and highly subjective opinions”.  They represent a travelers’ experience as seen from their perspective.  There is no background information to put the comments into some form of context, beyond what is included in the comments themselves and any response that it might elicit from the management.  Although the management do have a ‘right of reply’ – it can be difficult to do so … and the ‘damage’ has already been done.

To give an example from our hotel in Bishkek, one such comment referred in disparaging terms to the lift … which I do have to admit is small … even if it can accommodate a wheelchair.  Technically, it is supposed to cater for four people … but, quite frankly, it’s a tight squeeze with more than two … especially if there is any luggage.  We know it’s a problem and we have looked into having it replaced … but apparently there’s a structural problem; the shaft built to house the lift is too small to accommodate a new one and so, until we have a major reconstruction, we are, basically, “stuck with it”.

While I am quoting reviews of our hotel … here is one of the ‘widgets’ that TripAdvisor make available to hotels so that they can post comments onto their own websites (it may take a while to load – even TripAdvisor admits there may be problems.):

I say “the ‘damage’ has already been done” because there is other survey evidence to show that negative comments do have a negative impact on the the reader … the headline of one article in the trade press reporting the survey declared “If your online reviews are negative guests won’t consider you. Period.”  It went on to say that neither low prices nor high ratings could overcome the effect of a bad review. Fortunately, there is also survey evidence to suggest that users of the site are a bit more sophisticated and don’t necessarily take everything at face value.   For example:

• 80% focus on the most recent reviews – indicating a current performance rather than an historic record, even saying they would prefer a more expensive hotel with better reviews than one with a lower price – although, if all other considerations are equal, the lower price usually ‘wins’; 
• 80% read at least 6 – 12 reviews  and
• 66% ignore “extreme comments” when reading reviews …looking for some consensus or general trend in the comments … presumably on the basis if many people are making the same sort of comment, then maybe indeed there is an issue – there being “no smoke with without fire”.

 

The most positive comment I found in the various reports of these surveys was that users consider these reviews and  ratings to offer insights into the overall level of customer satisfaction they can expect rather than ‘gospel’. . I was also heartened by the advice that TripAdvisor give for people contributing reviews, saying that they should be, amongst other things:

• Family-friendly – containing no profanity, threats, prejudiced comments, hate speech, sexually explicit language, or other inappropriate content;
• Written by actual travelers – giving first-hand experiences with the facilities or services of an establishment and avoiding general discussion that does not do so;
• Relevant to other travelers ;
• Unique and Independent – only one review on any given accommodation, restaurant, or attraction per visit;
• Original – without substantial quoted material from other sources;
• Non-commercial - they should not include promotional material of any kind;
• Not be anonymous but supported with a valid e-mail address – in case they need to contact the author if there is a problem with the review.

 

Like many hotels, we do ask guests to consider writing a review on TripAdvisor or Booking.com … or which platform they prefer, (without offering bribes).  It’s a fairly simple process and doesn’t take long … they even provide a special ‘widget’ of the form which we are going to add to our website:

 

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