I had a good chat last Friday with Marc Heyneker Co Founder of Revinate.com which is a social media and online reputation management system for hotels. Revinate was launched last Nov but has already signed up an impress range of US hotels.
A lot of hotels have embraced social media with profiles on Twitter, Facebook and many other social media sites. But in many cases particularly for hotel groups this coverage varies between hotels in different areas which can affect the overall hotel brand.
The power of hotel reviews is something we covered at our recent conference in Dublin, however hotels need a solution to allow them to monitor hotels reviews and quickly respond to negative comments while also providing useful feedback to hotel operations.
The Revinate system really impressed me, it does a lot more than simply manage your coverage on social media platforms. It provides priceless information on what you consumers think about your hotel property. They follow a simple 5 step process:
1) Hotel
This involves collecting information from each hotel (s) and configuring the system tailored for their needs.
2) Listen
Their analytics system tracks all travel websites including review websites like Tripadvisor, GTA booking websites, blogs and all social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. So when someone makes a comment or review about your hotel on any website you will find it immediately. The reviews are placed on your dashboard and you can see the overall rating.
3) Act
The Revinate system includes a work flow action system which allows you to send this on to colleagues and also respond directly. This is an excellent customer service tool for a hotel. In many ways it will replace the old comment card in the hotel bedroom. You can also see your overall rating over different periods of time with the obvious aim of improving your rating.
4) Profit
Needless to say by monitoring comments, reviews and your coverage on the web you can listen and act on negative comments which will help to increase direct bookings through your own website and also through GTA booking sites. The system also allows hotels to save time by having one source to consult instead of responding to google alerts or monitoring sites.
I was impressed with the system, I didnt see many weak areas. I did suggest it would be useful for hotels to present positive comments on their own website.
Marc explained that they intend to add a “click to publish” tool which will allow hotels to easily publish positive comments on their own website. I think this will be of particular interest to hotels as they try to improve user generated content on their own website.
So how much does it cost? They charge a monthly fee based on the size of your hotel which would easily be covered by one or two additional bookings. The best thing to do is request a live demo or make an enquiry on their website
You can also find them on Twitter at http://twitter.com/revinate