Managing Online

reviews on TripAdvisor

Group 10
Company Analysis (5C)

Company(industry): Hotel providing lodging and paraphernalia

competing in digital marketing space
Customers: Guests using their services
Competition: Other hotels offering similar services &
experiences
Collaborators: Search Engines, Travel Agents, Vendors, Guests
spreading word of mouth, Marketing agencies (if any)
Context: Increasing influence of review websites and impacting
customer decisions
Decision Problem
How should hotels manage growing influence of online
reviews to increase its volume and quality? Which review site
should be the main focus ?

Alternatives
1. Search Engine - Google, Yahoo, etc
2. Meta-Search Engine- Yelp, TripAdvisor, Kayak
3. Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), like Travelocity and Orbitz
4. Hotels own websites
Evaluation of Alternatives
Evaluation Search TripAdvisor OTAs Hotels
Factors Engine Websites
(Yahoo
Travel)

Cost CPC or CPM CPM/1000= 30%-35% of Maintenance

basis ~15$ or room price Charges
CPC=.25-1$
Or 500-10k $

Trust High Medium High Low

Monthly 26,250 27,000 38,000 NA

Unique
Visitors
Recommended Action
● Fragmented channels → Omnichannel marketing
● Being active online and promptly replying to the reviews
● Form a team of friendly and positive people to manage reviews
● Optimize online reviews with personal website; add “review us”
button on website that takes customer to review website
● Budget Allocation: 20% of traditional marketing budget can be
allocated to digital marketing on different platforms
● Calculate RoMI and sources of guests to make data driven
decisions
● Hygiene control over all the channels : Google, Yahoo, Tripadvisor
● Solicit reviews from happy customers; ask them to post their
experience; improve own services
Action Plan to handle negatives
● Reply to both negative and positive reviews promptly
within 7 days and try rectifying drawbacks if any
● Increase quantity of reviews and ask them to provide
feedback if they liked the service
● Increase GPI by getting reviews from other online
channels and increase revenues as they are directly
correlated with each other
● Handling Malevolent guests would require peaceful
arbitration followed by appropriate legal process
Thank you !!