Imagine this: your hotel’s social media accounts are growing quickly and you’re producing interesting, creative content that users are engaging with. Then, one morning as you are sipping your coffee and checking in on your hotel’s accounts, you notice it… the dreaded, negative comment, right there for all to see. Panic and dread may overcome you, but do not worry, Blue Magnet Interactive is here to walk you through this difficult time in your social media journey.
Why Me?!
At this point you might be asking yourself, “Why me!?” Social media is a fantastic tool for hotels to promote themselves; on the other hand, the anonymity of social media enables people to communicate in a way they most likely would not if they were talking to someone face to face. With nearly 1.71 billion Facebook users, 320 million Twitter users, and 400 million Instagram users, it is inevitable that, at some point, your hotel will experience backlash on social media. Knowing how to handle and appropriately deal with everything from guests vocalizing simple disappointment to outright verbal abuse is one of the key factors in a successful social media strategy. Here, we will show you how to appropriately deal with any future negative comments on your social media accounts to ensure you are ready to jump into action should the need arise.
Responding to Negative Feedback
- Don’t delete or hide the comment. It might be tempting to just delete or hide a comment and pretend it never happened, but just like you would not ignore a guest with a complaint on-property, you should not on social media either.
- Show you care. Let the commenter know that you care about your guests’ experience and opinions. Write a personalized response acknowledging their complaint or issue and explain how you will fix the problem. This demonstrates that you are a hotel that wants to constantly improve and that feedback from guests is valuable for that development. For more guidance on responding, check out our blog post, “How to Get the Most Value from Your Hotel’s Guest Reviews.”
- Exceptions to the rule. Like anything, there are a few exceptions to the above tactics. If a commenter is being verbally abusive or using inappropriate language, this is a valid reason to report, hide, or ban a user from your social media accounts.
Get Ready To Respond
Example 1: Facebook
In the example below, a guest had a bad experience at this hotel’s pool and took the time to voice their frustration by commenting on a Facebook post the hotel published promoting their resort-style pool. As the community manager, acknowledge the comment as soon as possible, apologize, and encourage the guest to privately message the Page, taking the conversation offline.
Example 2: Twitter
In this example, a guest shared their experience via Twitter. Because Twitter has a character limit, the procedure for responding is slightly different than with Facebook. In this instance, the community manager asked the guest to direct message them immediately to resolve the issue.
Learn From Your Mistakes
There are generally two types of negative commenters: people who have had a bad experience while staying at the hotel and people who are upset by a particular post. While negative comments can be annoying and might put you in a bad mood, it is a great opportunity to learn from your mistakes. Your hotel’s social media accounts can act as your digital lobby and give guests a peek into what their experience will be when they stay with you. Even you receive a negative comment or two, it will put potential guests at ease to see that the hotel took the time to respond with solutions to a problem and plans to improve for the future. Let Blue Magnet help with your social media marketing; contact us to find out what social media bundles and packages we offer!
