Inviting reviews - best practice

Getting the addresses

For some clients - estate agents, for instance - this is not an issue. But for hotels it is more complicated. Depending on the booking route the guest took, the hotel may not have an email address prior to check-in. Many of our clients already have a 'collect email address' policy on check-in. But harvesting all guest email addresses is vital if Dialogue is to work at maximum efficiency:

Best practice

Why? For two good reasons: first, you want all your guests to know you care enough to ask for their opinion; second, you want Resolution™ to work to its maximum efficiency to resolve any issues your guests may have had with their stay, and avoid negatives being posted on TripAdvisor and the OTAs.

Which leads neatly on to the next point:

Sending the email in time

Guests can post to external sites at any time, but is usual to see reviews begin appearing from the day of check-out onwards. 

So - to be a really effective 'safety net' for both guest and hotel - the email should go out as soon as possible after the guest has checked out. We have plenty of experience of hotels 'hoarding' email addresses, and we strongly advise against this. An email in time has a very good chance of heading off a publicly visible negative.

So: two rules...

1. Collect all emails 
2. Send emails on day of check-out

...and Dialogue will look after your guests and your reputation.