Marketing and online hotel reviews - ‘free’ information?

If you are running a hotel these days, one of the most important aspects of your marketing mix must be the 'free' publicity that you get through review sites like TripAdvisor. Most of us would prefer to check the reviews posted by other travelers before booking a hotel we don't know - while you will always find some extreme views, the average rating and trend of the comments left are very helpful. So too are the responses that some of them add to the site, so that you can see how they deal with criticism. It takes 'word of mouth' marketing to a new level, and is not directly within the control of the hotel's management; the only thing they can do is be aware of the impression they are making on their clients, and try to ensure that their standards are fit-for-purpose and will generate the right sort of comment to encourage more travelers to choose them.

One hotel in Blackpool thought they had got around this, by adding a clause to the small print in their Booking Conditions. The hotel policy reads: "Despite the fact that repeat customers and couples love our hotel, your friends and family may not. For every bad review left on any website, the group organiser will be charged a maximum £100 per review." Unfortunately for them, it hasn't worked to prevent bad reviews: a look at the Trip Advisor comments about The Broadway Hotel shows that they must be making a huge amount of money, if they choose to make this charge for every bad review left by customers, as the comments about the place are almost all "it was terrible, don't go there". (Even so, the hotel rates number 858 out of 894 Blackpool hotels listed by TripAdvisor; goodness knows how bad the ones with lower ratings can be...)

However, now one customer who has been fined by the hotel for their damning review has complained to Trading Standards, who are investigating the matter to decide whether the hotel has breached unfair trading practice regulations. The charge of £100 appeared on the customer's credit card bill; easy for the hotel to do this, as of course they have the credit card details in order to take payment for the client's stay. In this case it seems likely that the hotel will now have to refund it, particularly given the huge publicity the case is receiving today.

It may be a great frustration for service businesses, that they cannot control the reviews left online by their customers. Hotels report that people regularly demand a discounted price 'otherwise we will give you a bad review' - even where that bad review is not justified in any way. Can anyone suggest a better way to prevent this, rather than fining customers for bad reviews?