We are a creative studio focused on web design. Inspiration is the one
word we love and we put it into our work everyday.
We found 596 post(s) available for you
We are members of the various hospitality Linkedin groups: and we think this comment on the IHLA group is worth re-blogging: it’s by Kenneth Vincent, himself a retired hotelier of some distinction (and the author of ‘So Many Hotels, So Little Time‘):
The full thread is here – there are some other interesting contributions.
There are cases where we have Dialogue working away behind the scenes for hotel clients. Imagine you have no issues with occupancy or OTA commissions, but you do care where you rank (and score) on TripAdvisor, Google and Booking.com (your ranking influences your rates); what can Dialogue do for you unseen?
Well – here are some figures for a client over the last 12 months (all are per 100 rooms to spare blushes!):
Positive reviews posted to Dialogue: 213
Negative (1*/2*) reviews captured by Dialogue: 43
Positive (4*/5*) reviews re-posted to TripAdvisor: 26
Negative reviews re-posted to TripAdvisor: 0
The effect on the hotel’s TripAdvisor ranking
 |
| And it need not take long – the yellow line is ‘actual’ (since joining) and the green line is ‘before joining’ (actual) and after joining (using our predictor algorithm) |
In this case referred to in the statistics above the hotel’s ranking rose by 17% over the period. But it is important to remember that the effect will be relative: if you have an experience or event that might otherwise drive your ranking down – no air-conditioning in last year’s heatwave, for example, or a noisy wedding party – Dialogue will be doing its job by stopping your rankings and scores from falling. And remember Dialogue can only head off negative reviews and drive positives if you collect the guests’ email addresses*. The higher proportion of these you gather the better the results will be.
It is also important to remember that, especially for highly-ranked hotels, a major part of Dialogue’s role will be in maintaining your ranking and making sure that the absolute minimum number of negatives appear on TripAdvisor to put potential guests off booking.
*Clients have found that email success is greatly improved if the email address is collected on check-in, checked for legibility and then reconfirmed with the guest, either during their stay or on check-out. Guests do not resent this, especially if it is explained that the email will only be used for their benefit (to understand how their stay was, and to let them know future offers).
We all learn from each other – and we learn a lot from our clients. Here we pass on the experience of just one who has driven the implementation of Dialogue and made a huge success of it…
 |
| The Greene & Co team (Claire bottom right) are no slouches when it comes to marketing – and yes, the t-shirted one in the middle is James Corden (who, as Smithy, dropped in to their Monday morning meeting as a reward for their fund-raising efforts on behalf of the Teenage Cancer Trust). |
David Pollock (MD) and Claire-Louise Taylor (Head of Marketing) have been involved and engaged from the very start, way before we went live, but crucially, at launch and ever since, they have encouraged and supported the concept of reviews as a business driver until they are no longer simply ‘a useful addition’ to Greene & Co sales and marketing efforts: they have become embedded in the Greene & Co culture, from senior management, through their six branches and amongst their negotiators and support staff.
So what approach did Greene & Co adopt?
They realised that for Dialogue to really produce the results they wanted, everyone in the company must be engaged; and engage them Greene & Co have. They have a rolling competition amongst all their negotiators with rewards for those that bring in the most reviews.
Claire-Louise has been proactive and engaged at every step along the journey, making sure those on the shop-floor understood the value of Dialogue, and channeling feedback to us here at HelpHound.
Results
Greene & Co have six branches across North London, from Kensal Rise to Crouch End trading as Greene & Co as well as Urban Spaces in Clerkenwell.
Since going live in March 2013 just one of their branches has produced the following:
Crucially, Dialogue has also produced 13 reviews that contained some kind of issue for the branch to resolve. This has succeeded in every case (no negative reviews have been published).
The following are screenshots of some of the recent comments (these are shown to prospective clients):
And note the ‘Helpful’ votes – every one from a prospective client who has not only taken the trouble to read the review, but also to vote.
Another key feature of Dialogue is the way it automatically invites your clients to post to Google (or any other ‘open’ site):
There can now be no doubt in any prospective clients’ mind that Green & Co deliver on the promises they make. And here’s Dialogue delivering for Greene & Co.
 |
| Even the BBC panders to the ‘posh’ agents – Knightsbridge and Chelsea take the seats |
We’re sure all of you have been glued to the first two episodes, and we suspect that the few who turned down the invitation to participate may be having second thoughts; what with inbound enquiries to Bradleys soaring (and the telegenic Lewis Rossiter must be shortlisted for the Breakfast sofa).
So what does Under Offer tell us – insider and client alike – that we didn’t already know? Well, the answer has to be ‘Not a lot’ unfortunately (we tend to concur with Zoe Williams’ review in the Guardian) – maybe the succeeding episodes will be more interesting, but at least here at HelpHound we have a solution for those who didn’t make the cast list.
Recently a client helpfully pointed out that our core message had evolved quite a bit over the years and they suggested we post an update, so here goes…
HelpHound’s Dialogue is designed to answer the number one question posed by all your potential customers:
That’s it; there’s a lot more in the detail (and you can read all about it all in this blog) but it always comes back to the concept of independently verified consumer opinion and its proven ability to drive business through your website or your door, with one crucial added ingredient: control; your control, not Google’s, not TripAdvisor’s, not Yelp’s, not AllAgents’ – yours.
No matter what kind of business you are – accountant or zoo – estate agent or hotel – Dialogue will get you those opinions and display them for you with complete credibility: driving more business.
Call Now