EDITOR’S LETTER
CONTRIBUTORS
PETER HANCOCK
Peter has been the chief
executive of Pride of Britain
Hotels - a collections of never
more than 50 luxury and
independent hproperties -
since 2000. He previously
managed hotels and
restaurants in Sussex and
Hampshire, having started
out as a waiter
The scourge of the
negative online review
I am all for the democratic notion of users helping
each other decide where to go and have a hotel
stay or where to dine out – why shouldn’t people
crowdsource recommendations for the best places
out there? What I am dead against, as many
hoteliers and restaurateurs are too, is the fact that
DEBORAH HEATHER
Deborah is the director of
Quality in Tourism - the
accommodation assessment
scheme for VisitEngland.
Deborah manages a
team of more than 40
accommodation assessors,
who each grade some 300
properties a year
platforms facilitating knowledge exchange in this
way are open to flagrant abuse, and that exemplary
establishments are sometimes defamed by anonymous users. The
owner has no recourse to undo the reputational damage they may
suffer, and the websites themselves often deny any responsibility for
what is written on their sites.
This month, a survey conducted by the BHA found that 85% of
hospitality businesses have fallen victim to fake online reviews intended
STEPHEN AYERS
Stephen is a British and
Canadian author and
former hotel manager. He
is the CEO of Stay Ahead
Hospitality, a company
that helps independent
hoteliers in Europe and
North America to attain
high standards and
increase profit
to harm and blackmail them. This figure is up from the 65% recorded
in the last survey two years ago. Some 71% of hospitality businesses
said that online review sites were a ‘powerful and useful tool’ for them
but this number has declined by 9% since 2015. Add to that, half of the
businesses surveyed said that the threat of a bad online review had
been used to blackmail them into giving a refund to customers.
Lots of the hoteliers I have interviewed over the years speak
philosophically about review sites, but it is in their nature to put the
customer’s perspective above everything – that is after all the type
ANGIE PETKOVIC
Angie started as our
resident marketing advice
columnist and has now
built a substantial following
for her straight-talking
answers to the common
questions about executing
a professional marketing
strategy
of attitude that produces sensational guest experience. But this is a
growing problem and it is plain wrong on a moral level that firms can be
slandered on the internet and the only redress they can achieve is to
respond politely to the commenter with their side of the story.
Government needs to act here – hospitality is one of the largest
contributors to UK GDP and with a bit of political will, it would be possible
to recognise online comments as the libel that they sometimes are, and
protect independent businesses from the handful of chancers that exist
on the web.
ON THE COVER
Hotel Concept of
the Month p.16
Michael Northcott
Editor, Hotel Owner
|
DECEMBER 2017 £5.95
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‘‘
THE BHA FOUND THAT 85% OF HOSPITALITY
BUSINESSES HAVE FALLEN VICTIM TO FAKE
ONLINE REVIEWS INTENDED TO HARM AND
BLACKMAIL THEM
www.hotelowner.co.uk
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