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How OTAs have become the authority on your hotel, and how to deal with it

February 16, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

In the old days, hotels were given diamonds and stars by trained and qualified members of AAA and Mobil respectively based upon a fixed set of well-established criteria for each level. TripAdvisor and its ilk have that job now. OTAs have become the authority on your property. Here’s how to deal with it.

Hotels and hoteliers are constantly boasting that they are the best at something; be it best in the region, the best dining or the best amenities. Why wouldn’t they? Managers are proud of their property and they’re trying to make a buck. And heaven forbid an advertiser not promote them as the best. They’d lose the contract!

But, much like my game theory dilemma with the use of the words expert and guru, apply this to your competitive set. If every property claims that they’re the best, than who is the consumer supposed to believe? When everyone’s a winner, no one’s a winner. And there’s the problem: comparative modifiers are far too subjective. By purporting that you’re the best without a specific and legitimate third-party credential – like a top placement in an annual magazine ranking, for instance – you’re imbuing a sense of distrust right from the start of the customer interaction.

From there, everything the customer sees or hears about you is lensed through a grain of salt. People will scrutinize every adjective used to sell rooms. What exactly do ‘finest quality’ or ‘superior amenities’ mean anyway? Ditto for airbrushed photography. No doubt the imagery on your website is stunning, but nowadays everyone knows it’s a hyperbole of what’s actually there. Moreover, a colorful, easy-to-navigate homepage is the standard for hotels across the globe. Unless your programming team installs some palpably different features, you’re only meeting customer expectations with your website, not surpassing them. Any reasonably savvy surfer will open another browser window and consult TripAdvisor or other such travel review websites for the real answer, an unretouched guest-supplied photography.

Your efforts have become counterproductive. By claiming your superiority, you’ve instilled the need for customers to fact check via Google. Congratulations, the OTAs have become the authority on your property, not you.

Get the full story at LMA Communications

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