Everyone understands that online reviews are the lifeblood of the hospitality industry. A glowing review can draw in countless new guests, while a scathing one can send potential customers to your competitors. Hotel managers know this and spend countless hours crafting thoughtful responses to guest feedback on platforms like Expedia and TripAdvisor. But what if there was a way to streamline this process, saving time and resources while maintaining a personal touch? Enter the world of AI-powered review response tools.
These innovative tools can analyze guest reviews, identify key themes (positive and negative), and even suggest personalized responses. Imagine instantly generating drafts addressing specific points guests raised, acknowledging their experiences, and offering appropriate solutions or apologies. Sounds impressive. It can be, but with a crucial caveat: human oversight is essential, and now more than ever, it’s critical to understand the risks of relying solely on AI.
AI is a powerful tool, but it’s not a replacement for human empathy and understanding. While AI can help you craft a technically correct response, it might miss nuances in tone, fail to grasp the full context of a guest’s experience, or even generate something that sounds robotic or generic. This is where the human touch becomes essential. And, as we’ll discuss, it’s also where the potential for serious consequences lies.
The Importance of Human Oversight: Why Editing and Review by Humans is Crucial in Today’s World
Authenticity: Guests can spot a generic, AI-generated response a mile away. A personalized reply that acknowledges their specific concerns and demonstrates genuine care is far more impactful. OTAs are improving their ability to detect these AI-written responses.
Emotional Intelligence: While AI has the ability to analyze sentiment, it lacks the ability to truly understand the emotions behind a guest’s words. For this reason, human review is essential to ensure that responses are empathetic, compassionate, and appropriate to the situation.
Context Matters: AI may overlook key contextual elements within a review that a human can recognize and address to ensure a relevant response that tackles the specific issues raised.
Brand Voice: Maintaining consistent communication is key to preserving your hotel’s unique personality and brand voice. Human editing ensures that all responses align with your brand.
Avoiding Missteps: AI tools are still in development and can sometimes produce inaccurate or inappropriate responses. Human review acts as a safety net to catch these errors, protecting your hotel’s reputation and preventing potential embarrassment.
OTA Detection and Penalties: The detection of AI-generated content by OTAs like Expedia and TripAdvisor is the most important reason for human review. These online travel agencies are developing sophisticated algorithms to identify patterns and language that indicate a lack of human involvement.
The Dangers of Over-Reliance on AI: OTA Deactivations and Restrictions (and Harm to Hotel’s Guest Relations)
Online Travel Agencies are committed to maintaining authentic and credible review platforms because fake or inauthentic reviews, including AI-generated reviews without sufficient human editing, can erode trust and damage their business. Therefore, OTAs are taking a firm stance against such practices. Additionally, over-reliance on AI can damage the relationship between hotels and their guests.
Imagine a scenario where a guest leaves a detailed and emotional review outlining a negative experience:
Guest Review:
I was extremely disappointed with my recent stay at this hotel. The room was dirty, the air conditioning didn’t work, and the staff was unhelpful. I tried to address these issues with the front desk, but they were dismissive and offered no solutions. This was a terrible experience, and I would not recommend this hotel to anyone.
Poor AI-Generated Response (Example):
Thank you for your feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. We are sorry to hear that you encountered some issues during your stay. We take all feedback seriously and are always working to improve our services. We hope you will give us another chance to demonstrate our commitment to guest satisfaction.
This automated, generic response is impersonal and unhelpful as it fails to address the guest’s specific concerns. The robotic and insincere tone highlights the limitations of AI and the need for human intervention and demonstrates a lack of genuine care. This can further frustrate the guest, damage their perception of the hotel, and lead to negative reviews and bad word-of-mouth.
If an OTA discovers that a hotel is using AI to generate responses without significant human oversight and editing, the hotel may face severe consequences, including:
Suspension or Permanent Ban: The OTA could suspend or permanently ban the hotel from its platform, resulting in lost visibility, bookings, and revenue.
Damage to Reputation: Even without official penalties, guests may perceive the hotel’s responses as inauthentic, damaging the hotel’s reputation.
The Power of Reputation: Statistics Speak Volumes (and OTAs Know It)
The importance of online reputation cannot be overstated. And OTAs understand this better than anyone. Their entire business model relies on the trust and confidence of travelers.
93% of global travelers say online reviews impact their booking decisions. (Source: TrustYou)
A 1-star increase in online reputation can lead to a 5-9% increase in revenue. (Source: Cornell University)
81% of travelers read at least 6-12 reviews before making a booking. (Source: TripAdvisor)
Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, shows that you value guest feedback and can increase bookings. (Source: ReviewTrackers)
These numbers clearly demonstrate the direct correlation between online reputation and financial success. For OTAs, these statistics are equally important. They need travelers to trust the reviews on their platform so they continue to use their sites to book travel.
The Winning Formula: AI + Significant Human Touch
AI tools offer a fantastic starting point for responding to guest reviews. They can save time, provide valuable insights, and help you craft well-structured responses. However, the key to genuinely impactful replies and avoiding severe penalties and damaged guest relationships lies in the significant human touch. By combining the efficiency of AI with the empathy, understanding, critical thinking, and editing skills of a human reviewer, hotel managers can create authentic, personalized responses that resonate with guests and pass muster with OTAs.
This winning formula will protect your hotel’s reputation, ensure you remain in good standing with all the essential online travel agencies, and maintain positive guest relationships. So, embrace the power of AI, but never underestimate the paramount importance of human review and editing – your hotel’s reputation, your relationship with OTAs, and your guest relationships depend on it!
About Lodging Interactive
Since its founding in 2001, Lodging Interactive has provided digital marketing services to hotels worldwide, including select service, full-service, and luxury properties.
The company’s social media marketing and guest reviews response division, CoMMingle:Engage, serves a range of hospitality businesses, including hotels, restaurants, spas, and management companies.
The company continues to innovate by introducing supportive services that enhance its primary business lines. Recently, it launched Social Media Amplified, custom landing page services designed to drive direct bookings through social media content posts. Building on this commitment, the company has also unveiled GuestCONNECT—an all-inclusive service for modern hotels and resorts. GuestCONNECT includes a mobile-first responsive website with hosting and support, tailored social media strategy and marketing, guest review response services across 140 OTA sites, a real-time reporting and analytics dashboard, and a dedicated Client Success Manager.
Lodging Interactive has received numerous awards, including the HSMAI Adrian Award and accolades from the International Academy of Visual Arts, Interactive Media Awards, Horizon Interactive Awards, Web Marketing Association, Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, and Travel Weekly’s Magellan Awards.
For more information, email [email protected], call 877-291-4411 ext. 704, or visit the company’s website.
DJ VallauriPresident & Founder+1 877 291 4411Lodging Interactive
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