We like, many tour operators, struggle with finding time to understand and upgrade the changing world in which we live in. We can find many excuses not to upgrade, not to learn new tricks, but making those excuses can be fatal. I know, because a customer just threatened to kill me.
I booked a hotel for her group, one that I have used a dozen times in the past five years. We’ve never had a problem, and we assumed we would not this time.
My customer went on line and read reviews about this hotel. They were disgusting and awful. I have now spent a little time looking at these services, and I have to ask myself why I have not been using one. I understand many of these comments are subjective, and some bad situations are simply unfortunate occurrences. But there is enough information on many hotels that you can get a very good picture of what to expect with your customers.
My staff and I have discussed this and concluded that we need to use one of these regularly. Five years ago, this service did not exist, when unhappy customers came home we learned about bad hotels. Today, you can literally find 20 comments regarding any particular hotel that are less than a week old. Why have I not been using these tools? I guess I am an old dog.
I would enjoy comments from other tour operators who have experience with these. I am determined to use this as a quality control tool, can you recommend one site vs. another?
