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A New Full Time Position: Someone Monitoring Online Reviews and Comments

If you run a hotel, a restaurant, or just a business but have not yet had anyone to monitor online reviews and comments for you, you may want to find a dedicated person to do so now. According to this Fox News video, TripAdvisor, a travel website, has 37 million visitors per month and 35 million reviews of different properties. Back in June 2010, TripAdvisor had already partnered with Facebook, allowing people to share their comments and reviews on TripAdvsisor.com within their social networks in a faster and easier manner. Hotels in Las Vegas have already employed full time staff to monitor their online reviews and comments. Dedicated staff uses computer programs to screen reviews and responds to the reliable comments. Are you following this trend and ready to hire dedicated personnel in this regard? If you are a job seeker, will a position like that attract your attention? How so?

To think deeper? You may visit the following posts: (1) Who shall we trust in terms of hotel or restaurant reviews? (2) Respond to online negative reviews.

Comments

  1. I find this article really interesting. It is pretty wild to know that there are now actual jobs that pay for people to be checking social media networks for comments towards their company. Years ago I never would have thought such a job would exist today. Society's trends evolve so quickly that this industry has to constantly be on their toes and constantly researching to keep up with it.
    I think with our society revolving around the internet and its capabilities, that it is absolutely crucial that companies are searching every possible venue for comments about them to properly address them. I believe that when curious travelers view sites where people are posting comments about their stay at a particular hotel, and that hotel responds, that it shows the dedication and loyalty a company has to its customers. Even if someone posted a bad review, if that particular hotel properly addresses the issue, I believe in that seeing the hotel actively staying involved, the future travelers would value the company's efforts.
    A position such as this would attract me because I think communication and networking is a huge part of this industry. And keeping up with customer's responses will ultimately better the company.

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  2. This article gives impressive information about the hospitality industry nowadays. It described how hotels these days have come up with a separate team of employees who are responsible for responding to customer/guest reviews. In doing so, these employees are constantly on the web and looking through numerous amounts of comments and questions that the experienced guests have posted. I feel that this kind of job would be very tiring because of the fact that it’s a constant process of looking on the web and continuously responding to the guests’ comments. In my opinion, I would not have the patience and tolerance to be doing that kind of job all throughout my life. It is an interesting aspect, and certainly a new idea for the hospitality industry to use now that technology is playing such a key role in the hospitality business, or even in any business. The fact that there are millions of guest reviews sounds like it would be too overwhelming for employees to handle, however there are people who’s jobs are specifically to do that job. I give much respect to those people and I do hope that the information that they give back to these customers/guests is accurate and impressive enough to bring back loyal customers to the hotels.

    ~Kristine Lee

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  3. I definitely agree with the comment that the hospitality industry is more accountable for their service than ever before. Personally, I never look at Trip Advisor or any sites similar to it, and when making my decision about hotel choices I usually consider the web presence, visuals on the web site and word of mouth. All in all I think that while comments can warn guests about disturbing truths for certain hotels, they can also scare off guests with false pretenses for them as well. As a manager, I probably wouldn’t have a choice but to partake in hiring personnel to monitor and respond to these online reviews, and as a job seeker I would not be attracted to this position for the simple fact of not trying to ruin my eyesight from staring at a computer literally all day, repetitive work, and being likely to deal with more disgruntled guests than usual. The hotel staying actively involved with guests online is important, but my number one strategy would be to make exceptional service such a high and clear standard with my employees so that monitoring these reviews would ultimately be less of a concern.
    -Raven A. Blake

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  4. This past summer I interned with the Signature at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, and I can personally attest to the truth behind this article. Not only were jobs being created to monitor and respond to online reviews posted by guests, but entire new departments were being constructed within properties entirely dedicated to successful web marketing. Practically all hotels operated by MGM Resorts International boast facebook pages, twitter accounts, smart phone applications, and more. Our society has become so dependent on internet technology, especially when it comes to tourism, that establishing and managing accounts with these various forms of communication are 100% necessary.

    What I find interesting about this particular article is that employees designated to address online reviews are not just deleting negative comments. Instead, they are contact frustrated guests and offering them discounts on their next stay or even free gifts to win back their support. These types of service recovery programs were launched at MGM properties following the recession in order to keep traveling guests loyal to certain brands. If a guest's reservation was lost, for example, the management team may redeem the hotel by sending a complimentary order of fruit to the room. Taking the initiative to develop such a program catered towards previous guests posting comments online is quite ambitious, and really proves that MGM Resorts care for guests unlike any brand ever has before.

    I personally do not see myself enjoying a position that requires web-surfing all day long, but I believe that I would enjoy working with the employee fulfilling this job requirement by contacting perturbed guests and sending service recovery gifts. Pleasing guests is one of the most rewarding aspects of the Hospitality industry. Witnessing someone's reaction when MGM goes out of the way to contact a certain guest and make them feel like a VIP sounds like a very rewarding experience, especially if the program is successful and they give the property a second chance.
    ~Samantha Birsen

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