As the coronavirus continues to sweep across the United States, travelers and hoteliers alike are faced with adversity. With event cancellations and plans with family disrupted, issues relating to travel plans lead to higher levels of stress. Fielding guest concerns can feel like an insurmountable task, but today we’ll discuss three common problems you’ll face, and strategies for responding to help put future travelers’ minds at ease.

Issue 1: Cancellation Policies           

The urge to self-isolate, along with mandated Stay In Place orders, resulted in record-low occupancy across the states. A wave of cancellations is never easy to process, though the situation is also not ideal for your guests. Guests are looking for simple, easy ways to cancel – or in many cases, rebook their stays for the future.

When negative reviews about this begin to surface online, however, the subject can be difficult to tackle. There are numerous things you can say to help ease a high-strung guest, and it’s all dependent around you maintaining a calm tone. If a review is explicitly about the ability to cancel, you can use phrases apologizing for delays due to larger call volume. Encouraging offline communication helps you avoid indirect confrontation with a guest and their frustrations. Phrasing such as “Please contact us offline so we can further discuss details surrounding your reservation” can be key in giving the guest a venue to continue the conversation outside of the public sphere.

To prevent these reviews from surfacing, take the time to review your current policies and consider sending mass communication to your guests. Choice Hotels provided a comprehensive page detailing everything a potential guest would need to know about their policies. Sharing policy changes like this across social media is one great way to ensure you reach an audience of both potential future visitors and guests already planning a visit.

Issue 2: Cleanliness and Sanitization

The spread of bacteria is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and guests of hotels are becoming more and more critical of cleaning practices. This criticism can lead to unsavory reviews being shared about your hotel. In a previous blog and webinar, we discuss strategies for your hotel to combat sharp first impressions from guests.

What happens when that isn’t enough, and a review comes to light rumoring your hotel’s lack of cleanliness? Prompt response is pivotal in this circumstance: the sooner you’re able to respond to reviews such as these, the less time the public has to wonder about what you’re doing to combat COVID-19. We urge hoteliers to be transparent about their cleaning procedures. HospitalityNet shared this list of products hoteliers can use with EPA approval to prevent the spread of bacteria. The complete article provides additional details and resources for hoteliers to review and implement for themselves.

Don’t be afraid to reiterate what steps you’ve taken to enhance your cleanliness in response. This will both assuage the reviewer that you have made safer decisions, and it will assure future travelers of your commitment to cleanliness. If you’re a current Travel Media Group Respond & Resolve™ customer, take the time to reach out to your client success representative and share the details of your housekeeping strategies to ensure the most up-to-date information is shared.

Issue 3: Customer Service: Checking In and Out

The third problem that comes to light in reviews relates to check-in and check-out: the first and last part of a guest’s experience. Frustrated guests may find issue with any part of this process: the treatment they receive from the front desk staff, how simple the process was, or even how clean the front desk area is and whether the team sanitized during the procedure.

These issues could stem from overall employee morale. The stress from the effects of COVID-19 is not confined to one group – you and your employees may also be feeling especially run-down in these times. Have a team meeting or meet individually to address your employee’s needs. If your employees are worried about their health, their job security, or other things, they may have trouble offering the level of service your guests are accustomed to receiving. Remember, even a little help goes a long way, and that alleviation of stress will reflect in services provided.

Ultimately, the best thing you can do is review your policies and be professional in your response online. Similar to your updated cleaning procedures, providing detailed and precise information about your cancellation policies and check-in information will help manage anxieties and inform future travelers. If you receive a negative review about customer service, apologize and acknowledge that your staff is committed to doing their best every day as essential workers.

To ease the burden on your front desk staff, we recommend updating your social media with easy-to-find links leading to further details or make posts that take the time to explain the overall policy update. Most of your guests will be understanding so long as you take the time to create comprehensive, accessible content for them to digest. There will be a day when travel restrictions ease, and doing what you can now to make a lasting good impression will make all the difference in the future.

For additional articles and insights about COVID-19 and hotel marketing strategies, please visit our dedicated resource center.