As the world of online reviews continues to grow, business owners simply cannot afford to ignore the conversations that are happening about them online. H & C News therefore welcomes this guest article by Rosie Akenhead, Manager of Local Business Outreach @ Yelp, outlining how Yelp can help hospitality managers in 2014.
117 million unique users; 47 million reviews
We know that consumers are turning to Yelp to help them make a spending decision, in fact, 117 million unique visitors turned to Yelp last month and, as of Q3 2013, users had contributed more than 47 million reviews.
Given this, Yelp offers business owners a free suite of tools in order to help them manage their online presence. Below are the top 5 free things that a hotelier, publican or restaurateur can do on Yelp once they unlock their free business owners account.
1. Don’t forget the basics: fill out your free business profile
Make sure to keep your business hours and basic information up to date. Having this information correct is vital because consumers can search on Yelp in several ways, including filtering for businesses that are “open now”. Businesses can also write a detailed description about what makes their property unique. Make sure to put in the history of your hotel, your general bio and an excerpt about the owner or general manager. If you have any specialities, include those too. For example, if you specialize in group meals or private dining in London, that’s a great piece of information for customers who are browsing for a restaurant.
2. Upload relevant photos: You can upload an unlimited amount of photos to your business page to showcase your hotel at no cost. A study by Yelp showed that customers spent 2.5 times longer on a business page with photos (versus business pages without) so get snapping.
3. Respond to reviews: You can respond to reviews about your business on Yelp privately or publicly. A great example of how to respond to reviews is Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. The hotel’s marketing manager, Marcia Striffeler, has this advice for other businesses:
“Keep your response short and to the point. Make sure that you answer the concerns mentioned in the original message. If there is a matter that could escalate, mention publicly that you have sent the guest a private message and make sure to continue the conversation privately. The answer should focus on the positive as well as any concern in the review.”
4. Use the free analytics tools. If you want to see how much traction your business is getting on Yelp, then you will find the activity graphs in your free business owner’s account to be very useful. One of the graphs is the new revenue estimate tool, which shows hotel owners the potential revenue earned on a claimed Yelp business page.
5. Let people know you’re on Yelp: Within your business account, head to the tab marked “review badges.” You can post these on your website to show people you’re on Yelp and that they can read other customer reviews about your business. This is a great way to show customers your hotel information from an unbiased source.
Ready to start taking advantage of these free tools for your business? You can claim your free business owner account or login at www.biz.yelp.co.uk
Guest post by Rosie Akenhead, Manager of Local Business Outreach @ Yelp. She can be found and contacted on Twitter @rosieakenhead