• Are you aware of your property’s reviews on Tripadvisor.com?
• Do you know what a blog is? Have you ever posted to one?
• Are you aware that guests will book nights based on reviews they’ve read about your property?

If you answered “No” to any of the questions above, you need to learn more about how to implement an online reputation management program via important resources like Tripadvisor and Yahoo! Travel.

Managing your business’s online reputation is key to owning your “brand.” For the hospitality industry, this becomes increasingly important as new review sites and travelogues are started every day. With the advent of new and easier ways to research travel choices, making sure your property’s online reputation is positive can be the difference between low occupancy and higher profits. What past guests say about a property is far more important than what any sales or promotional material has to say.

Being aware that an online reputation exists for your property is the first step to effective management. If a brand has a good reputation in its niche, shows innovation and advancement, and is concerned with the opinions of its users, the good press will abound, and the bad press will fall away.

Once you have identified reviews you find in your research, you must decide whether action needs to be taken. Management response must be posted, contacts should be made, and a game plan for addressing a bad or negative review must be formed.

The number of review websites available on the web grows every day. For the hospitality industry, we have a few sites we actively watch and some that we give passive attention to. There are tools available that can assist you in finding out what people are saying about your website.

1. Set Alerts in Yahoo & Google
2. Check Tripadvisor.com and Yahoo! Travel along with IGoUGo.com
3. Search your main keyword phrases – know what’s in the SERPs for your name
4. Comment on any blogposts you find when you search your name or URL
5. Address any negative reviews IMMEDIATELY!

One of the simplest but most effective tools for cultivating reviews is to invite guests who stayed with you to write a review about your establishment. TripAdvisor and other sites also allow you to implement a widget into your own website to invite visitors to your site to review your establishment.

Overall, managing your online reputation is not difficult, but it can be time consuming. Following the steps outlined above, you can effectively and efficiently control the reputation your name garners in the public's eye.