Word of mouth and the power of peer opinion play a significant role people choosing your restaurant or hotel. Guest review websites for restaurateurs and hoteliers are numerous - many of the third party listing sites your venue appears on will have a reviews element. But there are key players in the marketplace that consumers return to again and again.

Guests even have loyalty to listing sites and loyalty lies in different places - partly because many guest review websites require user login and partly because we’re quirky, us folk, and it’d be boring if we all liked the same thing.

We’ve talked previously about the importance of a guest reviews strategy for your business - acquiring them, responding to them, demonstrating how you’ve learned from them.

Here we cover the five leading guest review websites whether you run a hotel or a restaurant, or both.

1. TripAdvisor

   • Love it or hate it, TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel site with millions of users leaving restaurant reviews, hotel reviews and attraction reviews left, right and centre.

   • Guests rate your venue with the bubble system (think stars) and are invited to leave a description headline and write-up as well as score various elements of their visit.

   • Listings are ranked organically by bubble rating and most excitedly for restaurateurs and hoteliers there’s a management response option.

   • Try to be original in your responses - even if you’re just thanking someone for taking the time to leave a review. Where there’s feedback, acknowledge it and wherever possible signal that action is being considered or taken to make things even better!

2. Facebook

   • If you have a Facebook page for your business, just as easily as guests can tag themselves at your venue they can review their experience too.

   • You’ll receive a notification each time someone leaves a review and it’s easy to add a reaction (like, love) and a comment.

   • Just like everything else you do on Facebook, the more you engage with your users, the more they will see your organic content and continue to interact with your business on this platform.

3. Google Business

   • As part of your SEO strategy, we’re certain that your Google Business Listing is accurate, up to date and regularly optimised.

   • Your Google Business Listing appears on the right hand side of the search results page when people search for your business. The listing includes a description, opening hours, contact details, owner and visitor photos, and reviews.

   • Google reviews are a positive contribution to your SEO strategy and not to be ignored!

4. Open Table

   • Taking restaurant bookings through Open Table? Not only are your dining guests reminded about their bookings, they’re also encouraged to leave a review after their visit.

   • Open Table encourages is users to review venues on its own site, to help others make better booking choices in the future.

   • Open Table also regularly issues accolades for top performers and customer favourites that you can use across social media and on your website.

5. Your website

   • There’s no better way to receive guest feedback than to hear it from the horse’s mouth while they’re still with you. We understand you might not get to speak directly to every guests every day, so provide them with a means to share their feedback in writing before they leave.

   • A brief postcard asking how their visit was and for any feedback serves two purposes: you get it before it goes online and you can also use the postcard as a data capture exercise to stay in touch with the guest.

   • First hand feedback is often the most contextual - you can dig for more info and discuss how you go about doing things or might make improvements. Chatting with guests also helps build loyal patrons.

   • Regularly update your website to include these hand written endorsements from guests. Dot them around your site as a reminder to new and future guests that other people love your offering.

   • You can also use this content on social media - everyone loves a quote of the day!

Don’t forget to seek the permission of your guests to use their words and name on any of your marketing activity. Courtesy goes a long way.

If you’re brushed up the guest review website basic for you - go optimise! If we’ve bamboozled you with a plethora of options and need a hand - let’s chat.

Guest review websites are one element of your marketing communications, but they’re a vital tool in new business acquisition whether you seek business travellers, midweek leisure breaks, wedding enquiries or more bums on seats for dinner. It’s easier than you think once you’ve got your head around it and regular allocate time to it.