Tripadvisor ovvero i B&B ed il mondo delle reviews

Se qualcuno pensa di poter "e-albergare" (passatemi questo terribile neologismo per chi intende fare l'albergatore nell'era di internet) facendo a meno della "polifonia" che il web ci mette a disposizione, è purtropo destinato ad una lenta ed inesorabile decadenza. E questo non perché i turisti sempre di più utilizzano internet per effettuare le loro prenotazioni on line, ma perché i turisti sempre di più utilizzano internet per conoscere, approfondire, trovare l'informazione giusta ... per dirla in una parola "spiare" il mondo. Una volta ottenuta l'informazione al turista poco importa prenotare con questo o quel portale, direttamente con l'hotel o facendo due passi ed entrando nell'agenzia di viaggi sotto casa: al turista (o meglio all' "e-turista") interessa prenotare a ragion veduta, certo risparmiando il risparmiabile ma soprattutto sapendo il conoscibile.

Questo è il contesto in cui opera chi utilizza le reviews (i commenti sulla propria struttura) come proprio principale strumento promozionale. Uno strumento promozionale che prima passa per la qualità del proprio servizio, per poi arrivare, tramite il "brusio" delle tante voci dei propri ospiti, alle orecchie dell'attento lettore di internet, l'"e-turista" appunto, che tutto vuol sapere.

Per questo motivo citiamo di seguito un articolo pubblicato su
Tripadvisor (il colosso mondiale delle reviews on-line)
http://www.tripadvisor.com/pdfs/Hoteliers_Review_of_TripAdvisor.pdf

scritto dalla gestrice di A casa di Serena, un bel bed and breakfast di Roma
http://www.acasadiserena.it/

che anche su Bed And Brealfast in Italy .COM fa un uso sapiente e saggio del proprio guestbook. Vedi:
http://www.bed-and-breakfast-italy.com/website/rome-acasadiserena/guestbook.html


Buon lettura,
Gianluca Martini

I am the owner of the “A casa di Serena” San Pietro Bed and Breakfast in Rome, which I’ve run with my young daughter for 10 years. Only a couple of years ago, I learned of TripAdvisor. Since then, my business has undergone a substantial
change.

How TripAdvisor found its way to my B&B

The TripAdvisor website was brought to my attention by a guest from the US. After he booked and confirmed his stay at my B&B, this gentleman took the time to check the reputation of the B&B on your site and he found a negative review about the breakfast we serve. The reviewer said the food came in all sorts of
packages, that there was no fresh bread, and so on. The gentleman sent me an e-mail asking if he also would get the same type of breakfast. At that moment I panicked! In Italy, unfortunately for me, each region has its own laws, and according to the laws in the Latium (Lazio) region, breakfasts served in B&Bs must be prepackaged with the expiration date marked by the manufacturer. This excludes the possibility of preparing homemade food (baked cakes, eggs, etc.)… The penalties for infringing this law range from very high fines to the withdrawal of the B&B’s license. Even if the prepackaged food I serve is of high quality, I understand that guests may expect something else.

The most valuable feedback

All owners are terrified by TripAdvisor at first. I was too, but the site made me understand not only the improvements I needed to make to my business, but that the review of any guest is the most valuable feedback an owner can have! I run my property with passion and put in a lot of effort in order to make the stay of every guest the most comfortable and pleasant ever. When I receive a positive review, I am on cloud nine! Unfortunately I cannot do miracles and I am aware that each of us is different and that people are more and more interested in customized products and service. Often people forget that they are staying in a B&B and they make requests that a small property like mine cannot meet. I think of myself as a very attentive person in this field. A couple of times I’ve had to fight some false and smearing reviews, but thanks to TripAdvisor’s support section, all I had to do was report them. I provided all the different documents that proved the review mendacious. To my great surprise, I received not only outstanding and prompt customer care, but I was surprised to discover the human component—made up of attentive and extraordinary people—behind this cyberworld!

A community with genuine give and take

Now I have stopped fearing TripAdvisor. While waiting for late arrivals, I started browsing the site. I’ve added a photo of my property, I pinned my travel map... in a few words, I joined this community and tried to understand its dynamics. Then I discovered the forum section and only recently and timidly I’ve also tried to make my humble contribution. I’ve found not only a fantastic community who gave me a very warm welcome, but also a lot of useful information for my own trips. I could act freely and at ease, even disagreeing out loud with TripAdvisor’s own “Dirtiest Hotels 2009” feature, and received, besides solidarity from many other users, many good tips for my business.

Continuing the relationship with TripAdvisor

Soon I will add a link to TripAdvisor from my new website, giving my guests the opportunity to publish their reviews directly from my own site. Furthermore I am trying to convince my colleagues to join and be active in the TripAdvisor community and to consider it an ALLY!

I believe that TripAdvisor is unique, incontrovertible, but most of all, unbiased, and that it serves both travelers and owners with the only means to verify what is often represented on property websites, which is quite different from reality.
TripAdvisor and its DNA have won my heart, and it has become so contagious that my daughter, who is a senior at the university, is preparing her final thesis on TripAdvisor, where she outlines the differences between marketing strategies in Italy and the United States of America!

Kind regards,

Serenella Mencarelli
“A casa di Serena” a San Pietro Roma
http://www.acasadiserena.it/