Hotel guests are significantly more likely and happier to give detailed feedback on their stay when given an incentive to do so, according to research undertaken by hotel guest insight service The Know.
The founders of the innovative new service asked guests staying in luxury hotels about their review habits and found that almost 60% very rarely or never complete surveys at check-out or via email following their stay.
The in-depth research found those who do occasionally complete surveys rarely spend more than five minutes on them, or offer much in the way of detailed feedback.
According to the findings, only 3% of guests spent more than five minutes completing a guest survey, while the greatest number, 54%, spend between two and five minutes. A large number 43% spend less than two minutes responding to guest surveys.
Respondents were also asked how much detail they usually provide in hotel guest surveys and in the majority of cases it is minimal. While 14% said they give ratings and full detailed written feedback, the vast majority, 86%, provide ratings only or ratings and minimal words.
However, the findings also revealed that the chances of guests providing detailed feedback on a hotel stay rose dramatically if they were given an incentive. An astounding 79% of hotel guests said they would spend up to an hour completing an online survey about their stay within seven days of check out if they were offered the incentives and reward programme provided by The Know.
The Know co-founder Fiona Adams said: “Guest feedback is so important to ensure exceptional customer experience that the majority of hoteliers now actively try and gather it at check-out or through email. What is interesting from our findings, however, is that so many guests are giving limited feedback to traditional surveys that they can provide little value. In addition, as almost 30% of respondents said that they would prefer not to be asked for feedback directly from hotels after their stay, in some cases we think there is a risk that the quest for direct guest feedback may actually alienate guests.”
The Know is an innovative service which enables hoteliers to receive detailed, confidential, qualitative feedback from real and highly targeted paying guests who have chosen to provide insight in return for incentives. In addition to the quality guaranteed feedback from individual guests, being part of The Know also enables hotels to benchmark their performance, gain proprietary market insight into guest preferences and create individual action plans using the sophisticated and bespoke question-led technology.
Multi-night, extensive reviews are conducted by an invitation-only members club of ‘Knowers’ who are individually vetted and incentivised through reimbursements and loyalty points.
The unique proposition, which has been developed by operations and finance experts Fiona Adams and Mané Ryatt after conducting extensive research and product development, is making its debut at The Independent Hotel Show on 17 and 18 October at London Olympia.