Guest Messaging is the New Review Response

Although messaging is common in the vacation rental industry, hotels do not take it as seriously. There are hotels that make sure to respond to all reviews, but many questions from various platforms go unanswered. This is a huge missed opportunity.

You receive messages from:

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram

Google Maps/ Business Profile

Line, Whatsapp, WeChat, and other instant messaging apps

OTA extranets

Your website or app

All of these will assist you in:

Solving guest doubts

Generate leads

Upsell

Cross sell

Reduce the number of cancellations

Convert them to direct customers

Fine-tune the content on your website, OTAs and booking engine

I've already seen hotels hire dedicated teams to manage these. Some hotels employ reservation or guest relations staff to manage them. Leaving this to distribution/e-commerce, social media, or communications teams is a bad idea.

On the market, there are a lot of platforms that let you put all or most of the above under one interface. Depending on your room count and volume of questions, they may help you automate, monitor, and manage your messages better.

It is time to formalize management of guest messaging everywhere. 

How are you currently handling guest messages at your property?