While many companies are realizing the benefit of monitoring social media sites for feedback about their company, it looks like the hospitality industry may be moving one step beyond that – including social media data left by consumers in employee bonus and incentive programs.
For the hospitality industry, this may be a bit easier to do thanks to popular consumer review sites, such as TripAdivsor and Yelp. However, by using a strong social media monitoring tool, it’s easy to find mentions of your brand, employees, or company on a regular basis.
In this article, Sean Mullin from the Noble House Hotels & Resorts, shares that social media is factored in when deciding employee bonuses. He went on to say that “We know the average rating of our social media sites. Then, we establish goals for the following year. Managers are incentivized to beat that score. We want to make sure all of our managers are paying attention to it.”
If an hourly employee is mentioned by name online as part of a consumer review, or a consumer talking within social media sites about their experience at one of the hotels, Mr. Mullin shared that they are given a monetary reward, typically $10 or $20, as recognition for positive feedback about their service.
The company still utilizes more traditional forms of customer feedback, such as feedback surveys and comment cards, but they have realized the power of social media as a feedback tool. Generally, people are more free and honest with their thoughts and opinions when talking with friends on Facebook, for example, than they may be answering questions about their experience for the company itself.
This article is telling in that we are finally seeing the shift in businesses’ thinking of social media. Up until now, it’s been more about engaging and getting your message out; with the realization that there is a good base of data out there that is easily obtainable, I anticipate more and more companies to use social media monitoring to gather customer feedback in the coming year.
