It's no longer just about TripAdvisor reviews anymore. In today's complex web landscape, it's crucial to stay up-to-date with what people are saying about your hotel online. Jaclyn Lim finds out how.

Let's say your guest stayed at your hotel and he's written a nasty blog post about the experience. Or maybe, there's a small mention of your hotel on The Straits Times. Oh, and imagine popular local blogger mrbrown tweeting about your latest room and dining promotional package. Now, wouldn't a hotelier want to be the first to know about all of these? If so, you might want to start thinking about your online reputation management strategy.

By this, we simply mean what people see when they search for your hotel's brand name online. "Managing online reputation has become more essential today," observes Singapore Institute of Management communications programme head Brian Lee. "That's because people nowadays rely heavily on the Internet for information."

It is a simple fact that consumers tend to trust other consumers' opinions, which will affect their ultimate decision whether or not to stay in your hotel. And with plenty of avenues - from travel-related websites like TripAdvisor to user blogs to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter - it's getting increasingly easy for guests to speak up about their experience at your hotel. So the case for focusing on online reputation management is stronger than ever. Here are the steps to do it right.

Keep track of online chatter

As a hotelier, you will want to know whether a guest had a pleasant stay, if he liked the pool and whether the buffet spread was satisfactory.

Chisato Nishiyori, public relations and marcom manager of M?venpick Heritage Hotel, shares: "At M?venpick, we monitor online chatter, such as TripAdvisor reviews and blog posts, so we will know what guests are saying about staying with us. Each time, we will see how we can improve on our service." So think of those Facebook comments, informal blog reviews and tweets as data gathering - you will get more useful information out of these than from stacks of feedback forms placed at your concierge's desk.

It is virtually impossible to manually search for mentions of your hotel. But there are remarkably simple ways to do this. Subscribe to e-mail alerts from Google or Yahoo. These are free, easy to set up and customisable (simply use keywords significant to your hotel such as "Marina Bay Sands"). You can even set up alerts about your competitors - to find out how you compare.

For social media mentions, consider using Technorati (a leading blog search engine indexing millions of blog posts in real time), SocialMention (just key in your URL to load relevant web and video links) and TweetBeep (sign up to keep track of what's being said on Twitter). Experiment to find out which free online reputation management tool suits your hospitality establishment best.

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Get the right people in

Hotels also need to get proactive. Brian advises: "Establish a dedicated team to monitor online comments and opinions on your hotel, as well as be the administrator for the hotel's official Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts." This could be part of your marketing or public relations department. For smaller hotels, it might even be just one staff member. What matters here is having someone responsible.

Companies should realise that they have little control over what's being said on the Internet - postings can be shared and re-tweeted. But should there be a malicious comment from a former guest online, your team can immediately take the initiative to reach him or her - and work towards resolving the situation. "Send him or her a private message to seek further details, be sincere and professional and suggest taking the discussion offline," says Brian. "Then understand their issues and address them proactively. If there are issues that need to be addressed openly, get a public relations expert involved."

Engage your guest

The web is a wonderful place to promote your brand - sometimes, for free. Chisato shares: "We are now using Foursquare to promote the hotel. In September 2011, we offered a one-for-one Deluxe Room promotion for guests who are in and around the hotel to entice them to return to stay on Sentosa." Likewise, Marina Bay Sands (MBS) is just one of many hotels to have an active Facebook page, which is updated almost daily with news of the happenings at the integrated resort. It also encourages fans to post photos of themselves enjoying the hotel's facilities like the SkyPool.

Other than promoting the brand online in this way, it is also crucial that you encourage positive reviews. When a guest leaves the hotel after a great experience, they will feel inclined to talk about it online. Find out what sets you apart from others, and make it easy for them to write reviews. A tip: Offer free Wi-Fi in your hotel to nudge your guests into posting about the fabulous time during their stay.

Remember: Everyone has a voice. Let their voices help shape your brand and lend you a competitive advantage.

Monitor & analyse e-feedback

If the free recommendations above cannot meet your needs, consider these market-leading online reputation tools.

Trackur

This is a great online reputation tool for individuals, professionals, small-medium enterprises, large companies and agencies. Monitor more than 100 million news sites, blogs, forums and social media sites using an easy-to-navigate dashboard. It's also possible to understand how influential that blog or news site is with Trackur. Plans start from $18 USD per month.

BuzzMetrics

Developed by leading research company Nielsen, this is a premium online reputation tool for larger hotels and hotel chains. It monitors your brand, build brand connections and customer relations, shows you consumer insights and helps to implement and measure campaign success. www.nielsen-online.com

Sysomos

Used by top companies like Nokia, BBC, IBM and Reebok, this is a powerful product suite that provides tools to measure, monitor, understand and engage with the social media landscape. Think instant access to social media conversations from blogs, social networks and micro-blogging services to forums, video sites and media sources. Choose between Heartbeat, designed for day-to-day monitoring and measurement, and Media Analysis Platform (MAP), an in-depth research tool.

Technology - a double-edged sword?

Real-life stories on how it can negatively affect your hospitality establishment.

Facebook page 'bombed' by pornographic photos

This happened to Singapore's downtown integrated resort, Marina Bay Sands. On September 20 2011, its official (and very active) Facebook page - which has over 62,000 fans - was 'bombed' with pornographic images. They were removed within 20 minutes after being spotted by its social media administrator. But the incident still caused some embarrassment for MBS.

Negativity index: 3 out of 10. This incident will not negatively affect MBS's image that much. Most social media experts agree that companies have little control over third-party websites like Facebook, but the MBS social media team was quick to resolve this situation, also releasing a professionally written statement addressing the incident and reassured fans that they would be monitoring the Facebook pages closely.

Flamed online for its capture of 25 bottlenose dolphins

Integrated resort, Resorts World Sentosa, has been the target of a lobbying campaign, "Save the World's Saddest Dolphins", organised by Singapore-based animal welfare group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) since May 2011. It intends to open a Marine Life Park next year and currently owns 25 wild-caught bottlenose dolphins for its "world's largest oceanarium". Animal welfare activists flooded RWS' official Facebook page with calls for the resort to release the dolphins. In response, RWS banned fan postings on the Wall due to what they call "a series of premeditated cyber-harassment". Resorts World also stated on their page: "Advertisements and Spam on our Wall will be removed."

Negativity index: 8 out of 10. It doesn't matter whose side you're on. Resorts World should not ban postings outright, no matter how harsh they are. The crowds will get angry and there's plenty they can do to affect your establishment's image, like setting up new Facebook pages and leaving negative comments there instead. But this time, you don't get a chance to reply. Yet, you may be opening a Pandora's Box when you engage with critics online. Do this: Offer them an offline, face-to-face discussion to resolve the situation, before answering to fans on your Facebook page.