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How to Benchmark and Build Reputation at the Brand Level GUIDE3 7 12 16 23 28 The Importance of Brand Reputation Cornells Report: Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation ReviewPros 2018 Brand Reputation Rankings Brand Reputation Building: Three Key Elements Spotlight: Library Hotel Collection ReviewPros Brand Competition Dashboard INDEXTHE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND REPUTATION These days, it seems like every week a new hotel brand is launched. Hotel companies are merging and consolidating, giving rise to mega-brands like Marriott, IHG, and AccorHotels. Travelers choose branded hotels because they promise a consistent guest experience across the portfolio regardless of the city or country theyre located in. But how easy is it to distinguish one brand from another, and how well do brands deliver on the expectation of consistency? Two recent reports provide insights into these questions and more. The result of a collaboration between Cornell University and ReviewPro, the reports represent the most comprehensive analysis of hotel brand reputation to date. Drawing data from millions of online reviews, the findings show us how hotel brands rank against competitors and what it takes to build a positive brand reputation. In this guide we take a closer look at what these reports tell us about how to build brand reputation and how to benchmark reputation at the brand level. The Importance of Brand Reputation 3The Importance of Brand Reputation 4 SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE This guide contains important insights for all major stakeholders in the hotel industry, whether youre a hotel manager, brand executive, franchiser, asset manager, investor or independent property. Owners and Investors. To optimize the performance of investments, hotel owners and investors must understand how and why reputation varies among brands and the relationship between online reputation and financial performance. They need to know how their brands rank against competitors and how to choose brands that maintain a strong reputation over time. Brand Executives. In order to grow, hotel companies must sell management contracts and franchises and optimize portfolio performance. Executives must understand how travelers perceive their brands, how brand reputation compares among competitors, and what it takes to build a strong, distinctive brand. Hotel Managers. As the building blocks of a brands reputation, hotels require operators with a clear understanding of brand identity, brand differentiation and traveler expectations. They must be able to lead and inspire staff to consistently deliver on brand promises.The Importance of Brand Reputation 5HOW CAN WE MEASURE BRAND REPUTATION? For the purposes of this guide, here are a few definitions: Hotel brand. In the Cornell and ReviewPro reports, hotel brands are defined as a group of five or more properties sharing the same brand identity. A sub-brand is a brand that is affiliated with a parent brand but has its own brand name. For example, Novotel and Fairmont are sub brands of parent company AccorHotels. Brand reputation. Reputation can be defined as the beliefs or opinions generally held about a person, organization or other entity. Brand reputation refers to how people feel about a particular company, brand, or products and services. A brands online reputation is shaped by the opinions and ratings shared by consumers, experts and the media online and in social media. BRAND: THE NEW EQUITY IN THE HOTEL INDUSTRY “Many hotel groups are divesting their real estate interests and pursuing an asset-light strategy in order to free up capital for expansion. Therefore, ownership of bricks and mortar is giving way to ownership of the brand itself, in both its physical and intangible aspects: a major cultural shift in the industry.” The Hotel Brands Report 2016, HotelAnalyst The Importance of Brand Reputation 6 Measuring hotel reputation. Since the launch of TripAdvisor, online reputation has become a key metric for gauging performance in the hotel industry. Typically, it is measured through the ratings travelers give in online reviews. ReviewPros Global Review Index (GRI) is a measure of online reputation derived from over 175 review sources. Measuring brand reputation. Measuring brand reputation is more complex because travelers review hotels rather than brands. One way is to calculate the average reputation of hotels within a brands portfolio. For its report, Cornell used the monthly average GRI of hotels within a brand, whereas ReviewPros report uses the average of all daily GRIs in a year. The results are very similar. Classification. For both reports, brands are grouped into segments using STRs chain scale classification system. The six chains scales, or segments, are economy, midscale, upper midscale, upscale, upper upscale and luxury.Cornells Report: Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation 7 CORNELLS REPORT: INDEXING HOTEL BRAND REPUTATION In 2012, Cornell Universitys Center for Hospitality Research published a ground-breaking report demonstrating a direct relationship between hotel online reputation and revenue performance. Combining reputation data from ReviewPro with revenue data from STR, the study found that a 1% increase in a hotels online reputation score led to increases in average daily rate of up to 0.89%, in occupancy of up to 0.54%, and in revPAR of up to 1.42%. (The Impact of Social Media on Lodging Performance, 2012.) More recently, Cornell published another report using ReviewPros review data and STRs chain scale classification system to rank hotel brands in the U.S. and Canada by online reputation within six chain scales: economy, midscale, upper midscale, upscale, upper upscale and luxury. (Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation, 2018.) Analyzing more than 30 million reviews of over 30,000 branded hotels posted to 45 online sources between January 1, 2016 and March 31, 2018, the report examines a number of areas, including:Variance in hotel reputation over timeThe relative influence of brand, sub brand,location and chain scale on reputationBrand rankings by reputationBrand rankings by reputation consistency ”Reputation is your brands most valuable possession and the key ingredient to optimizing your sales and marketing initiatives.” Adele Gutman, Vice President, Sales, Marketing & Revenue at Library Hotel Collection Cornells Report: Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation 8 Hotel Reputation Over Time (Source: Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation, Cornell University, 2018.) Variance in Hotel Reputation (Source: Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation, Cornell University, 2018.) Chain Scale Average Online Reputation (GRI) Scaled Variation in Reputation Year 2016 2017 2018 2016 2017 2018 Economy 67.2% 67.7% 67.9% 11.2 10.2 10.1 Midscale 77.5% 77.9% 78.1% 9.6 9.1 9.1 Upper Midscale 83.6% 84.1% 84.2% 7.1 6.8 6.6 Upscale 85.0% 85.4% 85.3% 6.1 5.7 5.6 Upper Upscale 83.6% 83.9% 83.8% 6.0 5.9 6.0 Luxury 86.4% 86.7% 86.7% 5.7 5.5 5.4 All 7.80% 7.85% 7.86% 11.5% 11.0% 10.9% Category Reputa,on Variance (GRI) Brand 7.6% Sub Brand 3.7% Chain Scale 1.7% Country 2.0% City 2.6%Cornells Report: Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation 9 “Our research suggests that the roles of hotel brand and chain scale are changing, and, further, that the influence of brands is growing,” observes Chris K. Anderson, Professor and Director of the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell Universitys School of Hotel Administration and the reports coauthor. “If a hotels brand is a more reliable indicator of reputation than its chain scale or star classification, travelers will lend greater weight to brand when selecting a hotel. Over time, brands that consistently deliver on expectations across their portfolio will carve out an increasingly higher market share.”KEY FINDINGS While the research focuses on hotel brands in the U.S. and Canada, many of the takeaways are relevant to all types of accommodation around the world. Major findings include:Hotel reputation shows steady improvement over time. Reputation improves with increasing chain scale. The variation in reputation across brands is four times larger than the variation acrosschainscales.Online reputation is mainly a function of brand and sub brand rather than segment or hotel location.Variability in reputation across hotels within a brand is greater than the variability in reputation in hotels across brands.Cornells Report: Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation 10 TOP PERFORMERS REPUTATION RANKINGS During a recent ReviewPro webinar, Benchmarking and Building Hotel Brand Reputation, Anderson pointed to the difficulties that large, diversified brands have in maintaining high reputation scores across segments. “If we look at more diversified brands like Hilton, we see that its hard for them to be at the top across all chain scales. As brands become more focused, like Drury Hotels, it becomes easier for them to be at the top of rankings across individual chain scales.” He continued, “And so we get a sense of why brand is the main driver of heterogeneity and reputation. Its because as these brands get bigger it becomes hard to have consistency in the messaging and then consistency in the expectations. Because when we think about reputation its all about managing those expectations and making sure youre delivering that brand promise.” Top Performers: Brand Reputation Rankings (Source: Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation, Cornell University, 2018.) Alluding to his previous study that found a direct relationship between reputation and revenue, he concludes, “The findings have important implications not only for travelers but also for hotel owners seeking to maximize the value of their investment, hotel companies wishing to expand their portfolio, and hotel operators wishing to improve performance.” Economy Midscale Upper Midscale Upscale Upper Upscale Luxury Best Western Hotels & Resorts 4 4 5 1 7 - Drury Hotels 1 - 1 - - - Hilton 6 1 2 3 4 2 Hyatt Corporation - - - 2 3 1 InterContinental Hotels Group 2 2 7 5 1 5Cornells Report: Indexing Hotel Brand Reputation 11 HOW MUCH DO HOTELS WITHIN A BRAND HAVE IN COMMON? Surprisingly, the study found that the variability in reputation across hotels within a brand is often greater than the variability across brands. “This reinforces the idea that brands have to make sure theyre getting a consistent message across all franchisees to make sure that each one is delivering what consumers are expecting,” said Anderson. UNIVERSALLY APPLICABLE FINDINGS Although the study was limited to branded hotels in the U.S. and Canada, Anderson believes that the results would be similar globally. “We might see that location is a bigger contributor to heterogeneity as we go global, but the message about consistency within brands is universally applicable,” he said. REVIEWPROS 2018 BRAND REPUTATION RANKINGS Drawing from a similar data set to Cornells report, in October ReviewPro released the 2018 Hotel Brand Reputation Rankings report. Analyzing over 15 million reviews of branded hotels in the U.S. and Canada posted to 65 online sources between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018, the report provides scores and rankings in a variety of areas and compares performance to the previous year. In total, 179 brands are ranked with six segments. In each segment, a list of top 25 hotels by GRI is provided, as well rankings of brand by reputation, improvement, and department (service, value, rooms and cleanliness). There are also breakdowns of review volume, reputation score, management response ratios, and semantic mentions. ReviewPros 2018 Brand Reputation Rankings 12 Review Sentiment Management Response Ratio All 35.6% Positive 34.9% Neutral 35.9% Negative 41.1% Chain Scale Avg. GRI Change Reviews Per Property Change Economy 68.9% +0.8% 287 +83 Midscale 77.7% +0.7% 414 +97 Upper Midscale 83.4% +0.6% 428 +95 Upscale 85.5% +0.7% 585 +109 Upper Upscale 86.2% +0.8% 1,305 +253 Luxury 90.3% +0.4% 1,636 +361 Average 82.0% +0.7% 776 +166ReviewPros 2018 Brand Reputation Rankings 13 A FEW HIGHLIGHTS For a full view of the rankings and reputation data, we encourage you to download the report. Here we summarize several key trends identified in the report: Reputation is improving. As Cornell also noted, the average reputation score of hotels is increasing. The ReviewPro report found the average GRI TMto be 82.0%, an increase of 0.7% over the previous year. However, the increase might be explained by the change in review mix, as discussed below. The higher the segment, the better the reputation. Perhaps unsurprisingly, economy brands received the lowest average score, at 68.9%, whereas luxury brands received the highest average score, at 90.3%.The higher the segment, the more reviews. Economy hotels received an average of 287 reviews, whereas luxury hotels received an average of 1,636 reviews.Hotels respond to over 1/3 of reviews. On average, hotels responded to 35.6% of respondable reviews, which are defined as reviews that contain written text and allow a management response. Negative reviews received a higher response rate, at 41.1%, than positive reviews, at 34.9%. Review Source Reviews % of Total Change (%) Change Source Index Google 4, 244, 285 29. 5% + 113. 6% + 2, 257, 172 80. 4% Booking 4, 094, 555 28. 5% + 26. 8% + 865, 234 81. 1% TripAdvisor 2, 243, 767 15. 6% - 17. 2% - 467, 113 77. 0% Hotels 1, 739, 699 12. 1% + 8. 3% + 133, 701 80. 4% Expedia 870, 865 6. 1% + 37. 3% + 236, 735 77. 3% Facebook 411, 309 2. 9% + 23. 8% + 78, 974 85. 5% Priceline 407, 451 2. 8% + 3. 1% + 12, 437 74. 6%ReviewPros 2018 Brand Reputation Rankings 14 TRENDS IN REVIEW VOLUME & RATINGS The report also identified some important trends related to review volume. The total number of reviews posted increased by 27.2% (+3.3 million).Google reviews were up by 113.6%, representing 29.5% of total volume.Booking reviews were up by 26.8%, 28.5% of total volume.TripAdvisor reviews were down by 17.2%, 15.6% of total volume. While the report focused on branded hotels in North America, in recent research ReviewPro has observed similar patterns in other regions around the world. Clearly, TripAdvisor has lost review market share while other review sources have gained market share. That said, a large proportion of reviews on Google and OTAs are ratings-only, whereas all TripAdvisor reviews include commentary and many include department ratings, providing valuable insights for travelers and hoteliers. The proliferation of reviews among multiple sources supports the argument for a diversified review management strategy that covers all major review sites.
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