In the bustling hospitality landscape of Sydney and Brisbane, where venues vie for attention and patronage, keeping a first class online reputation is not just a luxury but a necessity. Solotel Group, a prominent player in the hospitality industry with 26 distinct venues, recognised how important this is and embarked on a transformative journey utilising InMoment’s online reputation management platform to revolutionise their customer feedback processes to revolutionise their customer feedback processes.

The Quest for Social Proof

Solotel Group understands that in an era dominated by digital interactions, customer reviews have an unparalleled influence. In fact, reviews serve as the modern-day embodiment of social proof, shaping perceptions and driving consumer behaviour.

Put simply—when you launch a new venue, you need to have enough online social proof to inspire patrons with confidence that they’ll have a good experience. For the “early adopter group,” of patrons, online reviews are critical for inspiring confidence. InMoment’s online reputation management platform emerged as Solotel Group’s ally in achieving this goal.

Utilising microsurveys is another way Solotel Group found success capturing reviews. There might be a group of people who want to give feedback, but don’t want to give it publicly. By implementing a 2-3 minute microsurvey after every booking, this lowered the barrier and reduced the friction of providing feedback. This is what makes Solotel’s programme stand out—they didn’t just ask for reviews, they asked for feedback first, and then asked for reviews as a follow up. The result? More than 129% uplift in response volumes over twelve months!

Integrating CX into the Heart of Operations

Solotel’s approach to integrating reputation management into their existing business processes was both strategic and customer-centric. In most cases, managing online reviews falls into the lap of marketing or PR teams—but Solotel took a different path. They empowered their general managers (GM)—the frontline ambassadors of their venues— to respond to every single review.

Why general managers? Because, as the Solotel Group understands, customers are the voice of their business. By immersing their GMs in the feedback loop, Solotel ensured that customer insights became integral to their decision- making processes.

Here’s an example—it’s quite common for patrons to leave reviews about negative experiences with security teams— the frontline face of these venues—even though they are usually hired as third party contractors. If online reviews show a consistent problem with security, the general managers of these venues will see the problem in real time, and can address the concern directly with the contractors. Whether it’s addressing security concerns or fine-tuning service offerings, every aspect of individual venue operations is now informed by the voices of their patrons.

Driving Measurable Improvements Through Microsurveys

The impact of reputation management on Solotel’s perfor- mance is not merely anecdotal; we can actually quantify the impact. Leveraging innovative features like microsurveys, Solotel witnessed a significant uptick in feedback volume— from 4,138 reviews in 2021, to 9,384 in 2023—that’s a 129% increase! These microsurveys, strategically deployed after every booking, provided invaluable insights into cus- tomer sentiment, enabling Solotel to fine-tune their offer- ings and enhance customer satisfaction.

To top it off, by doubling their feedback volume, Solotel gained confidence in the authenticity and reliability of the data they collected. As the Solotel team rightly pointed out, “behavioural data is unfakeable,” and the reputation management platform enabled them to capture genuine insights that traditional surveys often miss.

Gaining a Competitive Edge

For Solotel Group, the InMoment Platform transcended its role as a mere reputation management tool; it became their compass for customer-centricity. While they didn’t engage in traditional competitor analysis, the online reputation management tool served as their eyes and ears, offering unparalleled insights into customer preferences and pain points. Armed with this knowledge, Solotel remained agile and responsive, always staying one step ahead in the competitive hospitality landscape.

Measuring ROI Beyond Numbers

Whilst quantifying ROI in the brick-and-mortar realm can be challenging, Solotel now has data to back up its strategic business decisions—and the business can point to the volume of reviews as a tangible metric of success. By harnessing the reputation management platform to amplify their online presence and foster customer engagement, Solotel not only enhanced their brand reputation but also solidified their position as industry leaders.

Empowering Future Success

With artificial intelligence (AI) taking every industry by storm, we know it’s the businesses that spend the time to automate processes that will thrive in the next wave. To this end, Solotel reflects on its journey with InMoment that has empowered the business to embed customer-centric practices into the core of operations.

This could have only been done with active involvement from the operations team.

Solotel Group’s partnership with InMoment exemplifies the transformative power of embracing customer feedback and leveraging cutting-edge technology to drive business success. As the hospitality industry continues to evolve, Solotel stands as an example of innovation and customer- centricity—a testament to the profound impact of InMoment’s reputation management platform in shaping the future of online reviews.