Hygiene standards are vital in every business, however in the hotel sector, a poor track record for cleanliness can lead to expensive re-shuffles, poor footfall and scathing reviews, all of which not only hit the bottom line of your business but also are detrimental to the survival of your hotel.
In our recent survey, we found that:
- 80% of people would leave a hotel if it didn’t meet their own cleanliness or hygiene standards.
- 67% of people said they read a hotel’s reviews before booking a stay.
In the hotel industry, hygiene trumps all other variables. Whilst people will score your hotel on price, location, amenities, food, service and more – poor hygiene is the most influential factor. With as many as 4 out of 5 people admitting to abandoning a booking due to an unclean room, it’s a telling sign that hygiene and cleanliness should be prioritised above all.
Hygiene can be a much more reactive and delicate touchpoint. A late alarm call or a higher-than-expected price isn’t always much to get angry about. Hygiene, on the other hand, often induces far more passionate complaints. Dirty sheets, messy bathrooms, foul smells or general uncleanliness are simply inexcusable in the hotel trade, and customers are becoming wise to the different ways they can name and shame you for any miss-steps in this area.
Online reviews
At the point of searching or booking, customers will always be greeted with perfectly taken and pristine pictures of rooms, looking their absolute finest. It’s difficult to gauge the cleanliness of a hotel prior to stepping foot in it, especially if it’s a first-time booking.
This is why online reviews have become so important, and much more readily available. Long gone are the days where finding detailed reviews of a business is a long-winded and troublesome task – now, at the click of a button, potential customers can view images, stories and reviews of your business, good and bad.
67% of people claim to do this before they would consider booking a stay in a hotel, and with sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google Maps and a multitude of social media sites at their disposal, this percentage is only set to rise.
“With six weeks of school-free time on the horizon, parents will be on the lookout for a suitable place to stay with their children. Hotel reviews are becoming more important than ever, and it’s essential that owners strive to constantly provide a high level of service in order to stay ahead of the competition, and ultimately in business,” commented Phil Turner, Head of Digital at Direct365.
“One bad review can spread like wildfire on social media. Even if you have dozens of good testimonials, it’s the bad ones that stand out and leave a sense of doubt in potential customers’ minds. You can’t afford to let things slip at all.”