"Quick question," a hotelier said to me recently. "We are last in our town in TripAdvisor. How hard would it be to become number one?"

Understand multiple things, perhaps most important of which is that only a handful of high end resorts are in this town. He was not talking about moving from #700 in Manhattan to #. Really just a jump of three to five properties.

Second: all the properties are tightly clumped in the ratings, with 4+ TripAdvisor balloons. Differences between the top rated and the lowest rated are matters of small degrees, not major jumps in class.

I also noticed that the resort in question - a small boutique - had vastly fewer reviews (a factor of 3X) than its bigger competitors. It is difficult to know exactly how TripAdvisor ranks hotels, but a belief among many that seems valid to me is that the more reviews, the better. Just as human prospective guests are persuaded by lots of reviews, so probably are TripAdvisor's machines and algorithms.

So I said: "Absolutely easy to get to the top of your class. A very few - simple - steps will get you there."

Of course you know that research is increasingly plentiful that a higher TripAdvisor rating translates into more bookings at higher rates. These ratings are not about ego. They are about dollars and cents - and, ultimately, profits.

Here is the program I outlined:

Begin by reading all the reviews from the past year. Look for trends. What wins guest praise and, crucially, what wins criticism? The latter is what you need to focus on intensely.

Guests complain about slow service in the restaurant, a surly spa attendant, slipshod housekeeping - and it is not one guest it's a lot. Fix your operational problems. Do it now. Cash flow is robust in just about all decently managed properties these days. There ought to be money to staff up and to buff up.

Any TripAdvisor rating upgrade campaign has to start with fixing obvious - continuing --problem areas.

Guests continually complain about the food? Maybe you need a new chef or a new f & b manager or both. Nobody said every decision would be pleasant in this campaign. But the decisions - usually - are obvious.

Fix your weaknesses and shortcomings: that is step one.

Next step: train your employees to recognize and to take action to fix guest problems. Ritz Carlton is on record that a line employee can make it right for an unhappy guest to the tune of $2000. Just wow. That is how high this bar is.

I know hotels where a $2000 spend would be kicked up to corporate for approval and how long would that take? That unhappy guest would be fuming for days and probably angrily posting to TripAdvisor.

It's not entirely about money however. It's about training staff to see and to act when a guest is dissatisfied.

This means - especially - line staff. Housekeepers, front desk clerks, waiters, and the rest of the staff who have the most face-to-face contact with guests.

At many hotels, they see an unhappy guest and they hide and who can blame them? They are not authorized to actually do anything. Nor are they trained.

Train them. Authorize them.

And watch the glowing reviews go up on TripAdvisor. Fix a guest's problem and it is magic.

Step three: Encourage guests to post reviews on TripAdvisor. Ask them. Don't bribe (that violates TripAdvisor rules), But you can ask.

It's especially easy at a small independent boutique. "We are small, we don't have a huge ad budget, we depend on TripAdvisor - and our past guests - to get the word out about us. Good, bad, ugly we want to read what you have to say."

You are too big to play that card? Modify the pitch to emphasize how much future guests depend upon input from past guests to make hotel decisions.

But just ask and you will receive.

I've said it before, here it is again: to G-E-T you must A-S-K.

There you have it, three steps to really jump your TripAdvisor rankings higher.

It really is that simple.

Babs Harrison
Babs Harrison + Partners
Babs Harrison + Partners