The Wilshire Grand Hotel Raving about Lodging Interactive's Guest Review System

Luxury New Jersey hotel is managing its online reputation by responding to guest comments directly on its website in real time, improving customer relations and giving it yet another online vehicle to sell the magnificent property

Parsippany, N.J. - January 24, 2012 - The Wilshire Grand Hotel is taking control of its online reputation by implementing the new, web-based Guest Review System from Lodging Interactive. This tool enables The Wilshire Grand Hotel to verify, review and display customer comments directly on its Website, and instantly post management responses to comments for better hotel-to-guest communications and heightened customer-relationship management.

Lodging Interactive is an interactive and social media marketing agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry. The company's Guest Review System posts traveler's comments and scores their hotel experiences based on service attributes. Hotel managers receive real-time alerts advising when pending guest reviews pop up, eliminating delays in addressing concerns and turning potential problems into new opportunities.

"I'm a big believer in soliciting guest reviews, but unfortunately, due to the nature of the Web, there's no real way to validate whether or not a person claiming to be a guest with a bad experience actually stayed at your hotel," said General Manager Ed Reagoso. "The Guest Review System from Lodging Interactive puts a stop to fake reviews posted by competitors or dishonest guests looking for refunds. This not only helps us to maintain our impeccable reputation, but it gives me an opportunity to interact personally with our guests. When travelers take the time to honestly talk about their experience, it should be recognized and rewarded with an immediate reply.

"Thanks to the automated GRS tool, I can personally post responses to comments quickly," he said. "Not every hotel review site makes that type of interaction possible. It's not only great customer service, but it gives me the chance to really sell our hotel. Almost daily our reservations agents hear from guests who say they read the reviews on our site and truly appreciate that we took the time to respond. We attribute it all to Lodging Interactive and the excellent training they provide to us as part of their service."

Lodging Interactive has been providing full-service online marketing and web design services to The Wilshire Grand Hotel for the past two years. In 2010, Lodging Interactive earned the Travel Weekly Magellan award in part for the website design of this property.

"On behalf of the entire Lodging Interactive team, we are delighted that Ed is having such tremendous success with our Guest Review System," said DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive President and CEO. "Our professional website designers and search engine optimization managers worked together with The Wilshire Grand Hotel staff to deliver an award-winning website for this hotel that maintains the design integrity of its distinctive brand and makes it easy for visitors to navigate and make a reservation. With direct bookings on a continual climb at this hotel, adding the GRS was the next step to optimizing the site and improving customer relations."

An added benefit of the Guest Review System is that it enables travelers to share their reviews on Facebook with their network of friends. Hotels are notified in real-time of new guest reviews and have the ability to validate guest stay information before reviews are posted on their website.

Recent studies confirm that more than 60 percent of online shoppers and travel planners visit and seriously consider peer-written reviews prior to making their online purchase. In addition to its Guest Review System, Lodging Interactive's Chatter GuardTM service helps hoteliers monitor what people are saying about their brand 24/7. The technology trawls the web to collect posted comments about a hotel or brand so managers can stay informed about the buzz before it gets out of control.

"Lodging Interactive does an exceptional job for The Wilshire Grand Hotel of optimizing our web presence and providing us with the tools and training we need to truly enhance our guests' experiences and keep them coming back again and again," Reagoso said.