Do you look forward to reading your online reviews, or does the very idea that someone has felt compelled to post a review fill you with dread? Love them or hate them, online reviews do get read and will influence prospective customers. Sadly statistically people are more likely to be prompted to post a review if they've a bad experience than when they've had a good one.

So what can we do to redress this balance?

Getting feedback from your customers is essential to gauge whether or not what you're offering is right for your target audience. Whether it's positive or negative and whether you agree with it or not it is key to the success of any business.

Unless we get people's feedback we can't do anything about it.

What feedback do we need?

Find out what your customers like - so you can keep doing it. What are the things that disappoint, irritate or annoy them or - so you can correct them? What are the things that make them choose to come to you rather than your competitors - so you can use this as a selling point to differentiate yourselves? What are the things that are their biggest priority or they value the most - so you can promote them? How do they think you could improve - so you can make those improvements? What factors would encourage them to come to you again?

When to ask for feedback

Simply relying on reviews, questionnaires or a visitor's book when your customers leave is not only impersonal, but is leaving it a bit too late if things weren't perfect.

Face-to-face feedback will always be the most effective and ideally we need to get feedback before it's too late to do something about it. If what you have provided fails to meet expectations wouldn't you rather know about it before the customer leaves so you can resolve it, rather than waiting for them to put their comments on online reviews, and tell the whole world?

Hospitality is a face to face service, so there is plenty of opportunity to get feedback first hand. Be observant and look out for signs that things aren't right or that someone wants to get your attention. And be aware of your customer's tone if communicating over the phone, e-mail or text

Talk to your customers throughout

Being visible in your business, and making contact with your customers builds rapport and trust. Once you've gained this you're in a far better position to gain valuable feedback first hand. The same goes for your staff too, so encourage them to talk to your customers. Give them the appropriate training to ask for feedback in the knowledge that they are confidence to deal with it - good or bad - in a positive way. Bare in mind your customers will tell you things that they wouldn't feedback to your staff, and vice versa. So ask your staff what feedback they have received, and listen to their ideas on how to make improvements and how to capitalise on positive feedback and your strengths.

Asking direct open questions

Make it easy for your customers to give you the feedback you need. Making statements such as "I hope everything was OK" or "was everything all right for you?" is not likely to get the customer to open up. We need to ask specific questions that will give something more than a yes or no. Open questions starting with how or what are the most useful; for example how would you rate ..., how could we improve on ..., what did you like most about ...

Capture the good and the bad. Even if you don't agree with the feedback you need to find out (tactfully) what has led to their perception, as this may lead to the root of the problem.

Questionnaires are impersonal and few people like to fill them in except maybe when they're really unhappy about something. Questionnaires can help you rectify your mistakes, but they often dwell on negatives rather than positives. Although face-to-face will always be preferably some people will always be reluctant to feedback first hand so don't dismiss them altogether.

Visitors Books on the other hand are another good way of capturing general feedback. Although they may not go into specifics, they provide a great record for others to see and people will often write things that they would not say directly to you.

Make the best of the positive comments you receive and ask your guest if they would be happy to use these as testimonials in your marketing - prospective customers like to see social proof.

Also take note of the language your customers use to describe what they like. Capitalise on this information and use the same language it in your marketing.

Online reviews

Love them or hate them, online reviews do get read and will influence prospective customers. Sadly statistically people are more likely to be prompted to post a review if they've a bad experience than when they've had a good one. So aim to redress this balance, by encouraging as many as your customers as possible to post reviews, so you get the good ones as well as (hopefully only occasional) bad ones.

Display your confidence by encouraging your guests and website visitors to link to TripAdvisor. One of the easiest things you could do is to put a link from your website, and on follow up e-mails, and prompt people who have had a positive experience of doing business with you to post a review.

It's unethical to offer incentives, such as discounts, in exchange for positive reviews. But the least you can do is show people you appreciate the feedback (good or bad) by responding quickly to the feedback you receive. Register with TripAdvisor so you can monitor your reviews by receiving a notification. A quick thank you in acknowledgement might be all you need for a positive review or feedback.

Watch out too for feedback through Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites so you can respond accordingly.

Dealing with negative feedback

It can be easy to get defensive when we receive feedback, particularly when we feel it is not justified or we totally disagree with it, but the way in which you handle this will reflect on your professionalism and reputation. What we need to ask is what led to this customer's perception. When negative feedback that does find its way onto TripAdvisor (genuine or not) it's important to show that you have looked into the situation and taken things on board.

Aim to turn a negative into a positive, and in the same way you would deal with any complaints, listen to what your guest is saying and show some empathy with the customer's point of view. The least you can do is apologise (even if you're just apologising that they feel that way) and demonstrate what changes you've made if appropriate. Asking reviewers to phone you provides an opportunity for you to get more detail and having a better chance of resolving the situation.

Don't be too concerned about the occasional negative comment. This demonstrates authenticity of the content and in some cases can actually help to highlight your target audience (e.g. comments that suggest that the hotel is to welcoming to children may be seen as a plus for business users or couples).

Whatever the feedback you receive, listen and learn from it. Even if you disagree, something must have triggered their perception. Keep your objectivity and don’t take things personally. Use the feedback to identify your strengths, so you can capitalise on these. And make sure you share these with your team. Then use the less positive feedback to identify root causes and what changes are needed, and remember to involve your team in the process.

So next time someone wants to give some feedback, look forward to it.

It's the businesses that embrace feedback that will succeed.

Caroline Cooper is a business coach with over 25 years experience in business and management development, and founder of Zeal Coaching, specializing in working with hospitality businesses, and is author of the 'Hotel Success Handbook' . For more information on Zeal Coaching see

Caroline Cooper is a business coach with over 25 years' experience in business and leadership development, and founder of Zeal Coaching, specializing in working with hospitality businesses, and is author of the 'Hotel Success Handbook'. She is also creator of the Foundations in Leadership online leadership programme for hospitality managers, bringing a brand new approach to hospitality leadership development.