In this episode of the Suite Spot, host Ryan Embree is joined by TMG's Product Director Patrick O’Brien to discuss the role that online reputation plays during COVID-19. Ryan and Patrick break down the influential power that online reviews are playing in consumer’s booking decisions during this time and the potential negative and lasting impact a bad review today can have on your business. Patrick shares some best practices that his professional review response team has implemented during this time when travelers are paying more attention than ever to every hotel’s reviews and responses. This episode details what the evolution of online reputation looks like as hotels start to enter into the recovery phase. For help with improving your hotel’s reputation during COVID-19 or to submit a question for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. Suite Spot Podcast · 48 - Reputation Management During COVID-19 Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, as always. Still recording live from my home studio here. With me today we have another remote guest that we've decided to bring in to the Suite Spot. Also a frequent guest of the Suite Spot, that is Product Director of Travel Media Group, Patrick O'Brien. So let me get started by welcoming Patrick again to the Suite Spot. Patrick O'Brien: Thanks Ryan. Ryan Embree: Patrick, up to this point, you know, as Product Director, you work with all of our solutions at Travel Media Group, but really kind of where you started was the reputation side of things. So I know we've talked up to this point about the COVID-19 crisis and our educational series through our blogs, our webinars, and through this podcast. But I thought a really insightful episode would be to bring you on Patrick and really drill into reputation because I think reputation sometimes gets lost on hoteliers. You know, we talk about, you know, what are we going to do about our bookings? What are we going to do about generating more business? If you could, let's start by just saying why are reviews still important right now for hoteliers? Patrick O'Brien: Yeah, so I think that the, you know, the initial thought from hoteliers is occupancy is down. People aren't staying at our hotel and so, you know, as you mentioned, reviews are there for, not important. But technically we're faced right now with a unique time where hotel demand in effect, according to Smith Travel Research is at zero. We're still booking around a million rooms a night. But, you know, it's created a new benchmark of what demand is when there is no demand. So being faced with that as a hotelier, your options are very limited in the number of guests that are going to be in your market and looking for a hotel room. So first and foremost reviews are a fantastic way to let guests know that your hotel is still open, that it is safe, and also, you know, potentially what amenities may or may not still be available because something that you have up and running today may no longer be up and running tomorrow. This is all done through sort of a verification process of other guests. So it's not necessarily just you saying, "Hey, this is what we're doing." It's other guests going in and identifying, "Hey, this a good hotel to be able to stay at or this is not a good hotel to stay at." We talked about in the past how reviews are vitally important to your business because it helps the guests set their expectations prior to arrival and this is even more important today. You have to think that for the most part,