The Care and Feeding of Your Online Reputation

Though the Breakers did not have the same amenities as the other hotel, reviewers raved about its customer service, said Kentner, of Crawfordsville, Ind.

Hoteliers and other business owners in this tourist city realize that their reputations online will reflect in their bottom line, swaying customers like Kentner. More businesses are actively trying to manage and respond to what is out there.

Monitoring and Taking Action

Businesses are starting to use services through public relations agencies or are assigning their own employees to monitor what's being said in cyberspace -- and sometimes taking action. Some say there is no way to tell whether a competing business posted negative reviews, despite Web sites' attempts to thwart misuse, and they have to respond anyway.

"Right or wrong the information is put forth and being used," said Brad Dean, president and chief executive of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

Bad reviews can be extremely powerful. Travel industry research, including studies by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association, show travelers trust recommendations from other travelers more than advertising -- and sometimes more than editorial content in magazines or newspapers.

And the number of people posting reviews is multiplying. TripAdvisor, one of several sites where consumers post reviews, opened its forums in 2004. It hit 1 million reviews in 2005, 5 million in June 2006 and 10 million reviews in June 2007.

What to Do

Once a negative review or misinformation is posted on a blog or a travel site, experts say the best thing to do is evaluate the potential harm of the person's story, make any appropriate adjustments in your business or customer service and respond if possible.

"The one thing you don't want to do is ignore it because it will fester," said Doug Fisher, a new media instructor at the University of South Carolina's journalism school. "You've got to address it. You've got to be as transparent as you can."

That's what Rick Elliott, of Elliott Realty in Cherry Grove, did when he read a horror story posted last month by a customer on a TripAdvisor forum. The customer said he and his family rented a unit that was dirty and had no hot water, and that Elliott Realty did not respond quickly enough.

Turning a Loss Into a Win

"When I saw it, my normal reaction was not to get mad but to try to find out what happened," said Elliott, who has two people on staff who monitor what is said about the company online. He figured out who the anonymous poster was by looking at rental records, called him, asked about the situation and apologized. A week later, the customer was back on TripAdvisor -- this time with an updated evaluation.

"I am very happy with the response of Mr. Elliott and my faith has been restored by this act of genuine southern hospitality," the customer wrote. "I was touched by his act of sincerity and old fashioned service."

One Internet marketing company that monitors what is said about some of its clients online is TIG Global, a Maryland-based firm that does online advertising for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

Last year, the company introduced HotelProtect, a service that is now a caretaker for the online reputations of at least 250 hotels so far, though none in Myrtle Beach, said Trip Schneck, president of TIG Global.

Eyes for Hire

The company will investigate bad reviews, check to make sure they comply with the travel site's policies and sometimes get them taken down if they do not.

Schneck said the company has also reached out to travel bloggers and invited them on free trips to various properties to review hotels.

"The reality is that these people are highly influential, and that's determined by their index in the search engines," he said.

"If you search for Myrtle Beach hotels and one of the top listings is a travel blogger, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has deemed them as relevant and influential."

Tread Carefully

Companies can also jump into a discussion thread and provide information or clear up misinformation -- as long as it does not turn argumentative, Fisher said.

Kerry Graves, vice president of sales and marketing for Hard Rock Park, said he could see the company getting involved in a discussion, to an extent.

"We don't want to get into anything that's controversial or that might be perceived as he-said-she-said or arguing back and forth," he said. "That doesn't do anybody any good and kicks the dust up."

The US$400 million park, which will open April 15, recently hired someone to be an interactive marketing manager, who will upkeep the company's Web site and monitor what others are saying about the park online.

Still, not enough businesses understand the harm -- or benefits -- to keeping up with what is being said about them online, Fisher said.

"Too many companies don't understand how to monitor the Internet," Fisher said. "It simply has to be done whether you farm it out or do it in-house."