Seminar: Improving hotel service quality and TripAdvisor ratings

“Improving hotel service quality and TripAdvisor ratings”
 
 

Thursday, 14th May 2015
 

Venue: Radisson Blu Resort, Split
 

Dr. Dimitris Koutoulas
University of Patras, Greece
 

 

The “Improving hotel service quality and TripAdvisor ratings”  is a highly specialized seminar delivered by experienced hospitality industry experts to hotel owners, senior managerial staff, investors and hotel developers. 
 

The aim of this high-energy event is to explain in great detail how to achieve the best possible service quality at each customer interaction and in each department of a hotel and how to avoid common mistakes affecting guest satisfaction and a hotel’s reputation. 
 

Great emphasis will be put on the role of both the human factor and the hotel hardware in achieving high levels of guest satisfaction and practical advice will be provided in regard to properly planning the development of a new hotel property or the renovation of an existing one. 

 

The provision of high-quality services and facilities is the key for the profitable operation of hotels. Maintaining high standards allows hotel businesses to charge higher rates than other hotels belonging to the same category, to be less dependent on distribution channels, to establish a good reputation, to secure loyal and repeat customers and, thus, to grow their revenue. 
 

On the contrary, hotels unable to sustain proper quality standards are under constant pressure to lower their room rates. Hoteliers tempted to save money by lowering their standards risk entering a vicious circle of discounted prices and declining income. 
 

Hotel guests have become more demanding and more vocal, as millions use TripAdvisor and other online media to share their experiences with other travelers. This puts much pressure on hotel operators but also offers them a great incentive for improving quality.
 

The seminar aims at exploring the key issues affecting the satisfaction of hotel guests. Best practices and case studies of hotels from around the globe will be used to explain how to provide world-class service and how to improve online reputation in the process. The overall guest experience will be analyzed in detail by identifying common problems and mistakes at each stage of service delivery and by providing practical advice for avoiding them. Recommendations made during the seminar can be easily applied to different hotel types ranging from city hotels to seaside resorts, from large standardized chain hotels to highly individual boutique hotels and from simple family-operated accommodations to five-star hotels.
 

The perspective of a mystery guest inspector will be used – based on the long personal experience of Dr. Koutoulas – for explaining all quality specifications applying to each stage of the customer experience, from booking the room and checking into the hotel to ordering room service and making use of the spa. 
 

Practical advice will also be provided in regard to managing online reputation and to improving TripAdvisor reviews and online reputation, by the distinguished guest speakers.
 

• Hotel owners

• Hotel managers and senior hotel staff

• Professionals dealing with developing, designing, constructing or renovating hotels such as architects, interior designers, engineers etc.

• Hotel industry suppliers
 

Dr Dimitris Koutoulas

• The importance of quality for profitable hotel operations

• Detailed analysis of quality specifications and common mistakes affecting the following guest experience parameters:

  o Booking procedure

  o Arrival and check-in

  o Room

  o Bathroom

  o Suites 

  o Room Service – Laundry

  o Restaurant

  o Breakfast

  o Spa 

• Practical advice for hotel renovations
 

Gianluca Laterza / TripAdvisor, Manager Italy, Croatia

• TripAdvisor reviews – how to deal with them

• Improve your TripAdvisor ranking

• Tools of TripAdvisor to get more direct bookings

 

The main instructor of the seminar is Dr. Dimitris Koutoulas, highly experienced in hotel quality assessments and mystery guest inspections and a long-time expert of hotel management. Dimitris has inspected, evaluated and consulted hundreds of hotels and restaurants in eight countries and has trained a large number of hotel owners and managers in several aspects of hospitality operations and marketing. With an experience as a hotel industry practitioner spanning two decades, Dimitris approaches the topics he teaches in a very practicable way and focuses on easy-to-apply solutions for improving quality at hotels of different size and style.

Gianluca Laterza is Territory Manager for Italy, Greece, Turkey, Eastern Europe, Cyprus and Malta at TripAdvisor. He began his TripAdvisor career in the London office as a senior sales executive for the EMEA markets, having previously worked as key account manager for companies operating in different industries. Laterza has a law degree from Bari University and an International MBA from MIP Politecnico di Milano. He’s also an European qualified lawyer since 2003. He currently lives in Italy.

Michael Kessler is the Vice President of Global Sales at ReviewPro. ReviewPro is the leading provider of guest intelligence solutions to independent hotel brands worldwide. The company’s comprehensive suite of cloud-based solutions includes Online Reputation Management (ORM) and the Guest Survey Solution (GSS), which enable hoteliers to obtain deeper insight into operational and service strengths and weaknesses, increasing guest satisfaction, review volume and driving revenue. Formerly the VP of Sales at NTR Global, Michael has more than 18 years experience in leading and building effective sales organizations in competitive markets and fast changing environments.

Programme

Registration	09:00 – 09:30
Seminar	09:30 – 17:00

Cost

Participation one person	120 euro
Participation additional persons from the same company	100 euro

Please complete the form below to participate the seminar:

Organizers:

Travel Media Applications	S.T.A.R. Digital

Sponsor:

Aqua Vista Hotels