9 years
I can see positives and negatives to this from both the customers point of view and the hostels point of view.
For the customer especially in larger hostels they might not want to contact the reception directly for minor issues in their bedroom.
This way if there are any issues when they check in they can send a message through Expedia.
We look at it from our point of view and say well why don't people tell us directly. We have to realise many people don't like this and we often see this in reviews.
If there is an issue during stay that we can resolve we would all love to do so and maybe this feature might help.
The negative side from a customer is another email, contact from Expedia while you are supposed to be on holiday that might annoy people.
From the hostel side of things
As I said above knowing issues during stay and resolve them is great to have. Also there might be some minor issues that we don't get feedback in a final review but might pick up through this system.
The negative side is obviously giving certain complainers more ammunition to do nothing but complain about every little thing wrong which often is just the way things are.
Also another negative is dividing the contact further having the customer and OTA's on one side with the hostel on the other side instead of direct communication between customer and hostel.
There is a way we can do this at the moment. In smaller hostels this can be easier as you usually see and meet your guests again a few minutes after check in and you can ask them directly if everything is good with them.
For larger hostels I think twitter could be utilised. Customers can send direct messages to a hostels twitter account .
So if you are on the 5th floor of a hostel and you are after checking in but there is no hot water or maybe it is 3 in the morning and some drunk noisy guests are keeping you awake in your dorm.
You send the hostel a direct message to their twitter.
The hostel can have a twitter client installed on their receptionist computer or get it forwarded to email and then resolve any issues.
You could also have a quick review form at the wifi portal.
Many hostels are starting to use facebook wifi where the customer has to like the hostel facebook page when they login for the first time on wifi.
Instead of facebook the hostel could show the a quick review form rating check in and the room with a small section to fill in if there is any issues.
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