A Review of Daniel Edward Craig’s book: The Hotelier’s Guide to Online Reputation Management
If you own or help run a hotel, B&B, or resort, and have been looking for a neat, simple, short, readable, no-nonsense primer on how to use social media for your business, you’d be wise to purchase Daniel Edward Craig’s 44-page e-book on reputation management online.
At my request, Craig sent me a free copy of his e-guide. I’ve helped hotels integrate social media into their businesses, and am always looking for ways to enhance my own knowledge on the topic. So I wanted to see what I could learn from Craig. I did not promise a good review, only an honest one.
I’m happy to say after reading the book while at a resort (seemed like a fitting place), it served as a solid, succinct guide for those in the lodging industry, because it’s written by an industry insider who realizes most people just want to use social media, not become an expert in it.
Craig, who has spent his career in various capacities within the hotel industry – and written several fiction books – now works as a social media consultant for hotels. He did an excellent job of explaining why and how hotels, bed and breakfasts and resorts of all stripes and sizes ought to use social media efficiently and effectively.
Hotel managers will find it to be very good, practical guide. In my opinion it’s worth the $29.95 Canadian dollars he’s charging. If you run a chain or a larger hotel and am in charge of social media marketing, you’re undoubtedly going to want to read more books regarding social media, such as The Now Revolution, but for thousands of people in the hotel industry, this may very well be the only book they need.
What I Liked
“The good news is, if we’re doing a good job of running our property the majority of our feedback will be positive,” Craig writes. He fills the book with a lot of good, common sense like this that I find tends to be absent from many social media discussions, because the technology is so new and different. I meet far too many business owners scared to death about social media. If you run an awful hotel, you should be scared by social media. But if you run a good one, social media should help, not hurt, Craig points out.
He spends the vast majority of his book teaching how to cope with review sites like Trip Advisor, since monitoring and responding to comments there may be the single most important step a hotel can take online to protect and enhance its online reputation.
So how much time and energy should you devote to social channels? Craig’s experience shines here, as he provides excellent advice – five to 10 hours a week. He also talks about the need to spread the tools among the staff, not simply appoint one “social media” employee. And he explains how to set up a system for making sure comments and concerns actually reach the right individual or department. That’s an area too often excluded from more general social media books, because every kind of business is different.
The book is also full of gems from interviews Craig did with hotel review sites, and hoteliers, which adds credibility and depth missing from social media books where the author simply relies on his or her own experience.
What I appreciated most about the book though, was the chapter on how to respond to comments. Within that section is a lengthy sheet for how hotels should deal with most of the major issues you might encounter online. He explains when to respond versus ignore. Then when you do respond he offers examples of precisely what to say on topics ranging form pricing and cleanliness, to denied accommodations and people who simply didn’t like the room. Also highlighted is how a less socially savvy hotel might naturally respond to certain comments, and the reasons why those responses would hurt more than help.
He also explains what responses ought to look like, based on the platform – Twitter versus Facebook, an often glossed over issue thats important.
What needed a little polish
I would have liked to see him provide a bit more guidance on how to link goals to monetary returns, not simply guest retention or customer loyalty in general.
He could have provided more than a cursory covering of finding the right keywords to monitor as well.
Given that the book’s title is about reputation management, I didn’t expect to find a long section on the major social tools and blogging. However, I would have appreciated more than merely a few paragraphs. I felt like Craig didn’t talk enough about the value of blogging especially.
But for many very small hotels that this guide is clearly aimed at, blogging may be a waste of effort.
The bottom line is if you need to read something short that explains what you need to do online, pick up Craig’s book. If you want to move deeper into understanding how to use Facebook in general, or set up a blogging platform, I recommend reading a book like The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, or buying a subscription to Exploring Social Media.
What books have you read that have helped you understand social media? Have you read Craig’s book? Would love your feedback below. I’m also taking suggestions for search engine optimization, analytics and social media books you’d like reviewed.
